Technical pickup questions!

[Andrew]

First:

Is there any consequence to the coils of a humbucker having a different DC resistance? Other than a very tiny loss of hum-canceling ability? A while back I repaired a DMZ HB bass pickup by replacing one of the coils, the original coil is 7.5kohm and the replaced one is 5.5kohm. It sounds absolutely fine! Obviously a bigger mismatch might not work.

Second:

Take a DMZ PAF (eg: Hamer Slammer HB) and remove all the screws, slugs and magnets. Replace these with the pole-pieces from single coils (such as a Hamer Slammer) remembering to invert one set. The pickup is now essentially two Slammer single coils but one is RW/RP, right? So wire it in as a humbucker and get hum-canceling but tap it to get true single coil. Why have I never seen such a pickup when it seems like such a good idea?

[Bennyboy-UK]

You lost me at "is there...", m8!

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

You lost me at "is there...", m8!

Me too haha

[django49]

I understand the Fralin Unbucker is two mismatched coils. It is humbucking when both coils are on and the hotter coil is active when split. So you get a single coil sound without nearly as much volume drop as most split HBs.

One other unusual one is the Dimarzio Bluesbucker, It is essentially a P90 with a dummy coil. Sorta the ultimate mismatched coils So it is humcancelling when both are one, but a powerful single coil when the dummy coil is turned off.

The Fralin (split) is closer to the Strat tone, the Bluesbucker more like the typical LP Jr sound.

[Andrew]

Dummy coils could have been my third question!

The DMZ bass HB I am using indeed does the same trick as the Fralin Unbucker with less drop in volume when tapped as I leave the more powerful coil on.

[tomteriffic]

Rio Grande did this exact thing with the Tallboy, Halfbreed and Muy Grande humbuckers. The halfbreed has mismatched coils (one Tallboy, one Muy Grande), but all are comprised of two single-coil polepiece magnet type pickups.

[Andrew]

Rio Grande did this exact thing with the Tallboy, Halfbreed and Muy Grande humbuckers. The halfbreed has mismatched coils (one Tallboy, one Muy Grande), but all are comprised of two single-coil polepiece magnet type pickups.

Perfect!

I am happy that somebody has already thought of this.

Now, who has the equations that show the relationship between DC resistance, gauss and output?

And how do relate these to the frequency response?

Why does a degaussed PAF at 7.5kohm sound warm but a degaussed Super-distortion at 14kohm sound really thin?

[gorch]

Rio Grande did this exact thing with the Tallboy, Halfbreed and Muy Grande humbuckers. The halfbreed has mismatched coils (one Tallboy, one Muy Grande), but all are comprised of two single-coil polepiece magnet type pickups.

Perfect! I am happy that somebody has already thought of this. Now, who has the equations that show the relationship between DC resistance, gauss and output? And how do relate these to the frequency response? Why does a degaussed PAF at 7.5kohm sound warm but a degaussed Super-distortion at 14kohm sound really thin?

You are going frequency physics here. That is quite a difficult to understand area.

Did you actually try out your 2nd option?

[Andrew]

No' as I only have one spare set of slugs!

[sixesandsevens]

Rio Grande did this exact thing with the Tallboy, Halfbreed and Muy Grande humbuckers. The halfbreed has mismatched coils (one Tallboy, one Muy Grande), but all are comprised of two single-coil polepiece magnet type pickups.

P-rails are another example that's intentionally mismatched.

I have no idea what the physical, EM, or aural consequences are though.

[flattop]

Second:

Take a DMZ PAF (eg: Hamer Slammer HB) and remove all the screws, slugs and magnets. Replace these with the pole-pieces from single coils (such as a Hamer Slammer) remembering to invert one set. The pickup is now essentially two Slammer single coils but one is RW/RP, right? So wire it in as a humbucker and get hum-canceling but tap it to get true single coil. Why have I never seen such a pickup when it seems like such a good idea?

Is that not the seymour duncan stag mag ?

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/high-output/sh3_stag_mag/