Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: octavio_amzer on July 20, 2007, 11:52:55 AM

Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 20, 2007, 11:52:55 AM: Hi guys,

need help choosing a pickup.

The guitar has just 1 Humbucker... and thats all! just a single bucker loaded on this guitar! Guitar offers Master Volume and Master Tone. (would be nice to make it a single coil with push pull knob)

So I need the most versatil humbucker and configuration! Metal, blues, Jazz, rythm, leads, cleans... everything you can! but mostly METAL :evil: (very into Opeth)

I was thinking that a contemporary alnico humbucker can satisy me.

what is your opinion? I'm thinking warpig...

going to a Korina neck and body with archtop mapletop, ebony finger board - randy rhoads guitar 8)

thankyou
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: WezV on July 20, 2007, 12:02:10 PM: If you want something that does as many styles as possibly its probably best not to go for one of the hottest pickups available. I would be leaning more towards the VHII/ abraxas end of the scale
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: Twinfan on July 20, 2007, 01:18:02 PM: Sounds like a bright sounding guitar?

A Nailbomb would be great in there I think...
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on July 20, 2007, 02:41:02 PM: VHII was my first reaction, but ... korina neck/body .... I'm gonna say Crawler or VHII.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 20, 2007, 08:37:20 PM: thanks for the suggestions.

The pickup must be on the contemporary side... and wanted to know which one of them is the most versatil.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on July 20, 2007, 09:55:07 PM: We just told you!!
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 20, 2007, 10:38:34 PM: Quote from: TwilightOdyssey
We just told you!!

sorry :oops:

maybe I should be more specific?

Nailbomb, Warpig, Cold Sweat, Painkiller, Holy Diver

VHIIs, crawlers etc are on the vintage hot side
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: TomW on July 21, 2007, 09:42:26 AM: I think nailbomb would be the best of the contemporary pickups for what you're looking for. Its very versatile and great for metal. Can get close to opeths tone with it. Warpig may also work but I havn't tried that so can't really say.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: _tom_ on July 21, 2007, 12:18:22 PM: Well I managed to get this tone with Mules which I think is about right for Opeth.. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=493678&songID=4951909

Cant see the need for anything higher gain than that!
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: indysmith on July 21, 2007, 03:59:19 PM: +1 on Nailbomb
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: Antag on July 21, 2007, 08:42:15 PM: Holy Diver is what I'd put in a single pickup guitar.

Those fat thick mids give a geat lead sound, it's got enough grunt for pretty much any flavour of metal & the warmest bridge clean sound you'll ever hear.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: MDV on July 22, 2007, 01:16:30 AM: Crawlers can hack metal just fine. The other week I was playing origin styled tech death with them in an epi LP and my bandmate on an 81: it held in there just fine.

Nailbomb is also a candidate.

Split and parralel warpigs sound fantastic too, so thats an option.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 22, 2007, 06:59:55 AM: thanks for your posts!

I forgot to mention I'm the only guitarist in the band...

I'm thinking Crawlers and Nailbomb, Even the mule, Warpig is also an option
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 22, 2007, 08:42:59 AM: decided to go for Nailbomb :twisted:

what options can I use with Nailbomb? what is this parallel, coil taping, etc thingies exactly? I would like to asign push/pulls on volume and tone for versatility but I don't know how they would work ro what uses or advantage they give.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: WezV on July 22, 2007, 11:18:12 AM: this is a diagram for a series/single coil/parallel switch with bkp wiring colours:

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/untitled.jpg)

if you use a push/pull pot or two way switch it will just be a series/parallel switch but that works well too.

If you can add a mini switch easily you can get a on-on-on switch for the single coil operation as well on the same switch

So with a nailbomb the switch would give you

humbucker in series - full 16k hum cancelling operation
(Single coil - around 8k non-hum cancelling)
humbucker in parallel - around 4k hum cancelling
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: octavio_amzer on July 22, 2007, 09:07:12 PM: Quote from: WezV
this is a diagram for a series/single coil/parallel switch with bkp wiring colours:

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/untitled.jpg)

if you use a push/pull pot or two way switch it will just be a series/parallel switch but that works well too.

If you can add a mini switch easily you can get a on-on-on switch for the single coil operation as well on the same switch

So with a nailbomb the switch would give you

humbucker in series - full 16k hum cancelling operation
(Single coil - around 8k non-hum cancelling)
humbucker in parallel - around 4k hum cancelling

wow :D thankyou very much! But is it possible to use the volume and tone as push/pulls so I can not use a switch? (the guitar was intended to be made without a single switch)

maybe I could asign:

Volume = single coil
Tone = Parallel

thatwould give me all the options available and not needing a switch. Or am I wrong?is this possible?
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: WezV on July 22, 2007, 10:24:10 PM: not sure how to get that to work. but mini-switches are small (hence the name) and can normally be fitted into a control cavity quite discretely with only one extra hole needing to be drilled. I would check to see if you have room for that - if you dont i would go with a single push/pull for series/parallel operation and forget the single coil option

If the guitar has volume and tone there is normally enough room between them to fit a mini-switch
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: WezV on July 22, 2007, 10:34:51 PM: Or am i just being dumb here - i think you probably could have one series/parallel switch and one coil tap switch on 2 push/pull pots.

Obviously the series/parallel one would not function when the coil split was in operation just not sure how else it would effect it - whever it would stop the other switch working altogether or not.
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: Philly Q on July 23, 2007, 12:20:23 AM: Quote from: WezV
Or am i just being dumb here - i think you probably could have one series/parallel switch and one coil tap switch on 2 push/pull pots.

I don't see how that could be possible - all four wires from the pickup would be connected to the series/parallel switch (assuming it comes first), so what would be connected to the coil split switch? :?
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: WezV on July 23, 2007, 08:49:55 AM: thats the problem - but i wasnt sure if you could run a wire from the green lead on the series parallel switch over to the coil tap switch.

a 3-way on-on-on mini switch is definately the easiest solution

tbh the more wiring i do - the more i like to keep it simple!!

You can do guitars with a gazillion settings but most people only ever use 2-3 anyway
Title: Single humbucker in a guitar
Post by: Philly Q on July 23, 2007, 09:24:01 AM: Quote from: WezV
tbh the more wiring i do - the more i like to keep it simple!!

You can do guitars with a gazillion settings but most people only ever use 2-3 anyway

I agree totally!

I'm quite happy to exploit the possibilities of a 5-way superswitch, but I can't be doing with push-pulls and mini-switches. Having said that, my two single-pickup SG-X guitars already had coil-split switches which I now use for series/parallel, and I do like the parallel sound.