single pick up inspiration needed...

markblack · June 2023

I have two builds on the go...

both single pickups (as I'm too tight to buy lots of pickups)

I finished another one recently with a single tele bridge pick up and Ash at @OilCityPickups suggested a coil tapped Wapping Wharf... so that's what I did...

That's got me thinking what can I do with a really simple layout - one pickup, one vol, one tone...???

I won't lie my builds are pretty basic, as is my ability (I've yet to make a scratch plate - it's next on the list to try) so I can't route a guitar and then put a cap on it etc. as I'm pretty sure I'd mess that right up!

So long story short - any suggestions of alternative wirings?
Or different types of pots, stacked pots? Push Pulls?

Basically what can you do with one pickup?

here's the victims...

WezV · June 2023

With a 4-conductor humbucker my favourite is series/split/parallel switches that gives a 100/50/25% power.

Its not that simple in practice. If it's a humbucker with matched coils the split and parallel settings can sound very similar... but it works well with the right pickup.

A single coil gives you 1 option. You can reverse phase, but with no other pickups it makes no difference.

A tapped single coil gives you 2, full power or a lesser version of that.

A humbucker gives you 5 or 6 switching options without adding anything else. Not all useful though. series in phase, parallel in phase, split to slug coil, split to screw coil, series out of phase, parallel out of phase

Sporky · June 2023

https://www.armstrongmusic.co.uk/electronics-and-pickups-c17/kent-armstrong-guitar-pickups-c100/kent-armstrong-humbucker-guitar-pickups-c109/kent-armstrong-m-bucker-double-pickup-cool-p2219

Four coils in one package. So many options, so few of them worth trying.

I reckon all four in series, but one out of phase would be interesting, fer example.

markblack · June 2023

@WezV + @Sporky - thanks for that - I guess that's the point just because you can don't mean you should. I like the idea of 100/50/25% - I'll have a look for how to do this...

roberty · June 2023

I butchered this Reverend recently

Dimarzio D Activator X, third pot is series/parallel with reverend style bass roll off

It's quite good. I would prefer an out of phase-y type sound but it would be probably be rank if I wired the pickup internally out of phase

Whistler · June 2023

markblack said:

... my builds are pretty basic, as is my ability

Every finished guitar will build your confidence. If you don't yet have a router I would like to suggest you buy one and play around with the offcuts you have, practicing lines, curves, routing to a certain depth and getting used to making and using templates and guides for the router.

Sporky · June 2023

More helpfully (though I think those quad buckers are intriguing), I really like the thing G&L (and others) do where you have a normal treble cut tone control, and a bass cut one. Hugely flexible.

markblack · June 2023

@Whistler - I got given a router... that's what got me into all this

My spelling is perfect FYI... most of the letters are their, just not necessarly in the write order

@Sporky + @roberty I'll have a google on all that...

paulnb57 · June 2023

Any pickup with Eldred wiring…

roberty · June 2023

Sporky said:

More helpfully (though I think those quad buckers are intriguing), I really like the thing G&L (and others) do where you have a normal treble cut tone control, and a bass cut one. Hugely flexible.

Reverend do this too. Bass control is more useful under high gain and treble control more useful for cleans ime

roberty · June 2023

markblack said:

@Whistler - I got given a router... that's what got me into all this

My spelling is perfect FYI... most of the letters are their, just not necessarly in the write order

@Sporky + @roberty I'll have a google on all that...

Series parallel in practice is a lot like a coil split. The advantage is that it is hum cancelling, the disadvantage is you need both poles of a DPDT so you can't wire two pickups to on one pot

Bass roll-off/contour is the opposite of a tone control. It gradually attenuates the bass through the moment of the pot, rather than the treble

For all of this you'll get the best results from a fairly meaty pickup I think. Medium output plus. But others may disagree

Funkfingers · June 2023

Alegree Chameleon, perhaps?

Sporky · June 2023

roberty said:

For all of this you'll get the best results from a fairly meaty pickup I think. Medium output plus. But others may disagree

My G&L had three singles, but I agree for a single pickup guitar I'd want to start with a good wallop of output. Leaves more places to go.

A P-Rails Hot might work nicely.

Dave_Mc · June 2023

markblack said:

I have two builds on the go...

both single pickups (as I'm too tight to buy lots of pickups)

Wouldn't multiple pickups cost less than multiple guitars?

Just to be clear, I'm certainly not suggesting you should have fewer guitars, that's a bannable offence and rightly so.

(I'd be inclined to say "coil tap", but then you've already tried that. @Funkfingers 's suggestion of an Alegree Chameleon is very interesting, but I've never tried it.)

Funkfingers · June 2023

Dave_Mc said:
Wouldn't multiple pickups cost less than multiple guitars?

Sir. Yes, sir.

Sporky said:
A P-Rails Hot might work nicely.

Yes … but not so well in the middle position.

I have Duncan P-Rails N and P-Rails Hot pickups, in a PRS SE, via Triple Shot mounting surrounds. Less and less do I use the Rail and Parallel options. I find them insipid. Series and P90 modes are fine. Simple coil split wiring would suffice.

Dave_Mc said:
Funkfingers' suggestion of an Alegree Chameleon is very interesting but I've never tried it.

I'm not sure that many have anywhere!

The Alegree website product description page includes a third party YouTube video presentation. This combines lengthy exposition, an interview with Mr. Green and a play through of numerous coil permutations. Unfortunately, none of the sounds is captioned or described.

TBH, a guitar really needs a pair of Chameleon 'buckers to (allegedly) do everything.

Dave_Mc · June 2023

Funkfingers said:

Dave_Mc said:
Funkfingers' suggestion of an Alegree Chameleon is very interesting but I've never tried it.

I'm not sure that many have anywhere!

The Alegree website product description page includes a third party YouTube video presentation. This combines lengthy exposition, an interview with Mr. Green and a play through of numerous coil permutations. Unfortunately, none of the sounds is captioned or described.

TBH, a guitar really needs a pair of Chameleon 'buckers to (allegedly) do everything.

I looked into them a bit a while ago, but they looked a bit complicated to wire up- in fact I'm not sure any of my guitars had enough pots to really take full advantage of them! Also they're fairly expensive, at least compared to the standard Alegrees. But if they do what they claim, you've got a lot of the most useful tones covered.

EDIT: Oh yeah also it said you might need to enlarge the cavities as the cables are a bit thicker... as someone who's not capable of doing anything like that, that basically scared me off! Depending on the guitar it can be a bit of a squeeze to get normal-thickness cables through sometimes...

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single pick up inspiration needed...

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