Split J pickup anyone? Why not?

[Doug4321]

Here’s the thing - most in line hum cancelling jazz pickups don’t have more inductance than the single coils - they’re wound to the same inductance. Yes, there are 2 coils, but each coil has half the magnetic material - the net result is the same inductance. By changing the windings, you can make a hum canceller with less inductance ( a Dimarzio Area J fits this description) - it has MORE high frequencies than most single coils. If you did a good blind A/B test, and there was no hum in either bass, the bass with Area J’s would probably be mistaken for the single coil one. You can also achieve this by wiring the coils in a hum canceller in parallel - indeed, that usually gives you too much high end, but that can be tuned to whatever you want with a loading capacitor.

That makes sense. Given wiring pickups in series darkens the pickups by increasing resistance, more wire to go through in series, but you could make your split coil J with less wire etc.

I checked through the current line of Fender pickups. All the noiseless stacked coil ones have more resistance and most have more inductance than the single coils. But their new noiseless one (“vintage noiseless Jazz bass pickup”) which hasn’t been there before AFAIK, has comparable inductance as the single coils. Probably the one to get if looking to get the single coil sound but humbucking. Their marketing descriptions are not too helpful, the pickups are all vintage voiced, with thunderous lows, growling mid and sparkling highs or some such thing.

 

[Avezzano]

...frankly I don't know if my bridge Bartolini Jazz pickup is a multiple bobbins prototype or a strange single coil or a stacked... thus the curiosity. I only remember that when it arrived, looking at its bottom you could see the epoxy (epoxy, am I right?) and several wires sort of mixed with the epoxy. Only two wires came out and I used those to finish my bass. I should remove the strings and unmount it, to check it carefully. Never seen another pickup like that in my life. And I exclude that anybody made something strange to it: it seemed completely untouched, stock... any Bartolini expert?

For the curious ones, why did I buy a pickup like that, without much info, on impulse? Because I already had a proper Bartolini J neck pickup; on the local Mecatinomusicale I checked and there was this bridge Bartolini and for only a few euro, so I just bought it unseen.

So, this morning I dismounted the strings from my Jazz clone, unscrewed the bridge pickup and finally took some pics. THIS below is the pickup that triggered this thread. The neck pickup is a traditional single coil, the bridge one instead...??? Anybody knowing what this pickup is and how it actually works? Thanks in advance for the patience...

 

[SlinkyMonkey]

Just wondering, side-by-side split-coil J pickups are like P pickups without the staggering along the strings (in terms of electronic characteristics) right? Does it make them sound closer to a P than a J?

Now I'm thinking about a stacked split-coil J in a humbucker housing, so basically four stacked coils. Guess you can make it sound like any one of the three, using series/parallel magic? Hmmmmm

 

[BlueTalon]

Just wondering, side-by-side split-coil J pickups are like P pickups without the staggering along the strings (in terms of electronic characteristics) right? Does it make them sound closer to a P than a J?

No, a split coil J sounds like a J. The different size and shape makes a difference in the sound.

Now I'm thinking about a stacked split-coil J in a humbucker housing, so basically four stacked coils. Guess you can make it sound like any one of the three, using series/parallel magic? Hmmmmm

I've heard of quad-coil pickups, essentially a humbucker made of two split coils. But I've never heard of a quad-stacked-coil pickup. That sounds like the sort of thing you'd have to custom order from someone, or make it yourself.

 

[Doug4321]

Just wondering, side-by-side split-coil J pickups are like P pickups without the staggering along the strings (in terms of electronic characteristics) right? Does it make them sound closer to a P than a J?

Now I'm thinking about a stacked split-coil J in a humbucker housing, so basically four stacked coils. Guess you can make it sound like any one of the three, using series/parallel magic? Hmmmmm

From what I’ve heard and it’s been mentioned on this thread, some J split coils sound fairly P-like and others sound more like a single coil J pickup. Depending on how much wire is wound, inductance, resistance and stuff.

Fender Meteora bass has what looks like two J pickups side by side, calling it a “Fireball Humbucking Pickup.” Doesn’t seem to be splittable with switches though. They just mention active/passive switch.

 

[SlinkyMonkey]

No, a split coil J sounds like a J. The different size and shape makes a difference in the sound.


I've heard of quad-coil pickups, essentially a humbucker made of two split coils. But I've never heard of a quad-stacked-coil pickup. That sounds like the sort of thing you'd have to custom order from someone, or make it yourself.

yeah by four stacked coils I meant four coils stacked together. I've seen one from OBL in the old pictures (in a jazz pickup housing no less) here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] bottom right of the second picture.

 

[SlinkyMonkey]

From what I’ve heard and it’s been mentioned on this thread, some J split coils sound fairly P-like and others sound more like a single coil J pickup. Depending on how much wire is wound, inductance, resistance and stuff.

Fender Meteora bass has what looks like two J pickups side by side, calling it a “Fireball Humbucking Pickup.” Doesn’t seem to be splittable with switches though. They just mention active/passive switch.

View attachment 4834640

Right the meteora and perhaps the blacktop precision.

There's also Schecter CV-4, which I thought has a split-coil option based on how the poles are colored. Sadly it is not the case.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Warwick Dolphin has that for a bridge.
That config is often referred to as a twin_j

 

[BlueTalon]

yeah by four stacked coils I meant four coils stacked together. I've seen one from OBL in the old pictures (in a jazz pickup housing no less) here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] bottom right of the second picture.

OK, gotcha. But you gotta be careful with the word "stacked" because it has a specific meaning in this context. It means one coil is wound on top of another coil, so they're stacked vertically.

You know what a single coil jazz pickup looks like. And you know what a split coil J pickup looks like, but here it is again, just because.

Parallel coils in a jazz pickup usually have blades. The pickup consists of two full length coils that are narrow enough to fit side by side.

Sidewinder pickups have a blade or row of poles, with the windings on either side of them. I couldn't find a picture of jazz pickup internals, but I did find a picture of a guitar pickup that shows what it is.

There are other types of jazz pickups, but that's kind of it as far as those with standard copper wire windings go.

That one pickup you referenced on the Bill Lawrence website is a parallel split-coil. It is not stacked.

 

[jamro217]

If you wire them in parallel (each pickup), your opinion would likely change - they're very different wired that way. In series, they're "P-ish", and in parallel, they have much more of the J vibe - bright enough so that you may want to back them off a bit with a loading capacitor. The Area J's are a different animal altogether - those in series are "more J" than a single coil J.

Thank you. I wired them for increased volume as the bridge pickups in conjunction with a P pickup. They worked well in that application but didn't have the same tonal voice as a standard single coil J. Not bad, just different.