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Guitar Lounge / Simple but Effective Wiring for Guitars with one Humbucker

« on: June 11, 2026, 03:52:19 AM »

https://www.premierguitar.com/mod-garage-the-triple-threat-solo-humbucker-wiring

Recently I set up two guitars with just a bridge humbucker (one strat with a Breed Bridge, one Esquire with a Chopper T).
The wiring uses a standard 3-way toggle (as common in an tele type guitar with two pickups), one volume and one tone control, and allows the coils to be put in series (fat humbucker tone), parallel (leaner humbucker tone) and single coil. Very simple but very versatile given that there is only one pickup.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Creating a Fatter Humbucker-Like Voice from a 2-Pickup Noiseless Setup

« on: June 09, 2026, 11:45:41 AM »

(1) does work to some extent. With single coils in the bridge, a cap of 0.0015uf (= 1.5nf or 1500pf) is a good starting point. Go higher if it is not enough and go lower if it is too much.

I never tried (2) so I cannot provide any useful insights here.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« on: June 01, 2026, 05:07:32 AM »

I didn't mention the Satch Track because I don't have any experience with it.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« on: May 26, 2026, 04:12:38 AM »

Keep in mind that in the 50s when the role model for the 36th was invented (the Gibson PAF) there was no such thing as a "bridge" or "neck" pickup. It is all personal preference.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« on: May 21, 2026, 04:28:56 AM »

Back to topic: in order to have a suitable balance with the Tone Zone in the bridge, I would also lean to the Air Norton S as a compromise between clarity and high output. The Chopper could be an alternative, even though I only ever used it in the bridge position. Be sure to use pots of at least 500k.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« on: May 05, 2026, 11:54:30 AM »

It is also my experience that the Cruisers are rather low output. I could never use them in combination with anything similar to an AT-1 in output as Andy Timmons does. Apparently it works for him but for me the output differences between the bridge HB and the Cruisers would be too much. I would need a hefty amount of compression on the clean tones to make it work.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review

« on: April 22, 2026, 05:18:30 AM »

It took me  a while to read your review. Many thanks for posting such a detailed review with specs and pics included, very much appreciated.

Cheers Stephan

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Gear Closet / Re: Compression?

« on: April 08, 2026, 06:18:23 AM »

Unfortunately my Tone Press developed a noise problem which manifests itself in a weird noise artifact when the tone decays. It is definitely the compressor - switch it off and the noise disappears. Use another comp - the noise does not return.

I replaced it with a Wampler Ego Mini Compressor which I like even more than the Tone Press when it was still working.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Looking for a Neck PU to pair with a Satchur8 - HFH with A8?

« on: April 08, 2026, 06:11:35 AM »

If you don't like the PAF Pro in the neck, the FRED may only offer a bit more midrange and a bit more harmonics (at least that was the impression of both pickups back to back in the same guitar but in the bridge position). I was thinking LiquiFire as this has more midrange, similar to an Air Norton but less low end. Saying that, I had both the LiquiFire and the Bluesbucker back to back in the same guitar and preferred the Bluesbucker, in particular for its splitting capability.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Telecaster Tone in a Humbucker

« on: April 08, 2026, 06:06:28 AM »

FWIW I do not hear anything P90 in the Bluesbucker, even though it is often mentioned.

With the coils wired in series, it resembles a PAF in tone, although it is slightly tighter in the low end. With the screw coil active it sounds like a single coil which is close in volume to the series wiring, thus eliminating the usually weaker split tone of regular PAF type humbuckers.

If you want true tele tone I do not know of any normal sized humbucker which does that. The best option would be an adapter ring but you may also have to enlarge the route in the body to make the tele bridge pickup fit.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Looking for a Neck PU to pair with a Satchur8 - HFH with A8?

« on: April 07, 2026, 03:47:36 AM »

Since you already have the PAF Pro it is worth a try even though it did not work in the other guitars you tried it in. That would give you at least another baseline for further experimentation.

Cheers Stephan

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: FRED

« on: March 30, 2026, 05:05:52 AM »

The Breed neck would be fatter than the FRED. Works well with a 250k load BTW. I have my main strat set up with one, with an Area 67 in the middle and an Area 61 in the neck.

The Breed bridge would be very dark with a 250k load.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Replacing Fender noiseless with Injectors while keeping S1 intact

« on: March 30, 2026, 05:04:11 AM »

Injectors and Areas have the same connection wires - red, black, white, green and bare.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Replacing Fender noiseless with Injectors while keeping S1 intact

« on: March 24, 2026, 11:05:51 AM »

Hi Jim,

The Fender Noiseless pickup are two wire pickups with one extra ground wire - basically the same as the Injectors (if you ignore the combined black and white wires). So the Injectors should work with the S1 switch.

I also found an article about the general S1 wiring options here: https://www.fender.com/articles/setup/how-the-s-1-switch-gives-you-more-tonal-options

It seems like all switching options only require pickups that have two signal wires and a separate ground wire, confirming my impression that the Injectors should work in this application.

Cheers Stephan

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The mini bar (off topic & misc) / Re: The Trading Post - Clearing Action

« on: March 19, 2026, 06:26:45 AM »

WTB posts from before 2021 are also removed. Next removal run will remove anything before 2026.

If you feel that I deleted relevant posts please feel free to repost as we all can then be sure it is still relevant. Thanks.