I was hoping the G&L V12 MFD Humbucker would eventually become available in the shop and while I saw the Doheny single coil is on there the V12 does not seem to be. I've tried reaching out to G&L as I want a humbucker in my Doheny bridge but haven't had any responses back after a few attempts. However I have actually put stacked pickups under Jazzmaster covers before rather than go for the more expensive niche noiseless jazzmaster designs and that's left me wondering.
Has anyone have made their own humbucker out of say the S500 pickups? I have a full set including the RWRP middle and I'm thinking now I could just wire them together in series/parallel and drill out a cover to fit the 12 pole pieces. I know for other single coils the inductance would be really high and probably be rather muddy but I'm now kind of curious if parallel would work well for my needs and having it on a on/on with the option for series could be interesting, maybe even have the north "coil" split to essentially create the whole V12 on my Doheny. Is this crazy or am I missing some obvious short coming of creating my own?
Thanks!
Creating a MFD Humbucker?
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goatofballstreet
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- Location: San Jose, CA
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Rodney Hamblen
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:30 am
Re: Creating a MFD Humbucker?
Take a look at my gallery photos of my S-500+. The guitar has 3 humbuckers made from 6 S-500 pickups using a Commanche VI pickguard and my own wiring. I also have a photo of any old Fender Duo Sonic that has a humbucker made from 2 Strat pickups back to back.
It makes for a strong pickup with reduced highs. Just use your original covers and don't worry about getting both pickups under a single cover. That also gives you a lot more adjustability of the pickups.
If you want to be technically a humbucker use a B or N pickup with a C pickup from the S-500 or legacy. The Center pickup has reverse winding and the magnet polarity is reversed giving you noise reduction like a Seth Lover design. But you don't have to use a C to make an awesome pickup in a humbucker size.
The hardest part is cutting the pickguard to fit your new humbucker.
While you're at it think up some unique switching, you don't have to stick with the same old 5 way switch.
So yes you can make a humbucker with S-500 or Legacy pickups and they perform well. You'll get best humbucking using a B or N pickup with a C pickup. And there's plenty of room for 3 humbuckers although most folks go for 2 on a Strat.
Fire away with any questions. Don't get hung up on my gallery pics showing magnet changes, you don't have to change the magnets out of your s-500 pickups. I can't stand the standard magnet in S-500 pickups but many do.
You'll have to decide how important looks are to your project. That could increase the complexity of your humbucker build. If your main thrust is appearence you'll have to sweat the details on making things fit and going for an original look.
Good luck.
It makes for a strong pickup with reduced highs. Just use your original covers and don't worry about getting both pickups under a single cover. That also gives you a lot more adjustability of the pickups.
If you want to be technically a humbucker use a B or N pickup with a C pickup from the S-500 or legacy. The Center pickup has reverse winding and the magnet polarity is reversed giving you noise reduction like a Seth Lover design. But you don't have to use a C to make an awesome pickup in a humbucker size.
The hardest part is cutting the pickguard to fit your new humbucker.
While you're at it think up some unique switching, you don't have to stick with the same old 5 way switch.
So yes you can make a humbucker with S-500 or Legacy pickups and they perform well. You'll get best humbucking using a B or N pickup with a C pickup. And there's plenty of room for 3 humbuckers although most folks go for 2 on a Strat.
Fire away with any questions. Don't get hung up on my gallery pics showing magnet changes, you don't have to change the magnets out of your s-500 pickups. I can't stand the standard magnet in S-500 pickups but many do.
You'll have to decide how important looks are to your project. That could increase the complexity of your humbucker build. If your main thrust is appearence you'll have to sweat the details on making things fit and going for an original look.
Good luck.