Evening volume level when coil splitting

[colcifer]

Would it be possible to put a boost circuit in an instrument and have the one switch control both? I'm curious to see if anyone has done something like this.

thanks,
c

[walterw]

i thought you were complaining about volume issues when playing at night

in theory, yes you could wire up a boost of some sort, given a switch with enough contacts. trouble is, you'd be boosting up the single-coil hum at the same time.

[colcifer]

Good point; I hadn't thought of that.

[Hookus]

So if the signal-noise ratio does not change, what does it matter if you boost it inside the guitar, or turn the amp up? Same thing. Adding a boost to the guitar is not going to increase the noise the pickup makes. It will work just like a preamp, and amplify noise that is already there. In either case, you are not changing the noise coming from the pickup.

You can make a clean boost with a trim pot instead of volume that is about the size of a dime.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Hookus

So if the signal-noise ratio does not change, what does it matter if you boost it inside the guitar, or turn the amp up? Same thing. Adding a boost to the guitar is not going to increase the noise the pickup makes. It will work just like a preamp, and amplify noise that is already there. In either case, you are not changing the noise coming from the pickup.

sure, a good preamp shouldn't create more initial hum in a single coil, but if you boost the total signal coming out of the pickup, and since (as you correctly say) the S/N ratio does not change, then you will boost up the noise as well.

the hum contrast between the dual-coil mode and the single-coil mode would still be exaggerated.