An interesting way to connect two humbuckers.

Hello, my dear readers. I have already told you about my winding machine for pickups (link) and my ideas on pickups with neodymium magnets (link). I will also talk about the new humbuckers I have made (while solving a number of non-trivial tasks) and use on my guitar, but that will be a bit later. Today, we will discuss ways to connect two humbuckers using a 5-way switch in the split-coil modes.

I reviewed quite a few ways to connect two humbuckers, and none of them satisfied me: I wanted the ability to split both humbuckers with a single motion, in such a way that I could choose which coils I split. This is easy to do with a five-way switch with four contact groups, but I didn't have one of those on hand, only one with two groups. I spent quite a long time thinking about how to connect them using a five-way switch with two contact groups. The wiring diagram is actually at the top of the article.

You can use this wiring scheme both with potentiometers and without them. I use them to short the bridge or neck humbucker and mute it completely, but you can also use a more traditional setup where one potentiometer controls volume and the other tone. However, in that case, you won't be able to play solely on the neck or bridge humbucker.

So, in positions 2 and 4, one pair of coils on different pickups is shorted. The sound will be similar to two single coils, but the coils are wired out of phase, which helps reduce electromagnetic interference. The frequency response in positions 2 and 4 will be different, which adds variety to your guitar's tone. Position 3 is straightforward, with all coils active. Positions 1 and 5 are interesting because instead of splitting, we are shunting a pair of coils with a resistor, which lowers their volume. The sound will be like two humbuckers, but it will be quite different from position 3. If you want to play with just a single coil, you’ll need to turn one potentiometer in position 2 or 4 until it mutes the pickup or adjust its volume as desired. If you want to play with only the neck or bridge pickup, in position 3, you need to turn one of the potentiometers until it mutes or adjust its volume to your liking.

Thus, this wiring scheme allows you to implement any combination of coils and adjust their volume as you wish.

Sincerely, Iaroslav Burcov.