Coil-tapping an inline humbucker?

[Stealth]

Just out of the blue, a really odd idea popped into my head recently.

Suppose you had a Jazz bass outfitted with a pair of inline humbuckers, say, a pair of Villex V2JLH or Nordstrand NJ4SVs. Has anyone ever attempted wiring them up to a four-way switch so you have the following combos:

* neck is fully voiced, bridge silent
* neck silent, bridge is fully voiced
* neck's treble side is voiced and bass side is silent, bridge's treble side is silent and bass side is voiced
* bridge's treble side is voiced and bass side is silent, neck's treble side is silent and bass side is voiced

Obviously, the first two options are a standard we all know and love - however, how would the last two sound? Would the combination be humbucking in the sense a P-pup works, would it be clankier than both J-pups at full volume? What would happen?

Opinions, please.

[GeoffByrne]

Just buy an old Burns SplitSound Bass!!



G.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

I suppose that numbers 3 and 4 would be humbucking if the pickups are oriented properly.

[Cernael]

My guess? It'll be as though you can change between bridge and neck p'ups independently for the bass and treble strings. Say you're playng an ascending scale; it'll be as if you hit a switch to change from neck to bridge p'up (or the other way around) as you cross from the A to the D string.

The only time you'll sound in a way that's unavailable on a regularly wired J, is when you play strings on both halves of the neck at the same time...come to think of it, that might be useful when playing counterpoint, or when you want to separate the voices of a chord for some other reason.

[RyreInc]

Interesting idea! It'd be cool to have two 3-way switches, one for the treble side and one for the bass side, each doing B/B+N/N.

...Although, I bet all it would do is make the bass tone inconsistent as you go between the treble and bass side as you play. It would only work for certain styles I guess, and definitely not MY style!

[RyreInc]

Originally Posted by Cernael

come to think of it, that might be useful when playing counterpoint, or when you want to separate the voices of a chord for some other reason.

I didn't think of this, that could be VERY cool.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by Cernael

...come to think of it, that might be useful when playing counterpoint, or when you want to separate the voices of a chord for some other reason.

You could always move your non-fretting/fingerboarding hand around instead.

[Cernael]

^Not for simultaneous notes, you can't. The right hand can only stretch so far...