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Wiring options for 8 wire (quad coil) humbucker

F

funnyfingers

Nov 27, 2005
766
4
#1
Kramer The Duke with 8 wire humbucker

http://161589.homepagemodules.de/file.php?url=http://files.homepagemodules.de/b161589/f2t29p70n2.pdf -- Thanks Cadfael!

I now have another bass guitar so would like to experiment with my Kramer Duke. I'd like to have as many options as possible along with stereo output. The stereo output could actually even be EA and DG or could be top and bottom portions. Any ideas how to do something like this? Also would like choice of stereo and mono...

I have 2 separate amplifiers for the stereo.
 
#3
Problem is that you have still only 4 Output wires - not 8 ...

It is not possible to split the EA and DG coils as brown+yellow gives a "Z" and white+green an "S".
In German it would be much eaysier to describe ...
You have "two mirrored P-PUs" (diagonal) an you can't "cut the wire" which connects each of these two pairs. The upper EA is always connected to the lower DG and the lower EA always to the upper DG. There is no way out (without customizing the pickup itself).
 
#4
Cadfael said:
Problem is that you have still only 4 Output wires - not 8 ...

It is not possible to split the EA and DG coils as brown+yellow gives a "Z" and white+green an "S".
In German it would be much eaysier to describe ...
You have "two mirrored P-PUs" (diagonal) an you can't "cut the wire" which connects each of these two pairs. The upper EA is always connected to the lower DG and the lower EA always to the upper DG. There is no way out (without customizing the pickup itself).
Click to expand...

If this is the case, then there are only four choices for switching: P, Humbucker, Humbucker series, and reverse P.

As for sending them to different outputs, have a look around for the Rick-o-Sound diagrams. It sounds like that's precisely what you want.
 
#6
If you can access the pickup, going by Cadfael's book (page 228) you could solder on a "tap" on each green-orange joint. That way you'd have six wires coming out of the pickups, and you could have a neck-J, bridge-J, neck-P, P, reverse-P and HB combinations. As a bonus you could make each P and HB combination work in series or parallel (J would have to remain in series).

However, to get all those combinations out, you'd need a rotary switch with at least four taps.
 
#8
funnyfingers said:
I do have 8 full length leads.
Click to expand...

Then you can really have any combination of the four coils.

Are there any you want in particular? I'd recommend throwing on some alligator clips and trying out different combinations to see what you like before you go with a switch setup.

For my 8-coil pickup, I used one of the [2 Humbuckers w/ 1 Volume Control & 5-Way Rotary Switch](Invalid Link Removed) where Neck(N) corresponds to the Neck(EA) coil and Neck(S) corresponds to the Neck(DG) coil; with the same for the Bridge(N) and Bridge(S).

However, this gives at least one instance of a parallel-P or a parallel-J in every single one, and I wasn't a fan of either of them because of the serious volume drop.

Ideally, I'd think your useful combinations would be series J (neck and bridge), series P, series reverse-P, and humbucker (two series J's in parallel). Unfortunately, I don't think there is any easy switching combination that could give you all of those. In order to do it, it would probably require multiple switches to turn on each coil separately and then other switches to determine series/parallel.
 
#9
FunkMetalBass said:
Ideally, I'd think your useful combinations would be series J (neck and bridge), series P, series reverse-P, and humbucker (two series J's in parallel). Unfortunately, I don't think there is any easy switching combination that could give you all of those. In order to do it, it would probably require multiple switches to turn on each coil separately and then other switches to determine series/parallel.
Click to expand...

It's doable with a single 4-pole rotary. Will draw and post in the morning.
 
#10
It took longer than I expected and stated later than I hoped - but here it is.

Quadcoil-switch_zps71711641.png


Click to zoom in. To make it work for the Kramer Duke pickup, make sure you tie the finish of the left coil and start of the right coil together on each side to get the "tap" wire (red and dark yellow).
 
#12
Also can you point me to some specific parts? I don't want to assume that I will pick the right part:) And by looking at this picture I am supposing there are 8 points on the part and connect the left side as shown and the right side... Also regarding the reverse windings, I am guessing that I could still wire it this way but some of these combinations will give strange results or no results at all...
 
#13
funnyfingers said:
Thank you! Does this take into consideration the reverse windings?

Something like this I think:
[N<N][S>S]
[S>S][N<N]
Click to expand...

That's a good point, I should've marked it somewhere. The magnetic and winding orientation should be:

[N<N][S>S]
[N<N][S>S]

This makes inline series combinations humcanceling, and cross-row (P-bass series and parallel) combinations humcanceling. The combinations that I'm fairly sure don't work (parallel inlines) in-phase would require that each coil actually have two wires out and a much bigger switch - unless some combinations were taken away so the whole switching "grid" can be minimized.

funnyfingers said:
Also can you point me to some specific parts? I don't want to assume that I will pick the right part:) And by looking at this picture I am supposing there are 8 points on the part and connect the left side as shown and the right side... Also regarding the reverse windings, I am guessing that I could still wire it this way but some of these combinations will give strange results or no results at all...
Click to expand...

I'll make you a switching combination with neck-J (series), P (series), MM (parallel), rP (series), bridge-J (series) - that would be, in my opinion, the best combination, and I'll mark the contacts on the switch for you.

All combinations I posted above work and give out some kind of sound - it's just that the "*" ones are probably out of phase (waiting on someone to check) and thus would sound very thin.
 
#15
I've been combing the forums to see if anyone has updated the final diagram above. I have a Duke pickup that I want to use with the exact config described by Stealth. Does an updated version of the diagram exist anywhere?
 

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