Strat quack with two humbuckers!?!?

[tubesornothing]

I recently lent one of my amp clients my strat.  He loves the sound of it, especially the quack.  But he wants one guitar that does it all.  Personally I think it takes the fun out of guitar shopping, but I said I would ask around. 

So...  anyway I can turn a twin humbucker guitar to get a strat quack?

[Dynaflow]

 Maybe if there were out of phase or something... The thing I think that gives the strat quack in pos 2 and 4 has to do with the phasing of that combination of pickups. Its my favorite feature of a strat besides its contoured body. Great for rhythm and funk players like myself.
 
Regards,

Dyna

[ampgeek]

I just put Seymour Duncans in my 72 Les Paul Deluxe (mini humbuckers).  I included switched pull pots (volume position) so I can split the coils.  This provides many different tonal options.

With both pickups selected, neck in humbucker and bridge in split I am getting a very Strat'ish, honking tone.  Of course, the mini HB's tend to be more Strat like than the full sized variety so YMMV.

Cheers,
Dave O.

[jjasilli]

Ditto to ampgeek.  Also checkout Lindy Fralin Unbuckers with coil splitting.  You get about an 8K humbucker; 5K split as single coil. 

[bluesbear]

You could take a 2 HB guitar (Yamaha SG 200 or something similar) and route out a spot to mount a single coil between the HB's. Use a miniswitch to turn the SC on/off and push/pull pots to split the HB coils. It should work exactly like a Strat. Of course, you could do it on a Strat but the set neck and shorter scale is something to consider.
Dave

[tubesornothing]

Excellent!  Thanks for all the info guys!

[darkbluemurder]

If it is a 24 fret neck you can do it with two humbuckers and a 5 way super strat switch wired to give the PRS combinations of

1 = bridge humbucker
2 = outside coils of both hums in parallel
3 = inside coils of both hums in series
4 = inside coils of both hums in parallel
5 = neck humbucker

If the humbuckers have opposite polarities all combinations will be humcancelling.

If it is a 22 fret neck I would go H-S-H and (very important!) use a non-humcancelling single coil. With a 5 way super strat switch you could get the following combinations:

1 = bridge humbucker
2 = bridge inside coil + middle in parallel
3 = bridge outside coil + neck outside coil in parallel
4 = neck inside coil + middle in parallel
5 = neck humbucker

Different switching schemes would be necessary if you want the split bridge or neck pickup alone or the middle pickup alone.

Happy soldering!
Stephan

[G._Hoffman]

On a two humbucker guitar, you can't really get the quack, but you can get a different kind of quack that is good enough for most people who want an "all-in-one" guitar (if I'm honest, they don't tend to be that demanding - the guys who want it RIGHT will bring a second guitar, or a third, or a tenth!) by using one coil from each pickup.  Normally, when using two tapped humbuckers, I use the screw coil from one and the slug coil from the other so they stay hum canceling, but if you are doing an out of phase thing you need to use either both slug or both screw coils.  I have a Super Switch wiring diagram somewhere that gives you:

1) Full neck humbucker
2) tapped neck and bridge, in phase, in series (I think - might be parallel)
3) Neck and Bridge full out, in parallel (Just like a Les Paul - one of the things I don't like about PRS's switching is you don't have this sound, which is one of my favorites!)
4) Tapped neck and bridge, out of phase (both slug coils), in series (again, I think, it could be parallel, but I don't think so)
5) Full bridge humbucker

I've used that switching a lot for guys after an "all-in-one" guitar, and they seem happy, but it has a (to me) big problem - the out of phase position is a BIG volume drop, and there is no way around it.  Most of the guys I have done this for don't seem to mind, as they only usually use that position for rhythm work, so they can switch to one of the louder positions for solos and it works fine for them.  I know at least one guy gigging 5 nights a week with this setup, so it seems to work well for him!  Personally, I'd rather carry two or three guitars.  But then, I make my own guitars, so there is a different cost thing going on, and I don't mind just carrying them around in gig bags because I'm not that bothered if they get dinged up.  I can fix it.


Gabriel

[Dynaflow]

 When I'm actively gigging I always carry two, if you want a strat tone, there are cheap enough versions now that play very well, so I'd personally just bring the strat as a backup and arrange the song in a set I'm going to use it (like towards the end or something where changing a guitar isn't going to take a lot of time). That said, I have REAL strong feelings about strats and that darn trem, you lose a string and your hosed so mine often would remain home. I'd use it when we'd do demo's and such but for gigs, I prefered my Ibanez with a bigsby or Lucille which is usually what traveled with me.

Regards,

Dyna