Converting 2-lead Humbucker To Tapped?

[uglogirl]

Hi, I have an ancient Dimarzio PAF - like the very first one - and I would like to use it in the neck position of the HSH frankenstrat I'm building with Steve Ahola's Frankenstrat wiried options. It's not tapped for single coil though and I was wondering if I can modify it... maybe break out the wires that connect the two coils together as 2 new leads? Or am I dreaming?

thanks!

PS - this is a great forum! I've built several frankenstrats/jaguars and plan on building one completely from scratch soon.

uglogirl

[frank falbo]

It's not hard. I do it all the time. I usually convert the whole thing to 4 conductor. You don't have to run two wires if you don't want to though. You can just put one wire on it. For a typical install they're wired together anyway. You probably can't reuse the tape, just because its so old. So once you remove it the stickiness might be gone. If it's got a lot of wax on it, sometimes I've rubbed (quickly) the soldering iron over it to melt the wax back down after I reapply the tape. That way the wax is your bond. You can leave the tape off too, because the coils themselves will be taped.

[uglogirl]

It's not hard. I do it all the time. I usually convert the whole thing to 4 conductor. You don't have to run two wires if you don't want to though. You can just put one wire on it. For a typical install they're wired together anyway. You probably can't reuse the tape, just because its so old. So once you remove it the stickiness might be gone. If it's got a lot of wax on it, sometimes I've rubbed (quickly) the soldering iron over it to melt the wax back down after I reapply the tape. That way the wax is your bond. You can leave the tape off too, because the coils themselves will be taped.

←

cool beanz thank you. It prolly won't sound like much with just one coil since it reads 8.25K for both but who knows.

uglogirl

[Fan O' Zakk]

I've done the conversion, it's quite simple, really. Disasemble the pickup, snip the wire connecting the two coils, and then lengthen each one.

[wyldbil]

Old DiMarzio PAFs are a hot commodity among Hamer players/collectors. Especially if they are double cream or Zebra.

If you go to www.hamerfanclub.com, join the messageboard and offer it for trade I bet someone there will offer you a REALLY NICE four conductor pickup for it. Plus you'll save a nice vintage pickup from being hacked.

Just a thought!

[uglogirl]

Old DiMarzio PAFs are a hot commodity among Hamer players/collectors. Especially if they are double cream or Zebra.

If you go to www.hamerfanclub.com, join the messageboard and offer it for trade I bet someone there will offer you a REALLY NICE four conductor pickup for it. Plus you'll save a nice vintage pickup from being hacked.

Just a thought!

←

wow wyldbil thanks for the tip... I would'nt want to hack up a priceless vintage relic when I can trade it. :-) I have two double creams. one has a very relic-y gold open frame cover on it. It's hard to find them these days.

Uglogirl

Edited July 30, 2005 by uglogirl