I finally tried it all ways on one guitar

[blademaster2]

My first home built guitar, I thought, had correctly-wired DiMarzio Dual Sound pickups. This would give me series-parallel on each pickup. Then recently I did some experiments and found that as a teen I wired the switches incorrectly and never knew it. The guitar sounded great, but it only had split coil (shorted second coil) and parallel. I *never* had the Super Distortion (series) sound for decades but I thought I did. Embarrassing.

I also noted that the two tones, split and parallel, were rather similar and with my error I concluded that series-parallel was of little difference.

So recently I decided to toss the tradition of leaving my first guitar unchanged, and I decided to wire it as series-single with the single coil being the outer ones - and not shorting the unused coils. (Not a difficult wiring arrangement so I will not bore readers with the schematic here).

Conclusion: Now that I have heard it all, I can say this

- The shorted vs open unused coil does make a slight different where the shorted version reduces treble very slightly. Barely noticeable.
- The parallel sound was a middle ground, not as crisp as single coil but less noise due to humbucking. It was not a noisy guitar in the first place anyway and I cannot say I miss this option.
- The series tone is powerful but darker as expected, and on clean playing it is not always my preference, however mixing the two pups together where one is series and the other is single gives a great balance and breadth of tone. I use that a lot.
- Adding both together with the switches gives thinner tone for any pickup combinations. This might be more pronounced in my case because I use 47k isolation resistors in series with each pickup, and their on-off switches short them to ground instead of opening them. This is the unique aspect to my wiring compared to a Les Paul or Stratocaster and I like how it preserves the treble of each pickup.

[unreg]

Congrats on you miswiring discovery! 👍

Jun 12, 2021 9:59:50 GMT -5 blademaster2 said:

however mixing the two pups together where one is series and the other is single gives a great balance and breadth of tone. I use that a lot.
- Adding both together with the switches gives thinner tone for any pickup combinations.

From these statements, I’m confused.
1.) you love mixing the two pups together, where one is series and the other is single
2.) but, any pickup combinations cause the tone to be thinner

So, you must enjoy pickups with thinner tone? 🤔🙂


Note: “thinner” is not absolute; rather it only describes a type of sound change from your original Dimarzio Dual Sound humbuckers. So I bet it doesn’t mean you love extremely thin sound, like my silly brain thought. 😋

[col]

Hi unreg,

Pickups in series will tend to suppress higher frequencies and will have a higher output. With most guitars, combined pickups are wired in parallel - this results in a thinner sound where bass frequencies are suppressed.

Edit: unless you mean something different to me by a 'thinner sound'.

[ashcatlt]

Jul 1, 2021 12:31:25 GMT -5 col said:

...in parallel - this results in a thinner sound where bass frequencies are suppressed.

It is actually more like the high frequencies are not suppressed as much. It will also be overall quieter than a series connection, so it can come across as less bass, and definitely does fit what most people mean when they say "thinner". Both the frequency and height of the resonant peak of the LPF are expected to be higher, which is significantly different from just shelving or high-passing the bass down.

[col]

Jul 1, 2021 21:42:22 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Jul 1, 2021 12:31:25 GMT -5 col said:

...in parallel - this results in a thinner sound where bass frequencies are suppressed.

It is actually more like the high frequencies are not suppressed as much. It will also be overall quieter than a series connection, so it can come across as less bass, and definitely does fit what most people mean when they say "thinner". Both the frequency and height of the resonant peak of the LPF are expected to be higher, which is significantly different from just shelving or high-passing the bass down.

My understanding of guitar pickups (inductors) and their filtering characteristics are very basic (and, no doubt, overly simplified) and may be plain wrong in some respects. But I thought an inductor will better pass lower frequencies, so that when you have two pickups in parallel, they each will tend to 'short' lower frequencies as they more easily passed by the other inductor in parallel. So, yes, higher frequencies are not suppressed (passed) as much because higher frequencies are better 'resisted' by the other pickup. But when wired in series, higher frequencies are actually more suppressed (compared with a single pickup) because the of the greater combined inductance.

Hmm. Upon rereading your comment, I now see what you are saying. Yes, I understand that - my phrasing could have been better. And getting into resonant peaks is definitely beyond my very rudimentary understanding of electronics and how guitar pickups work. Thanks, Ash.

[unreg]

col blademaster2 ashcatlt, sorry, I never understood that thinner was a positive sound difference. In my head “thin” comes across as an insult; “rich” is a compliment to sound, for me at least. But, you all use “thinner” in a totally different respect. I understand your wise point now; I’ve learned; thank you all! 😊

[ashcatlt]

Jul 2, 2021 8:48:17 GMT -5 col said:

....they each will tend to 'short' lower frequencies as they more easily passed by the other inductor in parallel. So, yes, higher frequencies are not suppressed (passed) as much because higher frequencies are better 'resisted' by the other pickup...

Well, see the "other pickup" resists high frequencies just as much better as "this pickup" does. That is, they both look like a largish resistor at low frequencies, and like a bigger resistor at higher frequencies. That frequency factor is linear and the same for both, so basically cancels out of the voltage divider calculation, so that the attenuation will be the same for any frequency you choose. At least at first approximation, it will be full broadband attenuation.

BUT the two in parallel look like a smaller resistor (at any given frequency) than either one together. This then is the "top resistor" of a divider with the "bottom resistor" being the parallel combination of the pots, the cable capacitance, and the input impedance of whatever you're plugged into. The "bottom" doesn't usually change much, and frankly is dominated at high frequencies by the capacitance, but the "top" gets smaller, so that there is less overall attenuation from that, but the frequency at which the "top" is big enough to be significant is that much higher, which is why we get more treble (proportional to the overall output/bass frequencies) from the parallel combination.

The resonance thing is tied in with that action, too, but a bit more complex. It comes from the fact that we have both an inductance and a capacitance involved in the circuit, which is complex in the literal sense of imaginary numbers and vector math and stuff. I'm not sure if it has more to do with the way that frequency/phase relationships of the L and the C getting closer together or if the change in overall static resistance influences the damping somehow. I tend to think it's a bit of both, but maybe somebody with a bigger brain can shed some light on that part.

[col]

Thanks, Ash. That's way beyond my understanding, and I expect that it would take more reading from me than I could reasonably submit to begin to begin to gain a reasonable understanding. As for your call 'for a bigger brain to comment' at the end of your post: well.

[blademaster2]

I appreciate all of your comments and insight.

For me, I do tend to like the crisp, thin tone of single coil pups and they sound lovely when the amp is breaking up the highs and giving that wet, glassy distortion. For metal, the higher output and crunch that the amp gives as a result is best with the series humbucker. I will also play clean with the humbuckers if I am in the mood for a more buttery tone.

Generally I love the variety and the control that I now have.

The middle ground of the parallel configuration is less important to me (and I do not miss it) since I get the same or more clarity from the single coil configuration and I do not have much of a noise problem in my studio.