Dual Coil Pickups

[Tony Dingus]

pros and cons of this pickup. Would this pickup be a good choice if you like a single coil pup and if you play somewhere and have hum, flip the switch and you've got a humbucker?

Tony

[John Bechtel]

I had several Sho-Buds with Dual-Coil P/U's. One way was 1/2-coil and the other way was Full-Coil. I don't know if Full-Coil was Humbucking or not! Ricky–Anybody know the answer?

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“Big John” Bechtel
’49/’50 Fender T–8 Custom
’65 Re-issue Fender Twin-Reverb Custom™ 15”
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[jerry wallace]

Tony,it dosent work that way..A "dual tap" single coil pickup is very different than a "dual coil" humbucker.

The dual taps used to be popular back in the 1960's and 70's..Some pickups even had 3 tapes { ie ZB}..

On a single coil pickup with multi taps, the one, single coil is tapped at different spots..The most common was about 12K and then the end of the coil at about 18K..most players found the 12K much to thin and brite and almost totaly used the 18K which was what a single coil pickup without the tap was wound to..

A humbucker has two seperate coils wound in opposite directions with the magnet{s} reversed in poliarity.
In order for a humbucker to cancel hum both coils must be "matched" and wound to the same DC/ # of turns.Some humbucker pickup builders offer a switch so that any combination of the two coils can be selected..Such as, in parallel, series,or a single coil rather than both..

Here is the problem with having one pickup sound good as a single coil and a humbucker.As I said to function properly as a humbucker both coils have to be matched..If both are wound at say 10K thats a total DC of 20K in parallel, the humbucker wiring and this should sound ok..But when you switch to one coil , you have 10K which is to brite/thin for most players taste..If you raise the coils up to say 17K it will sound good with one coil switched in,,But when both coils are switched in now you have 34K which most players find to muddy/thick sounding..

So in my opinion its impossible to get the best sound/tone as a single coil and humbucker from the same pickup..While both have their positives and negatives there is always a "trade" off to either a humbucker or a single coil..

Its kinda like "you cant have your cake and eat it too"..Some "Pro" players have humbuckers on one guitar and single coils on their other..That way you can maxiumize on the benefits of the positive features of both. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by jerry wallace on 30 December 2004 at 11:53 PM.]</p></FONT>

[Steinar Gregertsen]

A "stacked" humbucker might be a good compromise since this will pick up a narrower part of the strings, like a single-coil, while still have the hum cancelling abilities of a humbucker.
This way you'll keep more of the single-coil sound, if that's what you prefer, but without the hum.

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

[Larry Hamilton]

Tony, I play an Emmons LeGrande II. It had stock 19.5 pickups in it. It sounded really good. I decided to just try the Wallace True Tone pickups and see what would happen. I called Jerry and visited with him and decided to get a pair of TT 18.5's. They made a good sounding guitar sound even better. Nothing really dramatic just that little extra something. Most notably for me was the cleaness in the lower registar, and less 60 cycle hum in all environments, i.e. my bedroom, garage, various clubs. They were one of my best investments and recommend them highly. I play an Evans amp but have tried them with other amps and they always sound excellent. Call Jerry, visit, decide what might be best for you and get them. IMO they can't be beat. My 2 cents worth and plug for True Tone.

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Keep pickin', Larry