Tone shaping single coils in series

[dannyhill]

Hi everyone,

As a single coil fiend/closet humbucker appreciator, I often thrown in one or more single coil in series with another option.
In a typical telecaster that would result in 0.047uF cap, 250kOhm volume and tone pots to tone shape the output of that fat sound (farther coils are apart the thicker the mid-range output). So what has more effect on making that tone more 'PAF like' - a larger volume or tone pot (easy to switch to a larger tone pot on a strat), a smaller tone cap or a cap in series with the pups and volume pot for 'taming the series output'?
I expect JohnH will suggest 5Spicing it but how do generate a 2 sc HB waveform?
Cheers,

Daniel

[ashcatlt]

A pickup is usually modeled as a voltage source in series through a resistance and an inductance, with a capacitor in parallel. To model two pickups in series, just use the series total of each of these parameters.

If the two pickups are exactly the same, just use double the R and L of one of them, and half the C. Still just the one voltage source.

[JohnH]

Apr 29, 2013 10:03:37 GMT -5 dannyhill said:

Hi everyone,


I expect JohnH will suggest 5Spicing it but how do generate a 2 sc HB waveform?
Cheers,

Daniel

Yes I would, and Ash's way to set the values is what I do, in 5Spice, or in the GuitarFreak spreadsheet.

Try the spreadsheet, its ideal for this sort of thing where the basic circuit is standard and you are just playing with values. It even has buttons for a Gibson Bridge pickup, and a Strat with series wiring (of course it doesnt know where the pickups are, only electrical characteristsics, so you can compare Gibson B with Strat MxN). Theres a button to take a snapshot so you can compare two traces.

Two standard single coils in series are probably a more hot combination (greater inductance particularly) than a PAF Hb. If one took a 7k Gibson PAF with two 500k pots as the reference, I got the closest calculated match with two 5.5k singles by having a 500k volume pot, and a 1M tone pot, or a no-load tone pot. If you want to keep a 250k volume pot on the guitar for other reasons, then that and a no-load tone pot also sounds good, and that is what I do on my Strat.

Caps values make no difference unless you turn the tone down. If you do, and you want to attempt to match the tone of a Gibson Paf with a 0.022 tone cap, estimate your series combined inductance of your singles (likley larger than the Paf) and its ratio with the Paf, then reduce the cap by that factor. THis would lead to a 0.015 or 0.018 cap in place of 0.022.

If however, you want to have series wiring, and explore bypassing one of them, or having them controled individually, you can have two sources in 5spice, just wire them up each with their L, R and C values. THere will then be two voltage sources and you need to switch them both on in the analysis panel.
cheers
John

[dannyhill]

Thanks for that guys.
I'll look into that more tomorrow.
I can probably work something up for this on most of my single coil guitars (1Ms already on Jag, 1M and TBX on my JazzCaster, can swap the second tone for a 1MEG p/p on Strat wired for strat lovers strat) already on except for my proper Telecaster:
On that tele I have two pushpulls (250KOhm vol and 250KOhm tone) for master bass cut and switch in series cap in 4th and 5th position of Modified Anderton wiring, and one DP3T toggle (neck bass cut) and one 4P3T (swap pup wiring/reverse neck wiring) and there aint room for any more :-)

I had a TBX on there before but removed it for the extra p/p option. I did try a 500 vol/TBX tone once, but it sounded a bit too hot even with the TBX set to 250KOhm. I guess if I go with 2 p/ps its the best compromise? With a 500KOhm volume pot its easier to roll of the tone from 10 to 1 on a 250KOhm p/p tone than 5 to 1 on a TBX.
I refer here above to the modified TBX control.


Modified:
Are bass cuts 'going to get me there' or is it a bit 'crude' compared to larger pots? How do bass cuts affect series profiles?
Update:
I modelled these in 5Spice and they only seem to affect the low end, and its not until about 0.047uF when the profile looks like a PAF for two hottish single coils in series with 500K vol and 250K pot, 0.027 for 1M and 250K. Experience tells me at these values output it louder and bassier than its single coil/parallel coil output. I guess in the end the caps would need be smaller, especially on a tele as the further apart they will produce largely different EQs. So perhaps my 0.0047/0.0068/0.01 options aren't so far off? Of course these also can combine in series for smaller overall cap values too. I guess, first thing first is to swap the 250K vol for a 1MEG and start experimenting again. :-)

Another option would be go with a S1 on the volume pot instead of the 4P3T, could I wire it to get different options instead of the:
B/B+N/N/N treble cut or N in parallel with B with bass cut and treble cut/BXN with or without series cap
Then the reverse:
N/B-N or B HOOP N/B/B treble cut or B out of phase and parallel with N with bass cut and treblecut/Bx-N with or without series cap.
Confused?
I must finish my diagram.
Thanks again,
Daniel