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The Pickup Place / Re: Creating a Fatter Humbucker-Like Voice from a 2-Pickup Noiseless Setup
« on: June 07, 2026, 01:59:10 AM »
I should really document my values but I never do. They vary a little depending on the guitar. I don’t know your specific switching scheme so you may or may not be able to implement everything. I can usually manage just about everything with a 5-way super switch. I’ve never done work on a Jaguar.
In fat humbucker mode you want the pickup to see a 250k volume and a 250k tone with a 33nF or 39nF capacitor. Choose the value that works best with the tone rolled back just above the point where the top end is swallowed up. To smooth out the top end you want to try like 1nF in series with about 220k to ground from the hot lead of the pickup. It’s subtle and subtle is all that you want. You don’t want the pickup to sound lifeless and dull and especially not nasal. It ought to be just enough when juxtaposed against the single coil voicing.
For the single coil voicing I’d really only be guessing at values because I really don’t remember. I’ve done it for the FT1 in both the bridge and neck positions in different guitars and the values are probably also different. Volume and tone at 500k or possibly even 1M volume when I use a treble bleed. The bass shelf is a resistor in parallel with a capacitor that is between the pickup and the switch. Choose values that reduce bass and midrange and give a frequency characteristic that is similar to a single coil.
Keep the pickup wired as a standard humbucker. The Fast Track 1 is not going to provide a worthwhile sound in either split or parallel modes. Also, the wire colors between DiMarzio humbuckers and single coils need to be reversed for them to work together in phase. It’s most straight forward to wire the Fast Track as red to the switch, green and bare to ground, black and white soldered together and taped off. For the Area 58, green to the switch and red to ground.
In fat humbucker mode you want the pickup to see a 250k volume and a 250k tone with a 33nF or 39nF capacitor. Choose the value that works best with the tone rolled back just above the point where the top end is swallowed up. To smooth out the top end you want to try like 1nF in series with about 220k to ground from the hot lead of the pickup. It’s subtle and subtle is all that you want. You don’t want the pickup to sound lifeless and dull and especially not nasal. It ought to be just enough when juxtaposed against the single coil voicing.
For the single coil voicing I’d really only be guessing at values because I really don’t remember. I’ve done it for the FT1 in both the bridge and neck positions in different guitars and the values are probably also different. Volume and tone at 500k or possibly even 1M volume when I use a treble bleed. The bass shelf is a resistor in parallel with a capacitor that is between the pickup and the switch. Choose values that reduce bass and midrange and give a frequency characteristic that is similar to a single coil.
Keep the pickup wired as a standard humbucker. The Fast Track 1 is not going to provide a worthwhile sound in either split or parallel modes. Also, the wire colors between DiMarzio humbuckers and single coils need to be reversed for them to work together in phase. It’s most straight forward to wire the Fast Track as red to the switch, green and bare to ground, black and white soldered together and taped off. For the Area 58, green to the switch and red to ground.