To split or not to split

[JimiH]

I have a 93 diablo with a 59 and a jb, one vol, one tone and a three way switch. Is it worth investigating if I can get some more sounds from these. I do miss the sound of a strat I once had using the bridge and middle pickups together. So I've been looking at coil splitting options. Anyone done anything like this with a jb and 59?

Geoff

[Andrew]

Yes, on a push-pull pot.

Works fine. If you have the 'buckers out of phase then you get humbucking in the middle position with the tap.

Not very straty in tone though, but still very useable.

[atquinn]

You might want to investigate a partial split which is what PRS has been doing on their DGT for the past couple years. I used the concept on the coil splitting on my Showmaster and it sounds great. Here's a wiring diagram:

https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/2012/dgt_2012.pdf

I The resistor keeps one coil from shutting off completely. So for example, in my case, my neck pickup is a Suhr SSV that measure 7.5K full and 3.75 split. By wiring in a 1.5K resistor to ground the coil split is now 4.8K. So I'm getting approximately 1K from the other coil instead of completely shorting it out. Soundwise, it sounds a bit beefier than the traditional coil split, which make it more useful. The greater the resistor value, the more signal from the shorted out coil you get. I think the 2.2K value PRS uses on the neck pickup is a bit too much actually, but it's something that is easy to adjust to taste.

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Austin

[jaberwock]

You might want to investigate a partial split which is what PRS has been doing on their DGT for the past couple years. I used the concept on the coil splitting on my Showmaster and it sounds great. Here's a wiring diagram:

https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/2012/dgt_2012.pdf

I The resistor keeps one coil from shutting off completely. So for example, in my case, my neck pickup is a Suhr SSV that measure 7.5K full and 3.75 split. By wiring in a 1.5K resistor to ground the coil split is now 4.8K. So I'm getting approximately 1K from the other coil instead of completely shorting it out. Soundwise, it sounds a bit beefier than the traditional coil split, which make it more useful. The greater the resistor value, the more signal from the shorted out coil you get. I think the 2.2K value PRS uses on the neck pickup is a bit too much actually, but it's something that is easy to adjust to taste.

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Austin

I have a DGT, and the coil split sound is really good, especially on the bridge PU; I didn't know about that resistor bleed trick, can that be done on any four conductor humbucker ?

[atquinn]

Yes, it can be done on any humbucker that is wired for coil splitting be it 4 or 3 conductor.

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Austin

[atquinn]

A correction. From the PDF I linked to, you can see that PRS uses a 1.1K resistor on the neck pickup and a 2.2K resistor on the bridge. So the bridge has more of the other coil when split than the neck does. The cool thing about a push-pull is that it's very easy to use different values for each pickup. I could do it on my superswitch as well, but I'd have to change around the wiring I'm using a little bit and since the only setting that uses the split bridge is in combination with the split neck, it's easier for me to just worry about how the neck split sound and let the bridge follow along.

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Austin

[murkat]

the 59 does not split very well fwiw (musically pleasing to the ear).

JB, maybe, depends on the sum of all parts (guitar)

a quick way to see if you like it, with one pickup and it is 4 conductor...

(an old Bill Lawrence trick that Bill told, explained to me himself)

pickup to be split~

the two coil wires that are soldered together,

solder the two to the free outside lug on the tone pot.

done.

when you have the tone control to 10, the pup will be in single coil mode.

roll back the tone to 9ish, back to humbucker mode.

simple. easy.

[Tres Aardvarks]

the 59 does not split very well fwiw (musically pleasing to the ear).

JB, maybe, depends on the sum of all parts (guitar)

a quick way to see if you like it, with one pickup and it is 4 conductor...

(an old Bill Lawrence trick that Bill told, explained to me himself)

pickup to be split~

the two coil wires that are soldered together,

solder the two to the free outside lug on the tone pot.

done.

when you have the tone control to 10, the pup will be in single coil mode.

roll back the tone to 9ish, back to humbucker mode.

simple. easy.

OK, now that is cool and EASY!

[atquinn]

...

pickup to be split~

the two coil wires that are soldered together,

solder the two to the free outside lug on the tone pot.

done.

when you have the tone control to 10, the pup will be in single coil mode.

roll back the tone to 9ish, back to humbucker mode.

simple. easy.

This is how Nash wires up the neck pickup (Dimarzio Bluesbucker) in the LP's he "makeovers". Pretty slick idea, that I've completely forgotten about; I believe it only works with one pickup though (ie, you'd get a big mess if you put the red/white combos from both pickups to the lug)? I haven't been too impressed with any of the pure split sound from Duncan's PAF-range neck humbuckers I've tried (the PG, Jazz and 59), which is why I recommended the partial split. I think I might try your idea on the neck pickup on my Studio Custom though; thanks for reminding me of the idea!

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Austin

[Guest gearwhore]

I think the JB splits nice...I put a vintage MJ wound one in my kids guitar with split and is huge for his single pup to get a second sound out of it...and its very usable single sound...I have to try the pot trick.

[Jakeboy]

That is wild....I wired my original 1981 Bill Lawrence L500 back in 1981 just as Murkat described. Instructions to do so came with the pup.

[gorch]

the 59 does not split very well fwiw (musically pleasing to the ear).

JB, maybe, depends on the sum of all parts (guitar)

a quick way to see if you like it, with one pickup and it is 4 conductor...

(an old Bill Lawrence trick that Bill told, explained to me himself)

pickup to be split~

the two coil wires that are soldered together,

solder the two to the free outside lug on the tone pot.

done.

when you have the tone control to 10, the pup will be in single coil mode.

roll back the tone to 9ish, back to humbucker mode.

simple. easy.

Pretty nice solution. I had never heard of that before. In hope the right coil is going to be singled out. Typically, humbuckers don't have equal coils. So, there could be different sounds selecting either coil for the single option.

[atquinn]

...Typically, humbuckers don't have equal coils...

I would say it's the opposite. And in fact I believe Seth Lover's original concept for the humbucker called for 2 equal coils. The better to buck the hum.

-

Austin

[Guest gearwhore]

...Typically, humbuckers don't have equal coils...

I would say it's the opposite. And in fact I believe Seth Lover's original concept for the humbucker called for 2 equal coils. The better to buck the hum.

-

Austin

no he is right...there is usually some difference and each coil and each is not in the same location so even if the coils were identical they will still sound different because of position so every humbucker can have 5 sounds...north coil-south coil-series-parallel-out of phase

[JimiH]

the 59 does not split very well fwiw (musically pleasing to the ear).

JB, maybe, depends on the sum of all parts (guitar)

a quick way to see if you like it, with one pickup and it is 4 conductor...

(an old Bill Lawrence trick that Bill told, explained to me himself)

pickup to be split~

the two coil wires that are soldered together,

solder the two to the free outside lug on the tone pot.

done.

when you have the tone control to 10, the pup will be in single coil mode.

roll back the tone to 9ish, back to humbucker mode.

simple. easy.

Wow that's interesting, any diagrams for this?

I've never had the cover off my diablo in 21 years so I would like to get it right.

Geoff

[JimiH]

So I'm guessing this is the diablo pickup config

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w

So the red and white are soldered to the free outside lug of the tone pot?

I'll have to look at this more.

Geoff

[Hfan]

Wow, great ideas. I'm about to do my first coil split mod..thanks for the info.

[Hfan]

You might want to investigate a partial split which is what PRS has been doing on their DGT for the past couple years. I used the concept on the coil splitting on my Showmaster and it sounds great. Here's a wiring diagram:

https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/2012/dgt_2012.pdf

I The resistor keeps one coil from shutting off completely. So for example, in my case, my neck pickup is a Suhr SSV that measure 7.5K full and 3.75 split. By wiring in a 1.5K resistor to ground the coil split is now 4.8K. So I'm getting approximately 1K from the other coil instead of completely shorting it out. Soundwise, it sounds a bit beefier than the traditional coil split, which make it more useful. The greater the resistor value, the more signal from the shorted out coil you get. I think the 2.2K value PRS uses on the neck pickup is a bit too much actually, but it's something that is easy to adjust to taste.

-

Austin

Austin, this idea is really interesting me. I'm soon going to be doing my first coil split mod to a single humbucker using a mini toggle SPDT switch. Haven't received the pickup yet (Catswhisker WRHB) so not sure which of the below schematics I'll use (one is a south coil split and one is a north coil split). Any idea where I would put the resistor? Between the south start and ground?

[atquinn]

I generally use Seymour Duncan's diagrams for reference. The one for coil splitting is here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=coil_splitting

Anyway, instead of going directly to ground with a wire, you put a resistor there and send it to ground. The resistor prevents all of the signal from going to ground (the greater the resistor, the less of that coil gets grounded), so you end up getting some of that coil in the "split" setting.

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Austin

[Hfan]

I generally use Seymour Duncan's diagrams for reference. The one for coil splitting is here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=coil_splitting

Anyway, instead of going directly to ground with a wire, you put a resistor there and send it to ground. The resistor prevents all of the signal from going to ground (the greater the resistor, the less of that coil gets grounded), so you end up getting some of that coil in the "split" setting.

-

Austin

cool, thanks Austin. I guess you could even use a pot, for more options.

[atquinn]

I generally use Seymour Duncan's diagrams for reference. The one for coil splitting is here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=coil_splitting

Anyway, instead of going directly to ground with a wire, you put a resistor there and send it to ground. The resistor prevents all of the signal from going to ground (the greater the resistor, the less of that coil gets grounded), so you end up getting some of that coil in the "split" setting.

-

Austin

cool, thanks Austin. I guess you could even use a pot, for more options.

Exactly. This is like a spin-a-split, but the resistance is fixed. You could also use a mini variable resistor in the wiring cavity and just adjust to taste. But I already had resistors laying around when I did it so for me it was and easy-to-try no-cost option.

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Austin

[Hfan]

I just did that yesterday, put a Catswhisker WRHB in my 72 Tele Custom RI and installed a mini toggle and hooked up a mini pot ii had around in series with the split connection to ground.. Left the wires long enough to reach under the pickguard. Tested the pot first and found that one full turn equaled about 1 k ohms. Plugged in the guitar and found that the best tone was around 2k. Thanks for the idea.

16 screws in the frigging pickguard.

[jaberwock]

I'm putting in Lindy Fralin Pure PAFs in my build, on his website he recommends his "split Kit " which uses a resistor and a capacitor, for coil splitting.