Humbucker sounds like a singlecoil?

[davos]

Hey guys,

I sent a set of buckers to a friend and he says that they sound like a Single coil, ie - somethings wrong.

He's using them with a coil split in the circuit, the output does drop a bit when he switches to singlecoil settings, and on humbucker setting it's sounding too wussy.

I wound it what I think is the same as SD do:

Both coils wound in the same direction,
Slug start = Black - Hot
Slug Finish = White - to dpdt together with Red
Screw Start = Green - Earth
Screw Finish = Red - to dpdt with White

I've checked over his schematic and it checks out. I originally thought that somehow it had gotten phased but it doesn't sound like it. I know its not the design of the humbucker itself as I've made them before plenty of times and they shouldn't sound like this. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem?

Cheers
Dave

[davos]

I should add that he's running through a blend pot instead of a 3 way switch, not that I could possibly see what difference that could make but ya never know..

[big_teee]

Might try just wiring one pickup direct, and see if he can find the problem.
wire around the blend pot, so it is out of the circuit.
Until you know what is what.
T

[davos]

Thanks Terry,

I got him to wire a bucker direct to the volume, bypassing the blend and coil switch DPDT. Same exact singlecoil-ish sound.

Im now wondering if its somehow wired in Parallel, there is more spank coming through but less bass and overall balls.

If there some way to check this?

Im sorry for all the noob questions but Im pulling my hair out here in confusion!

[big_teee]

Thanks Terry,

I got him to wire a bucker direct to the volume, bypassing the blend and coil switch DPDT. Same exact singlecoil-ish sound.

Im now wondering if its somehow wired in Parallel, there is more spank coming through but less bass and overall balls.

If there some way to check this?

Im sorry for all the noob questions but Im pulling my hair out here in confusion!

Do the old measure through the guitar cord DCR Ohm test, unplugged from the amp.
You need a Multi-meter that will read ohms.
Turn the volume pot all the up to the loudest position.
select the pickup, and read tip to shield on the guitar cord plug.
If it reads full dcr, then it is wired in series.
If it reads 1/2 as high DCR as should be, then it is probably wired in parallel.
Let us know what you come up with.
You may need to take posession, and us go from there.
G.L.

[davos]

Well I never! Learn something new everyday - I've never heard of that Jack test before. The amount of times I've had to open up a guitar to see what the output was directly on the pickup, I coulda just been doing the jack trick all the time!

I've asked him to check, He has also sent 1 of the pickups back to me so I can have a look too when it shows up.

He's sent me an audio file of an AB test with 2 sets of my humbuckers that are supposed to be identical, Im not sure I can link it on here though. Maybe I can do it on youtube and post a link (assuming it doesnt destroy the audio quality).

I've gotten him to do a few other checks to rule things out, I originally thought the pickups just needed raising up towards the strings but thats been ruled out.

Maybe I didn't charge the bars up well enough?

Dave

[David Schwab]

He's sent me an audio file of an AB test with 2 sets of my humbuckers that are supposed to be identical, Im not sure I can link it on here though. Maybe I can do it on youtube and post a link (assuming it doesnt destroy the audio quality).

Use Soundcloud.

[davos]

OK, here is the sample. Proto 3 comparison by Fliski on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

There are 2 humbuckers in this sample, the first one is how it is supposed to sound, the second humbucker shows the lack of bass and mids and how it sounds singlecoil-ish.

Both humbuckers were wound with 5750 turns of 42 PE on each coil with an Alnico V bar and were both wired the same way (direction and current flow). So both humbuckers were wound identically.

In this sample, both pickups are wired directly to the output bipassing all switching and hardwired into full humbucking ( Finishes wired together and isolated).

All slugs, screws, bobbins everything are from the same batch so they should sound identical.

Neither humbucker has a cover and the amp+guitar are the same and at the same settings for the sample.

Anyone's gut instinct saying anything?

Dave

[David Schwab]

Anyone's gut instinct saying anything?

Sounds like series/parallel?

One thing that would reduce the low end is if the coils are in-phase, which sounds out-of-phase, but that's typically extremely thing and honky sounding.

If it's not any one of those things check for a short in one of the coils.

I like the thinner sounding pickup better.