series,parallel,split coil whats the differance.

[buliwyf]

As I'm looking at different Epi's or what ever make axes and pickups out there I'm seeing a lot of the pickups are split coil or can be set to parallel or series.The Gibson dirty finger pickups say in the description "The Dirty Fingers also features shielded, four-conductor wiring for series, parallel or split coil operation, and is fully wax potted to eliminate any chance of microphonic feedback.I understand what split coil is in a humbucker spliting the pickup to one magnet so you get a thinner single coil sound like a stratocaster pickup.What is the differance between spliting the coil and series or parallel setting you can get with some pickups with a four wire setup,is one better than another.Thanks all.

[Whitmore Willy]

Buliwyf,

 

Good question. Best I can do, Hope others can do better:

 

Parallel Electronics: a signal is split and fed simultaneously through two or more components. (this is the oppposite of "series," where the signal feeds through two or more components sequentially.)

 

Coil Split: Turning off one of the coils in a humbucking pickup to create a single-coil-style sound.

 

Coil Tap: In general a coil tap is an access point somewhere along the wire that is wound in a coil or transformer. The tap could be anywhere along the wire, and the resulting voltage present at the tap (and the sound created by it) will be related accordingly.

 

Reference and fuller explanations:

http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/glossary/l--A

 

Willy

[Lefty Bill]

I don't know the difference as far as the sound differences, and the better/worse answer is, I think, purely subjective. What one player likes may not sound better to another player.

 

The obvious electrical difference is that with a 4-wire pickup lead, the option exists to be able to use a humbucker as a single pickup, or both coils in series (which is the usual arrangement in 2-wire leads) or in parallel for a different sound.

Additionally, a coil can be switched to reverse/out-of phase, if desired (again, a different sound which is subjective).

 

All of the 2-wire pickups I've seen or read about, can be rewired as 4-wire pickups by removing the fabric tape (open pickups)or covers and tape, then soldering a 4-wire lead to the individual ends of the coils.

The usual assembly method for factory 2-wire humbuckers is to use a short length of insulated/stranded wire between the 2 coils (which is the factory series connection). This wire is accessible after removing the fabric tape areound the pair of coils, and cutting the wire results in 4 places to connect the 4-wire lead to. It's worthwhile to make a drawing or notes about where each color of wire connects to, so one can attach them to a switch for predictable results.

 

Where the ends of the wires are connected/soldered together, some insulating material is required.. generally shrink tubing or tape.

Then the fabric tape is re-applied.

The braid/shield of a 4-wire lead is normally always connected to the pickup's frame or base plate where the shield of the original 2-wire lead shield was attached.

 

By choosing 4-wire pickups, they won't need to be modified, and can still be used as typical series-connected 2-wire pickups if desired, and pickup makers provide instructions for doing this (no additional switch required).

 

Regards,

Bill

 

As I'm looking at different Epi's or what ever make axes and pickups out there I'm seeing a lot of the pickups are split coil or can be set to parallel or series.The Gibson dirty finger pickups say in the description "The Dirty Fingers also features shielded, four-conductor wiring for series, parallel or split coil operation, and is fully wax potted to eliminate any chance of microphonic feedback.I understand what split coil is in a humbucker spliting the pickup to one magnet so you get a thinner single coil sound like a stratocaster pickup.What is the differance between spliting the coil and series or parallel setting you can get with some pickups with a four wire setup,is one better than another.Thanks all.

[damian]

Good info Lefty Bill........... [thumbup] .....

[Blueman335]

In a 8,000 ohm HB in series (normal), it becomes 4,000 ohms in coil cut (half, as one coil is grounded out), and 2,000 ohms in parallel. So coil cut is bright and thin, parallel is very bright and thin.

 

Coil cut works okay for bridge and neck on most HB's, although in the bridge it works best using the slug coils (twice as far from the bridge as the screw coils, and therefore a little more volume and less treble from the extra string vibration/energy). Since neck PU's are louder and warmer, parallel does best there. Parallel in a bridge HB requires a more powerful PU, such as a 16,000 ohm Duncan JB is still 4,000 ohms in parallel; not powerful by any means, but usable in some situations. But then, a JB in coil cut is 8,000 ohms, which is about what a typical PAF HB is. Coil cut (single coil) usually sounds better, but if you're obsessed about noise, parallel is lower noise, not that coil cut is particularly noisy.

 

BTW, the PU's on an HH guitar are linked in parallel (toggle in the middle position). If you're interested in getting more PU combinations from your guitar, the 4 push-pull Jimmy Page is the best. Something like 21 different match-ups of series, coil cut, phase, and parallel. I've put it in a few guitars.

[antwhi2001]

Good reply Blueman, best explanation I've seen.

 

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[sixx_ gunner]

Thanks for this information. Been wondering about that myself.