In the next section, we'll discuss various switching arrangements of a guitar's pickups so that a great many tones can be produced.

Just remember that:

 Any modification you do to your guitar will void the warranty.

 Some of these modifications will change the appearance of your guitar.

 If you are not sure of your electronic skills you may actually do damage to your guitar for which we will not be responsible.

 Similarly, you may alter the guitar in such a manner that it becomes unsafe electrically in which case you could be harmed. Again, we will not be responsible for any injuries.



3 Single Coils Wired In Parallel

This diagram shows 3 single coils wired in parallel, allowing seven tone choices. The typical 3 single coil guitar contains a 5 way rotary switch which allows you to get 5 sounds - each single coil; neck and middle in parallel and middle and bridge in parallel. This modification will give you 2 more sounds - all 3 pickups in parallel and Neck and Bridge in parallel.



3 Single Coils Wired In Series

This diagram shows 3 single coils wired in series, allowing seven tone choices. Note that the switches are wired such that they shunt (or short-circuit) the coils so that they get bypassed.

With this modification, you will not get any parallel sounds which are so typical of the "Fender sound". (For example, "Sultans of Swing" is played with the middle and bridge pickups in parallel). The pickups in series gives you a fuller sound with much higher output, which is good for distortion. If you want a more versatile modification, go to the Wolf Wire Modification which will give you series choices, parallel, single coil, and out of phase options.

Humbuckers

Humbucking pickups are essentially 2 single coils right next to each other in one "package". If you want to know how this pickup cancels the hum, click here.

Since there are 2 coils, you can have up to 4 wires with which to work, providing you with a great many tone options. Almost all independent pickup companies manufacture humbuckers with 4 conductor cable. Stock guitar humbuckers rarely have 4 wires coming out of them but sometimes it is possible to convert 2 wire humbuckers to 4 wire types. This is an exacting procedure with little room for error but the tone rewards can be well worth the effort. If you really want to give this a try, then click here.

Pickup wire colors vary for each manufacturer. Two of the most popular manufacturers are Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan and their wiring codes are:

Additional pickup wire colors can be found here.

The traditional method for wiring a humbucker is to wire the coils in series:



Another humbucker advantage is that the 2 coils make it have a much higher output than a single coil pickup. This gives them a much fuller sound and produces a "fat" warm overdriven sound.

Sometimes though, this extra output might be a little too "muddy" than you'd want it.

Wiring the coils in parallel will produce a brighter tone (with somewhat less volume than series), but will still be humbucking.



Again, the humbucker could be permanently wired in the manner shown in the above diagram. However, if you permanently wire the humbucker for series or parallel, you are seriously limiting your tone options. Rather than settling on just one permanent wiring, a very good choice is to put a series/parallel switch on a humbucker.

Yet another tone option for humbuckers is the coil-cut switch .

Here you get a very bright sound but the output will be less than if it were wired in series and you no longer have hum canceling. Since you are using just one half of the humbucker, "coil-cut" sounds best when using a high output pickup (DiMarzio "X2N", DiMarzio "Distortion", Seymour Duncan "Invader", Seymour Duncan "Distortion", etc). A coil cut switch is relatively easy to wire up and it is just a matter of connecting one end of an SPST switch to that junction that was created for series wiring and connecting the other end of the switch to ground. So, we now have another 2 tone humbucker arrangement that can easily be switched back and forth between 2 tone options.



Still, if you have a humbucker with 4 conductors, you might want to go all the way and wire it for all 3 of the tone options we have discussed. The best way to do this is with a special DPDT on/on/on switch (see Diagram D in the previous section).

If that is the case, use a standard DPDT Switch with NO middle position (Diagram A or B) and use a separate SPST switch for the coil cut option.





Phase Reversal Switch

For single coils OR humbuckers.

Another tone option for a guitarist is to put a pickup out of phase with another pickup, producing a thin "inside-out" squawky kind of sound. When 2 pickups are in phase, they work together and reinforce each other. When they are out of phase the 2 pickups are working against one another and the resulting sound is the "leftovers" from these cancelations. The closer the 2 pickups are, the greater the cancelations, the thinner the sound and the lesser the volume. Therefore, the neck and bridge pickups out of phase is the best choice for this type of sound.

In order to achieve this sound (and to go back to a regular sound), we use a phase reversal switch (see above diagram). (For an explanation of how this switch works, go to Basic Electricity and scroll down to the 'Double Pole Double Throw' section).

It is important to state that you do not have to use 2 phase switches because reversing the leads of both pickups would put them back in phase!!

Wiring the phase switch is fairly simple. Solder 2 wires in the criss-cross manner shown in the diagram. In the guitar cavity, unsolder the 2 bridge pickup leads; solder the phase switch "Out" leads to the exact same spot where the pickup leads were; solder the bridge pickup leads to the "From Pickup" terminals on the phase switch. Mount the switch, close up the guitar and start enjoying the new sound you just created!

Humbucking Pickup Out Of Phase With Itself

As stated previously, the closer 2 coils are to one another, the greater the cancelations will be when they go "out of phase". So, wiring a humbucker out of phase with itself is going to produce a lot of cancelations, a huge reduction in volume and a very thin sound. If that's not enough, the pickup will not be humbucking either. Still there are some people that like this kind of sound. The best way to put a humbucker out of phase with itself is to wire the coils out of phase in series. (see below)



Just to make sure we "cover all the bases", it is possible to wire a humbucker out of phase with itself in parallel . This produces the thinnest, lowest output of all possible phasing combinations. Still, for those that want to give this a try here is the wiring diagram.





