Dot Studio wiring

[bfloyd6969]

Hello everyone. Is it safe to assume that the Dot Studio wiring in the middle position is both humbuckers in parallel? I ask because usually parallel wiring will have a slight decrease in output, but this Studio doesn't have a drop in volume when switching from the neck or bridge pickup to both pickups combined. If they were wired in series for the middle position then I would expect an increase in volume, but it really stays about the same... Thanks.

[bigneil]

Usually when we talk about series and parallel wiring we are referring to how the coils inside the hum buckers are wired. But yes I am pretty sure that the middle position has the individual pickups in parallel .. You can check this out with a short guitar cable and a multi meter by measuring the dc resistance. As you say there will be a drop in the resistance in middle position.

[bigneil]

I forgot to say, if you are going to check it out with a meter make sure your volume pots are turned all the way up to 10.

[bfloyd6969]

Thanks for the reply, bigneil!

[bkrejcik]

Standard two-humbucker wiring is to connect both in-parallel and in-phase. It's common for this to sound as you describe. If they were in-series it would sound bigger, louder and probably kind of muddy. Other combos sound very different. With humbuckers, Peter Green and B.B. King made famous recordings with the pickups in-parallel and out-of phase. I like two humbuckers in-series and out-of-phase, too. The thing with out-of-phase is the tone changes dramatically if you alter the respective volumes of the pickups, which you can't do with a stock Dot Studio. If I had a Studio, I would consider wiring it up with the middle position being out-of-phase. That and maybe install push-pulls for independent volume and tone for each pickup. IMVHO, of course, and YMMV.