Multiple Pickups In Series

[thedoctor]

After mowing ALL DAY, I am reassembling a Hamer Strat (I like them). I tried putting all three pickups in series with no controls in the way and was kinda disappointed. Why don't three singles in series kick some major output butt? I reversed polarity on each one (amid the 60 cycle din) and really was non-plussed. About all it allowed me to do is turn down the preamp gain. Just an goofy idea while the wires are still loose. Nothin serious.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Try just the neck and bridge pickups in series and reverse the phase of the bridge. I havn't tried this with "real" singles but it sounds killer with P-90s.

[frank falbo]

If you were looking for the output to be really hot because of the combination of the coils, it's not really a direct correlation. I mean if the singles are wound to 6k, it's not like the output level would be the same as a humbucker wound to 18k. The magnet strength is different, and you're getting a lot of cancellation from the huge distance between the coils.

I love the sound of the bridge and middle in series. That's like a fat, smooth humbucker tone but still with some of the clarity and attack of the standard #4 position. I've done that with G&L Asat pickups and it's stellar. And I'm doing it today to a 3 single Ibanez I have.

Neck and bridge is good, too. Too many coils in series (like quad rails humbuckers) kind of takes you backwards a little. The sound almost gets more distant and dull, rather than sounding like a flamethrower.

[thedoctor]

Yep, that is about as good a term as I can think of to describe it; distant. Any two in series is a lot better but that leaves a person with some serious switching to work out. Better try it on a guitar I own. It is like I always tell my customers:

You can have it good, you can have it fast, you can have it cheap. Pick any two.

Edited May 8, 2005 by thedoctor