Confused about Single Coils, Wiring & Volume Drops...

[JimF]

Hi all,
I have a guitar with a H-S setup, 1 500k vol, 3 way toggle switch, and I'm running a single coil sized humbucker in the neck. Realising I have other guitars with neck humbuckers, I was tempted to replace it with a single coil pickup for some tonal variety.
The guitar has a push-push volume pot for splitting the coils. When used, there is a volume drop on the neck pickup. Par for the course, but annoying.
Now if I swap this for a "genuine" single coil, would I still have the volume drop? Or is that more down to the fact I'm splitting a humbucker down to half of itself when using it as a single coil? I have a similar volume drop on a HSH guitar but that has the middle coil about 2" away from the strings (exaggeration) so I don't hit it with the pick, and put it down to that.
Edit: My other question is what to do about the volume pot being 500k. I mainly use the bridge pickup so I don't want to compromise the tone of that. Could I wire a resister in series between the neck pickup and the volume pot to tame the brightness?

 

[Choop]

You may or may not have a volume drop depending on what kind of single coil you use and it's distance from strings, and how you balance it with how your bridge humbucker is set. You have more control over it I think vs using a humbucker and then splitting. I think the single coil sized humbuckers already have kind of a thinner sound vs a full sized 'bucker, so splitting one probably makes its drop in output even more dramatic.

Dunno about the resistor question, but it seems like that would be doable!

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Volume drop is going to come down to a lot of factors, and there are some workarounds depending on setup, but generally you'll have a volume drop. It's not an absolute though, especially as far as how noticeable it is.

Yes you can wire a resister in, but I don't usually bother because I don't mind the bump in treble, and actually tend to seek it with singles.

 

[SalsaWood]

A treble bleed resistor might help, some of the J. Custom guitars use them. Probably your easiest and best option on that front. I should say it will help, but you may not like it all the same, so YMMV.

 

[JimF]

Thanks all, I suppose the best thing is to get a pickup, fit it, and see how I like it, and go from there!

 

[Drew]

Beyond the volume drop (and you can balance the output a little by either using a lower output bridge humbucker, or moving it further away from the strngs (or using a really hot singlecoil), but yeah it'll probably always be there - the only wildcard is if the mini humbucker isn't particularly hot, then splitting it might give you a singlecoil sound weaker than an average singlecoil, so maybe it won't be AS bad with a pure singleocil...

I've used a whole bunch of tradtional and noise canceling singlecoils in SSH configurations over the years, and most have been with 500k pots. Sometimes this is recommended - Dimarzio recommends them for their Area-series noiseless singlecoils, and honestly if you want a traditional singlecoil sound in a SH guiar these are worth a look - not only are they dead quiet, but the magnetic pull is weaker than a "normal" singlecoil, so they can be set closer to the strings (and baanced with a humbucker a little bietter). They're honestly pretty good, I keep a SSH pickguard in my closet for my Strat with a, I think 67 neck, 61 middle, and AT1 bridge just for when the mood takes me, for an easy swap.

For traditional singlecoils... honestly, it's pretty subtle, the difference between a 250k and 500k pot. I don't know if you could hand me a guitar with three tradtional singlecoils and a set of 500k pots and I'd even notice. It's, as I understand, less about how MUCH high end comes through, and more about where exactly the resonant peak falls, and it being a hair lower (and, in a point where people expect to hear it, for a singlecoil sound) with 250 vs 500k pots.

If your ideal singlecoil sound is that really transparent, almost hi-fi, 50s Strat sound, honestly, you might even prefer it. But, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[JimF]

That's great info thank you! Clears a lot up. I think I was focussing too much on comparing it to tales of people getting that "removing the sheet from the speaker" effect when going from 500k to 1meg pots on dark humbuckers.

 

[Drew]

That's great info thank you! Clears a lot up. I think I was focussing too much on comparing it to tales of people getting that "removing the sheet from the speaker" effect when going from 500k to 1meg pots on dark humbuckers.

Honestly, it's there... but it's an awfully thin sheet. In my opinion, at any rate. I'm sure others would disagree.