Musicman Style Pickup with 2 Vols, 1 Tone

[needmoney]

Hey all,

I was just checking out this diagram on Seymour Duncans page...

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=musicman_passive_2v_1t

It shows how to wire a dual coil Stingray style pickup for 2 volumes and 1 tone control. I'm guessing this only works with pickups with 4 conductors. I've got a bass with a Nordstrand MM5.2 which I could potentially wire like this. What I'm curious about is what the end result would be? Would the coils be humcancelling when all the way up (like a jazz bass)? Would both coils together be in parallel (probably a dumb question)?

I like this idea as opposed to having a series/single-coil/parallel switch, as I never use a series setting, and this way you could solo either coil, not just one (with the switch).

Thanks!

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

It's stupid because you never have both coils in series. To me, series is where the action is with a humbucker.

It's like having two single coils in parallel under one cover, each with its own volume. I tried a OLP bass set up like that and found it pretty useless. Any time you turn one coil down you are no longer in humbucker mode.

 

[Kalango]

You could use a quad coil. Delano and Nordstrand make them. I have a Nord MM5.4, and it can be wired with 2 volumes and 1 tone. Doesn´t sound exactly like a SR5, though (IMO), mostly because I run it passive and in a alder bodied bass, with a maple/rosewood neck. It probably would sound more like a SR in an ash/maple bass, and with a MM preamp.

 

[needmoney]

See the thing is, I've got it wired with a Parallel/Single-Coil/Series switch at the moment, and I NEVER use the Series setting.

I'm assuming with the quad coil (5.4), if you wired it this way, each coil would be humcancelling when soloed. I don't really mind about the single-coil hum because it's not really noticeable anyway.

In this case I could still use the 5.2 for this setup since it has the same wires (4 conductor + shield) as in the SD diagram, right?

 

[Kalango]

See the thing is, I've got it wired with a Parallel/Single-Coil/Series switch at the moment, and I NEVER use the Series setting.

I'm assuming with the quad coil (5.4), if you wired it this way, each coil would be humcancelling when soloed. I don't really mind about the single-coil hum because it's not really noticeable anyway.

In this case I could still use the 5.2 for this setup since it has the same wires (4 conductor + shield) as in the SD diagram, right?

Yes, you're right. You will have some hum when one of the bobins isn't on the same volume as the other, though. In most situations, it really isn't that noticeable, as you have just said. Specially if you have a guitarrist with a strato.

 

[needmoney]

Yes, you're right. You will have some hum when one of the bobins isn't on the same volume as the other, though. In most situations, it really isn't that noticeable, as you have just said. Specially if you have a guitarrist with a strato.

Yeap. I just thought it would be cool to be able to mix up the coils a bit, say 75% neck, 100% bridge or something like that (not that most pots allow for that sort of granular adjustment).

 

[Kalango]

Yeap. I just thought it would be cool to be able to mix up the coils a bit, say 75% neck, 100% bridge or something like that (not that most pots allow for that sort of granular adjustment).

I think in this case, a vol/vol/tone or vol/blend/tone setup will be the best for you. Or you can play a bit with resistors, in order to have pre-determined amounts of cut in one of the pickups, like in the Fender Roscoe Beck Bass (a push-pull pot gives you a 25% cut in the neck pickup). In that case, you would have to use a number of switches, depending on the number of pre-determined "positions" you want to have. I'd go for a vol/vol/tone or vol/blend/tone, since you essencially retain the two positions you use (single and parallel), plus the other bobin in single mode plus everything in between. And with both volumes full on, you don't have any hum. So you can do just like Marcus Miller (from www.marcusmiller.com ):

"One drawback with using individual pick-ups on the Jazz is that if you have one pick-up set significantly louder than the other, you get a buzz that your average engineer will complain about. When I do choose to use only the back pick-up, I notify the engineer to expect a buzz. If he really complains, I keep all the pick-ups up full until the song starts, then I quickly turn down one pick-up!! No one ever notices the buzz once the music starts!"

 

[needmoney]

I think in this case, a vol/vol/tone or vol/blend/tone setup will be the best for you. Or you can play a bit with resistors, in order to have pre-determined amounts of cut in one of the pickups, like in the Fender Roscoe Beck Bass (a push-pull pot gives you a 25% cut in the neck pickup). In that case, you would have to use a number of switches, depending on the number of pre-determined "positions" you want to have. I'd go for a vol/vol/tone or vol/blend/tone, since you essencially retain the two positions you use (single and parallel), plus the other bobin in single mode plus everything in between. And with both volumes full on, you don't have any hum. So you can do just like Marcus Miller (from www.marcusmiller.com ):

"One drawback with using individual pick-ups on the Jazz is that if you have one pick-up set significantly louder than the other, you get a buzz that your average engineer will complain about. When I do choose to use only the back pick-up, I notify the engineer to expect a buzz. If he really complains, I keep all the pick-ups up full until the song starts, then I quickly turn down one pick-up!! No one ever notices the buzz once the music starts!"

Cool cool. I don't really wanna start fiddling around with resistors just yet but I think the Vol/Vol/tone setup would be just dandy! I don't mind about the hum anyway, I ain't going into a studio anytime soon!

 

[Shoewreck]

Yes, two coils full on in parallel will cancel out the noise. Tonewise... It depends on your magnetic system. Some humbuckers have magnetically linked polepieces - the only thing you'll gain from turning down the volume on one coil is hum, because both coils will pick up almost the same signal - that's the exact case on my bass. If the humbucker is actually a pair of independent singles in common housing the trick may be worth it - at least single coil sound will be availiable to you.

 

[needmoney]

If the humbucker is actually a pair of independent singles in common housing the trick may be worth it - at least single coil sound will be availiable to you.

I'm pretty sure that's the case, here's a picture taken from the Nordstrand site..

 

[Shoewreck]

Seems like fully independent.

 

[needmoney]

Seems like fully independent.

You mean each coil or the whole thing as one like you were saying? I'd have to confirm with Nordstrand.

 

[Shoewreck]

Two independent coils sharing common housing. Of course, guys at Nordstrand are more competent.

 

[Kalango]

I never tried the Nordstrand MM5.2, but the MM5.4 I have has two independent coils. And all the MM style dual coil pickups I tried (5 or 6,including barts and basslines) had two independent coils, and I think the same applies to the Nordstrand 5.2 for it's intendend have a tone close to the original Musicman, whose pickup is dual coil as well; and I think that, if a pickup doesn't have independent coils, it most likely will not be able to be accept a single/series/parallel switch; and I also think that, if they were anything but the usual dual coil, they would be called something else in the Nordstrand webpage. Anyway, there's nothing better than the word of the man himself, and judging by what I've seen here on talkbass, he is pretty accessible. And you can put your series/single/parallel switch back in your bass easily, also, if things don't turn out so well as we expect.
Waiting for the results...

 

[needmoney]

Whoops, it's got a Series/Single-Coil/Parallel switch at the moment so it's obviously two coils, duh on my part!

Ordering parts shortly, will post my results in due time!