Really stupid pickup question -

[Todd Hepler]

I have a question fo rthe pickup gurus here at Ampage-

I recently aquired an old Slvertone/Danelectro from the late 50's/Early 60's. The previous owner decided to hack a humbucker into the masonite by the bridge, so now there is a gaping hole needing to be filled. I scored a couple of reissue Dano pickups (with concentric knobs!), with the intentions of retrofitting one into the bridge slot and wiring the whole thing up as a two pickup U2.
This would leave me with an extra lipstick tube pickup, which made me wonder if I could just stuff both Danopickups into the old humbucker hole side-by-side, and wire the whole shebang up with a 5-way strat switch for versatility.
I guess my question is: will a pair of single coils work normally when placed so close together? Would there be probelms with the magnetic fields interacting (or cancelling, or whatever)? Any possibility to wire them together as humbucking?

Thanks for suffering my ignorance on this subject, any suggestions appreciated.

-Todd

[David Schwab]

I've seen guitars with double lipstick tubes close together like a humbucker... shouldn't be a problem.

If the magnets are reverse polarity you could even get it to cancel hum!

[SK66]

You can place them together, it may affect thier tone slightly but not "a problem" as such. Wiring them as a humbucker will likely be a problem as it would likely require wiring one in reverse making the cover hot and thus "noisy". Unless one IS already RW/RP.

[David Schwab]

Wiring them as a humbucker will likely be a problem as it would likely require wiring one in reverse making the cover hot and thus "noisy". Unless one IS already RW/RP.

Plus you need to flip one of the magnets so you have N/S

[ken]

I remember seeing an adapter plate for sale once that let you put two lipsticks
together like a HB, I can't remember who made it but I'm trying to find it.

Ken

[Sweetfinger]

What's wrong with putting a humbucker back into the hole? Danos sound GREAT with humbuckers! I have a RI U2/U1 mutt that I put a covered PAF style in the bridge, with a flat chrome mounting ring. It matches the cosmetics of the lipstick pickups and is one of my best sounding guitars.

[Todd Hepler]

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions! I think I'm clear on how the two single coils will act together, I'm going to get 'em in the guitar tonight.

Regarding the hum issue with wiring one pickup reverse: the new pickups going in have a pair of leads in addition to the shield - this should cure the hum issue, right?

As to humbuckers vs. dano single coils: I got a good deal on ebay for 2 dano pickups along with the concentric knobs/pots. Other than that there's no reason I didn't go with a humbucker over the single coils. I have to say I do like the Dano sound, and I understand the pickups go a long way towards achieving that sound - so a humbucker may not be the best choice for me in this application.

Thanks,

Todd