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how do stacked humbuckers actually work?

#22
even with side by side humbuckers, some have a "weak" coil design.. with stacked coils, the bottom coil is usually the weak coil.. the weak coil on either design will pick up the strings.. only the weak coil's tone has very little output.. it's not there to "color" or create tone, it's there to stop hum.. these sound like silent single coils..

but, some makers wind the bottom coil to full strength, and it will have an output and a coloration to the tone..
 
#24
throbgod13 said:
even with side by side humbuckers, some have a "weak" coil design.. with stacked coils, the bottom coil is usually the weak coil.. the weak coil on either design will pick up the strings.. only the weak coil's tone has very little output.. it's not there to "color" or create tone, it's there to stop hum.. these sound like silent single coils..

but, some makers wind the bottom coil to full strength, and it will have an output and a coloration to the tone..
Click to expand...

The coils will need similar inductance to work well for noise bucking I believe.

If they're sharing the same magnet as a core, they have to be the same size to work correctly. You could wind one weaker, and it might give better tone, but at the expense of more hum.

Of course you could use a different core material/shape, and wind a smaller coil with the same inductance. It probably won't match quite as well, so the hum may be very slightly worse, but close enough. The sound will probably be less affected, since the only major contribution of the second coil is its inductance.
 

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