Splitting humbucker coils

Humbuckers are essentially two single coils, side-by-side, wired in series (out of phase to "buck" the hum).  One cool feature is that you can split the coils and use them as true single coils to get a brighter, cleaner sound.  I say "split" the coils instead of "tap" the coils because that is something different entirely that gets confused often.  Coil "tapping" is having multiple leads going to the same coil to access different output values.  In order to "split" your coils, you must have four leads (five, including the bare ground wire).  Here are some common humbucker color codes:

By connecting the South finish (-) and North finish (+) you have both coils wired in series with South start (-) connected to ground and North start (+) connected to the volume lug or the switch.  The wiring diagram below shows how to wire my Apex Humbuckers to a switch like a push/pull potentiometer to switch between "single coil mode" and "humbucker mode".  You will notice that my color codes are the same as Lawrence and Gibson.

If you look at the Tele wiring diagram above you will see that when the tone control is pulled up the lower lugs are engaged and the finishes for the bridge pickup become the "hot" lead.  Ground stays at ground, that means the bridge South coil is engaged.  Simultaneously, the right side lugs connect the finishes for the neck pickup to ground, making them the negative lead.  Hot stays hot and you have the neck North coil engaged.  When the neck North and the Bridge south are used together (the middle switch position) they are hum-canceling because they are reverse polarity, wired in parallel, out of phase.  

On most humbuckers, the coil with the adjustable poles is South-up, you can check by using a compass.  The North needle will be attracted to the South-up pole and South will be attracted to North.  My Apex Humbuckers do not have adjustable poles, but North-up and South-up coils are labeled on the bottom or you can use a compass to check.  

You can have a lot of fun getting some different sounds out of your instrument just by wiring it differently.  One of my favorite websites for wiring diagrams is www.guitarelectronics.com.

Strat Mod

Increase your tonal possibilities while leaving your Strat looking bone stock

a normal 250k tone control on the left and the modified push/pull pot on the right

One thing I have always loved about the Telecaster is the middle position of the pickup selector where you have the bright, aggressive tone of the bridge pickup combined with the warm, bassy sound of the neck pickup.  This is a sound that you don't normally hear coming from a Strat, but with a fairly cheap and simple mod you can achieve this and other tones, enhancing your tonal possibilities and without sacrificing any of the other tones or the looks of the guitar.

I can perform this mod to any Strat for about $50.  I can also make custom, pre-made pickguards with pickups, a switch, and volume and tone controls all wired up and ready to drop in your strat.  All you have to do is solder the output jack and connect it to the body with the included screws.  The cost of this depends on the options you include (pots, capacitors, pickups...) the sky is the limit.

Email me at schuylerdeanguitars@gmail.com to inquire about modifying your Strat.

If you are feeling particularly ambitious you can try this mod yourself.  Here is a link to a wiring diagram:

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUSSS5L2101/WDU-SSS5L21-01.html

Just keep in mind that you will need a good soldering iron with a small tip, a 250k push/pull pot with a short rotary knob and a second capacitor.