Fake Humbuckers?

[derrick007]

I was about to do an out of phase and coil split job on my Hamer Explorer which has dimarzio humbuckers, or so I thought. I already bought the push pots and took it all apart and as I found the pickups both only have two wires coming from them. The pickups are huge, 40 x 110mm bigger than many 5 string humbuckers, and genuinely sound like humbuckers, so I ask, what the hell? Could I have been fooled into thinking I had humbuckers by Hamer?

 

[David1234]

Most likely, you do indeed have humbuckers.

Not all humbuckers have 4 wires.

 

[derrick007]

The pickups are filled in at the bottom like EMGs, so I cant get to the wiring, so can I not split these pickups?

 

[not_jason]

It's true, some humbuckers come with 4 wires so that you can split the coils, but a lot of them don't. It's like that on guitar too. It's unfortunate that you have to learn it after you already invested in parts.

 

[derrick007]

oh well, how are nordstrand soapbars split?

 

[mikezimmerman]

oh well, how are nordstrand soapbars split?

If they are dual coils, they come with 4 wires.

Mike

 

[line6man]

That's perfectly normal.
Many humbuckers have only a two-wire output, many of them being only a single conductor with a ground braid.

If you are buying new pickups, you need to be sure that the pickups are specifically advertised as having a four conductor output, because a lot of pickups don't.

 

[xaxxat]

Some can be converted to 4 wires. It depends on how they are potted. Hard epoxy potting makes it not worthwhile. Wax potting is the easiest. Soft rubber type epoxy can be done but is tricky. I've converted several Peavey T40 pups. The blades are fairly easy, the toasters are very tricky. I've got an MM clone pup that I just opened up. The epoxy on it is a very soft rubber type. It just peels away.

If you're worried about damaging your pups, which can be easily done, you're better off to leave them as is.