Disable half of a humbucker for brighter tone?

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I've been on a quest for getting bright, fender lap steel sound from my C6 neck on my Emmons SKH D10. It occurred to me that since I have Lawrence 710s, would it make sense to install a switch to disconnect half of the humbucker and get a single coil sound? (At the expense of a little hum)

I also have a set of telonics pickups- would something like this work with those?

I think I'm going to install connectors so I can swap pickups without re-soldering. Before I go in there and start trying things, I figured I'd ask whether switching one side of the pickup is even a valid concept.

[Richard Sinkler]

If the 710 has 3 wires, you can wire a switch to make it a single coil. I have an XR16 in my Carter that I have wired to a switch to change from humbucker to single coil. Works great.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

.....Before I go in there and start trying things, I figured I'd ask whether switching one side of the pickup is even a valid concept.

Absolutely Lynn. But.
There's always a but.
It needs to already have 4 wires. Some do, some don't. I've seen 710's with 4 wires. I have a 710 (712) with only 2.
If you've got 4, then you'll need to know the color scheme so as to know how to wire it to the switch. A search here will probably turn up what you need. Or else a search at the Wilde site.

[John Larson]

You can, this is common in six string spanish style electrics.
A few words of warning.

The output will decrease. Not a big problem if you arent constantly switching between humbucker and single coil.

There may be a lot more 60 cycle hum than a normal single coil pickup due to it not being designed and shielded for using only one coil.

Now there is another way of doing this to get a brighter more focused sound. Normal humbuckers have the coils wired in series. If you wire the coils in parallel you will get a more "single coil" sound with no hum.

This is going to require a pickup have 4 wires so you can get a lead from center of the coils.

[Bill A. Moore]

I had a Peavey Powerslide that used a pot between one set of coils in the humbucker. It acted like a tone control, they may have had a cap in the circuit also.

[Karl Paulsen]

Now there is another way of doing this to get a brighter more focused sound. Normal humbuckers have the coils wired in series. If you wire the coils in parallel you will get a more "single coil" sound with no hum.

This is going to require a pickup have 4 wires so you can get a lead from center of the coils.

If your going to wire in a switch, might as well just make it a 3 position with Series, Parallel and single coil options. I'm considering having a humbucker in one of my basses wired this way.

I had a Peavey Powerslide that used a pot between one set of coils in the humbucker. It acted like a tone control, they may have had a cap in the circuit also.

Very interesting. That sounds like the setup in T40 basses and T60 guitars. Tone controls that roll away the second coil partway through and also function as a time control. Very useful.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

My apologies for adding confusion with the mention of 4 leads. Maybe the 705 has 4? The Wilde site mentions wiring schemes for 3 and 4 but does not specify which pickups are wired how. But again, it's all moot for me because mine only has 2. If that's what you've got, there's not much you can do. If you've got 2 but there is a bunch of tape wrapped near the end, it might be covering tied-together leads (meaning you've still got the options).

[John Larson]

If your going to wire in a switch, might as well just make it a 3 position with Series, Parallel and single coil options. I'm considering having a humbucker in one of my basses wired this way.

Yep, I wired my rogue lap steel like this with a Gibson Firebird type minihumbucker. The parallel gets that really "glassy" Fender strat type sound.

[Noah Miller]

In the guitar world, coil splitting like this has become very common. The thing is: just as there is no universal humbucker sound, there's no universal single-coil sound. If you split a PAF-style humbucker, you absolutely don't get a Strat or Tele sound! Of course, the 710 is not a Gibson PAF, so it's not a perfect analogy; but if you have a particular sound in your head, splitting it may not get you there just because you're left with a single coil.

There's no downside to trying it if the pickup has enough leads to support splitting, just don't expect it to turn your steel into a Fender.

[D Schubert]

The use of a pot to blend in a second coil has been used on several Peavey six-string guitars as well as the Powerslide. Some of the earliest Telecasters also used a blend pot, and it's an important feature on the Stringmasters as well.

[Richard Sinkler]

.....Before I go in there and start trying things, I figured I'd ask whether switching one side of the pickup is even a valid concept.

Absolutely Lynn. But.
There's always a but.
It needs to already have 4 wires. Some do, some don't. I've seen 710's with 4 wires. I have a 710 (712) with only 2.
If you've got 4, then you'll need to know the color scheme so as to know how to wire it to the switch. A search here will probably turn up what you need. Or else a search at the Wilde site.

Both BL XR16 pickups I had only had 3 wires, black white and red. The red wire is the one that goes to a spst switch and then to ground. I almost bought a 710 that had 4 wires. My understand (from Becky at Wylde) was that the two extra wires were so you could choose which coil to use as the single coil and wire it to a switch. I think you could wire the 2 extra wires to a 3-way switch and be able to choose either coil or both for humbucker mode.. I belive you wire the two extra wires together if you only want humbucker capability.

Picture of my humbucker/single coil switch. I di the same to a Mullen I used to have.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

It seems to me that I should be able to gain access to all the required wires for both coils, if I take the pickup apart enough, right? I mean, the wires are there, but they are just covered up by tape/shrink wrap- whatever.

I'm a very experienced electronic tech, so I'm sure I can handle this.

[Bob Carlucci]

In the guitar world, coil splitting like this has become very common. The thing is: just as there is no universal humbucker sound, there's no universal single-coil sound. If you split a PAF-style humbucker, you absolutely don't get a Strat or Tele sound! Of course, the 710 is not a Gibson PAF, so it's not a perfect analogy; but if you have a particular sound in your head, splitting it may not get you there just because you're left with a single coil.

There's no downside to trying it if the pickup has enough leads to support splitting, just don't expect it to turn your steel into a Fender.

For reasons I can't explain, there is a profound difference on pedal steels, as opposed to 6 string.. Over many decades, I have owned dozens of guitars with buckers, and yes you are correct isolating the coil is often not dramatic,,, However, in 45 years of playing pedal steel, I can attest to the fact that when isolating a single coil from a humbucker on a pedal steel makes a huge difference.. So much so, that I sold off my last Fender pedal steel as I could get my Marlen to sound almost exactly like it with one of the switch positions... I use a 705, and I get 3 very distinct tones, each one with a very different character.. Not sure a 710 would respond the same way, but the 705 is very useful for those that want to get 3 different sounds, with its 4 wire array... At this point its the only pickup I would use...

[Lynn Kasdorf]

So, it seems that to get the ultimate flexibilty, I'd want to have the following possibilities controlled by a couple switches:

1. Both coils in series (normal)
2. Both coils in series, with polarity swapped on one
3. Both coils in parallel
4. Both coils in parallel with one coil polarity swapped
5. Just one of the coils (I guess which one wouldn't matter)

I like Richard Sinkler's toggle switch on a little L bracket on the underside. I can get all the combinations with two DPDT switches, one of which has a center off.

[Karl Paulsen]

So, it seems that to get the ultimate flexibilty, I'd want to have the following possibilities controlled by a couple switches:

1. Both coils in series (normal)
2. Both coils in series, with polarity swapped on one
3. Both coils in parallel
4. Both coils in parallel with one coil polarity swapped
5. Just one of the coils (I guess which one wouldn't matter)

I like Richard Sinkler's toggle switch on a little L bracket on the underside. I can get all the combinations with two DPDT switches, one of which has a center off.

I'm not sure of the usefulness of settings with one polarity swapped, but there's certainly nothing wrong with having more options. Could they all be put on a strat-style 5-way switch?

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I'm not sure of the usefulness of settings with one polarity swapped, but there's certainly nothing wrong with having more options. Could they all be put on a strat-style 5-way switch?

Guitar guys often have polarity reversal options- it definitely changes tone. I thought about a 5 position wafer switch like a Tele. It might be possible, but actually two toggles might actually be easier for me to operate. and take less space. I would mount these on the underside somewhere. And of course, I'd do this for both necks.

Mickey Adams has a steel that has an array of toggle switches between the necks. I wonder if he is doing something like this, or coil taps.

I found this article on pickup phase reversal.
https://www.fralinpickups.com/2020/04/1 ... kup-phase/

[Noah Miller]

Phase switches on guitars are nowhere near as common as series/parallel switches. Phase reversal switching between two coils in the same humbucker is exceptionally rare, and for a good reason: you need some distance between the coils to avoid cancelling out the bulk of your output.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Phase switches on guitars are nowhere near as common as series/parallel switches. Phase reversal switching between two coils in the same humbucker is exceptionally rare, and for a good reason: you need some distance between the coils to avoid cancelling out the bulk of your output.

I hadn't thought of that- thanks! I guess on a strat, they are switching polarity of one of the pickups when multiples are combined- and not flipping coils on a humbucker.

This is why I posted the question - thanks.

Maybe I'll just do a series/parallel switch, and maybe a 2nd switch to turn off one of the coils. Or, come to think of it, I could get it all with a center-off 3PDT switch. The center position would be single coil.