Increasing treble/bite and reducing midrange in humbucker

[Tone Meister]

Alternate interpretation... "I want this pickup to sound more like a single coil and less like a humbucker."(?)

Nope, not exactly. I want this pickup to sound like the other two identical pickups in my other guitars. I believe the maple wood has altered the frequency response just enough to stick in my craw.

Here's a suggestion so simple it can't possibly work... but since its easily reversible, it may be worth a shot:
Just remove the screws from the 4.1K coil! If the holes bother you, cover them with dot stickers.

Predictions:
Split tone unaffected. Total output slightly lower. Humbucking not noticeably affected. The 4.1K air coil, having lowest possible inductance, will yield highest possible resonant frequency for this configuration ...

Ok, I have definitely heard of this tweak before and had forgotten it existed. THIS will be my very next move after adjusting pu and screw height once more.

An added bonus would be the slightly lower total output since it is mated with two single coils. I am glad you brought this up because it is one trick I have never had a reason to try before now.

With the input I have in this thread, I am now confident I can get this baby dialed in where I want it.

[rjb]

With the input I have in this thread, I am now confident I can get this baby dialed in where I want it.

That's good. Because my next suggestion was going to be to "tune" the guitar's body with a router.
-rb

[Tone Meister]

That's good. Because my next suggestion was going to be to "tune" the guitar's body with a router.
-rb

Nah, I'd just have a pickup custom built, but that likely won't be necessary

[John_H]

John,
I hope I haven't put you off somehow with my comments. I think it would be helpful for you to consider, though, that I am a pro musician since 1978 and have a solid working knowledge if what I have, what I want, and a basic understanding of how to get there. I am very much splitting hairs here with an instrument I'm trying to fine tune to my tastes.

Some comments above do lead me to believe that the poster hasn't read the info I provided in its entirety, instead just asking basic questions or offering random advice without considering my real world, boots on the ground input. After all, I am the guy on the ground here and know what I'm hearing.

I read it, and you were offering random information. I was interested in the whole circuit. Here we are on the second page of this, and you haven't even supplied a clear schematic.

Most players, including many pros, would be hapoy if I handed them this guitar. So yes, I am most definitely splitting hairs here with THIS instrument. But bear in mind that this is one guitar among 23 others, and I need for it to work in my touring and studio rigs without having to make adjustments to accommodate it.

So if my comments come across a little curt, I apologize. But please realize that I'm not some kid with a MIM Strat trying to get his ceramic single coils to sound like a humbucker. I came here because I know the help I need is here. These guys know their shit and share it unselfishly. Can we just continue to give and take without being pissed off?

You come off as dismissive, and condescending. Perhaps I took it the wrong way. All is cool though. We can put this behind us.

I would like to suggest a 500k no-load pot. If you're not familiar, they disconnect from the circuit at a full clockwise position. https://guitarelectronics.com/cts-50...load-tone-pot/

[big_teee]

Does this thread need to be moved?
It has nothing to do with making pickups?

[Chuck H]

OK now to the report from last night show. Playing through a healthy blackface DeluxenReverb, actually the guitar performed very well and the treble was increased to a satisfactory level as a result of having lowered the PU and changing to the shorter hex screws.

I do plan to lower the pickup just a little more and raise the hex screws a little more. After assessing those changes in the real world, I absolutely plan to try disconnecting the tone control, but while I have the cacity open I will switch the tone pot over to 500KL as suggested just in case I decide to reconnect it at a later time.

I think I'm headed in the right direction for sure.

You mentioned the 250k tone pot is what you like. I don't know if that's for it's adjustment range it's affect on the guitars tone. If it's for the adjustment range you could try a linear pot for the 500k. It should give more adjustment on the top of it's travel compared to a log pot. Less finite control at lower settings though.

[Helmholtz]

You mentioned the 250k tone pot is what you like. I don't know if that's for it's adjustment range it's affect on the guitars tone. If it's for the adjustment range you could try a linear pot for the 500k. It should give more adjustment on the top of it's travel compared to a log pot. Less finite control at lower settings though.

....see post #35

[Chuck H]

....see post #35

Ah, yes. Great minds think alike. I sometimes miss the last post on a page because I view in linear mode. So sometimes things have moved to page two and I miss going back to where I actually left off.

[rjb]

BTW, I make pickups for the guitar, not make the guitar fit the pickup per se!

BTW, my suggestion of tuning the guitar body with a router was meant to be a joke. (Although admittedly not a very funny joke.)

... unfortunately I don't know of a way of reducing mids without reducing highs as well by PU construction/materials.

and there's what we can't do (Decrease mids without decreasing HF). There are control circuits to cut mids also....

So are you telling me that you are fresh out of miracles Chuck?

Here's something that would take a miracle to work:
As suggested earlier, remove the screws from the 4.1K coil. Now, instead of wiring the coils in series, use that coil as a choke. Wire the switch so that the bridge position selects the 7.1K coil loaded by the choke in series with a capacitor to form a notch filter (like a single position of a Gibson Varitone). I haven't worked out the details, but bet you could do it with a 5 position superswitch....



Yup, that's another unfunny joke.

[Tone Meister]

[John_H]

You schematic shows no coil split, and the humbucker is wired in parallel. Add a push pull pot to the volume control for the coil split (wired in series) , and a 250k no-load tone pot.

[Chuck H]

Actually, I think that schematic is correct. The "other" side of the switch (that is not switching between pickups) is grounding the humbuckers series coil connection when in the second position effectively eliminating the first coil.

[John_H]

Look at the hb wires. The coils are parallel.

[minim]

Look at the hb wires. The coils are parallel.

In terms of Seymour's color code the coils are wired in series - standard humbucking. The black auxiliary ground wire off the switch will then nullify one coil when in the 'in between', at least that appears to be the intention.

[Tone Meister]

The frequency imbalances have now been mitigated to a satisfactory level.

Installed a 500K no-load tone pot - that and swapping to the shorter screw-coil hex screws and lowering the pickup brought the HF up where it balances much better. It isn't perfect, but no guitar ever is. Sounds great in all positions now although the humbucker's mids still are quite prominent as compared to the same pickup in the other two guitars, but I can live with it.

The above diagram indeed splits to the slug coil in position 4, which also puts the split slug coil in parallel with the middle humbucker. I don't need or want the bridge to split by itself.