I have a dean ml vintage bass. Not too shabby, nice design. I, however, would like to upgrade my sound quality and buck the hum. Now my understanding is that it is possible to have a bridge j-pup wired to polaric cancellation, but I haven't heard anything about p-neck splits. I would like to be able to use both similtaneously. Any suggestions?
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P/J Humbucking Setup?
- Thread starter Infern0
- Start date
Usually when you're using a P/J setup with a single coil in the bridge position you're stuck with hum. If you have a Jazz bass that has two single coil pickups and then wire them together in reverse polarity you can have them effectively form one humbucker, thus canceling any hum. With a P/J you have three coils, two in the P pickup and one in the jazz, so that method doesn't apply.
The easiest solution would be to get a dual-coil pickup that exists in a J-pickup housing. DiMarzio makes great humbucking jazz pickups. You could have one in the bridge and then keep your P at the neck, and be hum free.
The easiest solution would be to get a dual-coil pickup that exists in a J-pickup housing. DiMarzio makes great humbucking jazz pickups. You could have one in the bridge and then keep your P at the neck, and be hum free.
Bear with me, I know electronics fairly well but am having trouble wrapping my head around this one. A split p looks like this:
________
0 0 0 0|
|0 0 0 0 |
... More or less. I was under the assumption that, in order to humbuck so to speak, a magnet would have to be paired with another magnet of the opposite polarity. This is my humbucker theory, which could be totally wrong.
0 0 0 0 ( + polarity )
________
0 0 0 0 ( - polarity )
Am I wrong? Are there other possibilities?
________
0 0 0 0|
|0 0 0 0 |
... More or less. I was under the assumption that, in order to humbuck so to speak, a magnet would have to be paired with another magnet of the opposite polarity. This is my humbucker theory, which could be totally wrong.
0 0 0 0 ( + polarity )
________
0 0 0 0 ( - polarity )
Am I wrong? Are there other possibilities?
The two coils are wound in opposite directions, that's what causes the hum cancelling.
Seymour Duncan also makes "stacked" humbucker Basslines for the J position.
Seymour Duncan also makes "stacked" humbucker Basslines for the J position.
Uh... more or less.
The two coils can be positioned anywhere - their physical location doesn't matter relative to one another. It just matters how they're wired. But yes, if I'm understanding what you're trying to say, a Precision pickup generally has the pole pieces "overlapping" in the center.
Right - the top part of the pickup that covers the E and A strings is one coil, and the bottom part that covers the D and G strings is the other coil. They are in series and out of polarity with each other.
Another alternative to the stacked humbucker jazz pickup is the split single coil. It's got more of that single coil sound but provides hum canceling.
They are the same dimensions as a normal J pup, drop-in replacements in most cases.
A split coil J is similar to a P pickup, one coil for each two strings, wound in opposite polarity, except placed end to end rather than staggered.
In a stacked J pup the bottom half of the coil is wound in one direction, and the top half is wound in the other direction.
In a stacked J pup the bottom half of the coil is wound in one direction, and the top half is wound in the other direction.
They don't have to be, though. Imagine shrinking each coil from a P pickup and putting them side by side, the long way. That's how a humbucking J-pickup works.
edit: This might help. Go to this site:
Invalid Link Removed
Check out the second set of pickups down. Two coils, one J housing.
Hello, i have a cheap 4-string with a p/j configuration. The J is probably a single coil so I am probably stuck with hum like superduck says. But I thought of this, since I want to eliminate hum, what if i wire one half of the p in reverse? Then it would stop being a humbucker and should probably behave like a single coil. Can i then wire this "single coil" p in humbucking mode with the j pickup? If this is possible and the rewired p sounds more like a j it would be great since i am defretting the damn thing and would welcome single coil sound all over As you might have guessed, I speculate a lot, I know very little. Is this possible? Thanks!
As you might have guessed, I speculate a lot, I know very little. Is this possible? Thanks!
