Converting Single Coil Pickups to Split Coil Pickups

[jonlundin]

Here's a fun one for all the guitar electronics buffs. My guitar player wants to swap his single coil pickups from his SG into his Les Paul custom lite which has a split coil feature. The SG does not, but he would still like to use this feature. I used my own lead and jumped off of the combined two white leads in the single coils (from the SG) that are taped inside the actual pickups. I jumped directly to the splitter switch's corresponding connections and ran the signal/ground accordingly. I'm pretty sure I have everything ran correctly, but I get a pretty loud hum/buzz on both pickups. My thought is that I'm getting a ground loop but I have the pickups grounded to the bottom of pots. The only difference is that the old Les Paul pickups had a wired ground inside the cabling, and the single coils (SG) have the ground shielding surrounding the cabling. Does anyone have any experience with this?

[big_teee]

If I were to modify a humbucking pickup for split mode, I would just remove the existing cable, install a 4 wire shielded cable.
Wire one wire to each start lead, and one wire to each finish lead, ground the shield.
That gives split, and polarity reversal capability.
Another way to do it is to leave existing wiring intact, and run a separate shielded cable to the pickup.
Tie the new cable lead to the two finish leads. This lead can be grounded to split the pickup.
If it is not shielded it will be noisy.
T

[jonlundin]

Awesome! After reading this I'm thinking it might be noisy because the new lead jumping from the pickups to the switch are no shielded, just basic copper leads. Is this the source of the noise? Is it as simple as replacing my lead with a shielded lead?

[big_teee]

The humbucker original cable can be the old copper braid push back wire.
Or if a newer design, may just be a small insulated shielded wire.
When the pickup is being used in humbucker mode, with the new non shielded cable?
The Signal is going down the unshielded lead, and that is a source of noise, or hum.
If you run a new shielded cable, you can try hooking it up two ways.
One way is to ground the shield at the volume pot, and ground the other end of shield at the pickup baseplate.
Another way is to only ground the shield at the pot back, this makes a the shield, and not a ground conductor?
Try both ways until you get it quiet!
GL,
T

[jonlundin]

I also noticed on the existing split pickups, there were two cables running to each switch, is one of those a ground possibly? I did not ground the new connection with the new lead I installed...

Can I just run another lead out of the switch connections to the pots to ground them? As opposed to running another lead to the pickup and grounding it there?

Thanks!

[jonlundin]

Thank you!!

[Steve A.]

Here's a fun one for all the guitar electronics buffs. My guitar player wants to swap his single coil pickups from his SG into his Les Paul custom lite which has a split coil feature. The SG does not, but he would still like to use this feature. I used my own lead and jumped off of the combined two white leads in the single coils (from the SG) that are taped inside the actual pickups.

Am I missing something here? Single coil pickups can not be split since there is only one coil. However they can be tapped, something which is done when the pickup is wound.

[BTW I would suggest that novice winders add several taps to their single coil pickups to give them an idea how the winds and DC resistance affect the sound and response of the pickup. Something that I will do when I eventually get a winder.]

Steve Ahola

[big_teee]

He was miscalling the pickup, which was a single lead humbucker in a SG.
No Biggy!
Tapped SCs are a pain to make, I tried a few and decided to go SC, with no taps.
I never cared for the Tapped pickups. I like Stacked Pickups even less.
T

[Steve A.]

He was miscalling the pickup, which was a single lead humbucker in a SG.
No Biggy!

It sure sounded like it was an SG with P90's...

Tapped SCs are a pain to make, I tried a few and decided to go SC, with no taps.
I never cared for the Tapped pickups. I like Stacked Pickups even less.
T

Pete at Vintage Vibe made me several pickups with multiple taps- I didn't think it was pain. For the first tap you write down the number of wraps and bring out a loop of wire and tape it to the bottom of the flatwork and then continue winding until the next tap and repeat process. When you are done add the eyelets you need. You can then A/B test each tap to see which one or ones you want to use. Adding a switch makes it more versatile.

True story.. in the early 80's I assumed that winding pickups was beyond the capabilities of mere mortals but I would remove winds from a pickup that I thought was too hot. I was doing that to a SD Broadcaster pickup and dozed off dropping the pickup (something I often did but I could always ohm it out and fish out a wire if necessary to save the pickup.) Unfortunately I was unable to do that with the Broadcaster so I decided to unwind all of the 43GA wire and wrap it around a toilet paper cores to use to add wraps by to other pickups (I still have some left!)

Well I replaced that with a SD tele bridge pickup that I thought was too wimpy so I started adding wraps to it by hand making taps at 7.5k, 8.8k and 10k. I used a push-pull pot and a 5-way strat selector switch to be able to access all 3 taps. That pickup was perfect for my tastes and I used it for years before finally replacing it with a SD mini-humbucker pickup to eliminate hum (and eliminate good tone, too!)

Steve A.

[big_teee]

Steve, Different strokes for different folks.
In a Strat I personally like singles in neck and middle, and a mini blade bucker in the bridge.
I have several test guitars, and usually the blade in the bridge is what guys want.
I don't offer Taps or Stacks, I don't like them so I don't offer them.
I do offer lots of SCs, Humbuckers and Sidewinders.
T