HSS mod

[tot_Ou_tard]

This guy has a Godin SD like I do and changed the neck single coil to a humbucker & added coil taps to split both the bridge & nuck 'buckers.

http://frosty.dbsclan.co.uk/Wiring/hsh_wiring.html
He also moved the 5-way selector becuse it is way to easy to hit it while playing.

This could be in my future someday.

[duhvoodooman***]

This guy has a Godin SD like I do and changed the neck single coil to a humbucker & added coil taps to split both the bridge & nuck 'buckers.

http://frosty.dbsclan.co.uk/Wiring/hsh_wiring.html
He also moved the 5-way selector becuse it is way to easy to hit it while playing.

This could be in my future someday.

Looks like a very flexible set-up. One comment, though--there's more to the characteristic "Strat tone" than just the fact that the three p'ups are single coils. The physical construction and "voicing" of those single coils makes a huge difference, and just coil-splitting most humbuckers won't make them sound like Strat single coils. More like a P90, I would expect. Which is fine--I just wouldn't expect this modified Godin to sound like a S-S-S Strat.

[Plank_Spanker]

I wonder what a Les Paul would sound like with three singles................

[phy7ajw]

Glad you like my mods tot_Ou_tard (and I'm pleased I'm not the only one who hits that 5-way switch in the original position!)

You're right of course, my Godin doesn't sound exactly like a Strat just because it has an SSS config - but then, what does a Strat sound like? My two Strats don't sound exactly the same as eachother - there's not one definitive sound, it's a ball-park... The point is that it does give me the same range of sounds as a Strat (and a Les Paul!) which is really what I'm trying to say in my page and hopefully the sound samples at the bottom of the page show that (although my playing wasn't exactly up to much the day I did it!)

Thanks for checking it out and I hope it's of some use to people!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Glad you like my mods tot_Ou_tard (and I'm pleased I'm not the only one who hits that 5-way switch in the original position!)

You're right of course, my Godin doesn't sound exactly like a Strat just because it has an SSS config - but then, what does a Strat sound like? My two Strats don't sound exactly the same as eachother - there's not one definitive sound, it's a ball-park... The point is that it does give me the same range of sounds as a Strat (and a Les Paul!) which is really what I'm trying to say in my page and hopefully the sound samples at the bottom of the page show that (although my playing wasn't exactly up to much the day I did it!)

Thanks for checking it out and I hope it's of some use to people!

Whoa, I post a link to your site ....& then you show up...welcome! & please feel free to hang around a bit.

The only other guitar I have is a Godin Radiator (ie no other "Strat") so I am likely to wait to change the neck pup to a bucker, but adding a coil tap to the bridge buckeroo is quite appealing.

See http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=1574 for the thread.

& yes, I hit the selector all the time.

Looks like a very flexible set-up. One comment, though--there's more to the characteristic "Strat tone" than just the fact that the three p'ups are single coils. The physical construction and "voicing" of those single coils makes a huge difference, and just coil-splitting most humbuckers won't make them sound like Strat single coils. More like a P90, I would expect. Which is fine--I just wouldn't expect this modified Godin to sound like a S-S-S Strat.

Do split buckers really sound closer to P90s?

[duhvoodooman***]

Whoa, I post a link to your site ....& then you show up...welcome! & please feel free to hang around a bit.

No coincidence, I'm sure. I'll bet Andy checks his hit counter service for where his latest website hits originate, and followed it back here. I do the same thing from time to time. You never know what--or who--you might find!

[duhvoodooman***]

The point is that it does give me the same range of sounds as a Strat (and a Les Paul!) which is really what I'm trying to say in my page and hopefully the sound samples at the bottom of the page show that...

And that's a great reason to do those mods. I've rewired all 3 of my guitars for the same basic reason--tones galore!

I just didn't want anyone to think that coil-splitting two humbuckers would translate to "instant Strat tone". There's more to it than that, as you obviously know. Nice webpage, BTW!

[tot_Ou_tard]

No coincidence, I'm sure. I'll bet Andy checks his hit counter service for where his latest website hits originate, and followed it back here. I do the same thing from time to time. You never know what--or who--you might find!

I figured that that must be it, I've just never seen it happen before.

[phy7ajw]

duhvoodooman's right, I check my site's stats every now and then and I saw this thread come up on a forum I hadn't seen before which is cool!

[duhvoodooman***]

Do split buckers really sound closer to P90s?

I'll let someone who actually owns a P90 guitar comment more definitively, but I base this contention on two things:

1. I have briefly played a couple of P90 guitars--most recently, an Epiphone '56 Goldtop LP in my local GC--and even though they are a single-coil pickup, IMO they sound much more like a brighter, edgier humbucker than a Fender-style single-coil. When I activate the coil-split on my LP's bridge 'bucker (a SD Pearly Gates), it reminds me of that P90 tone I heard from the Goldtop, albeit somewhat cleaner and with bit more high-end articulation. The P90 had more mid-range emphasis, as I recall.
2. Keep in mind that the humbucker was basically developed by Seth Lover at Gibson in the mid-50's to deal with the tendency of single-coils to pick up 60Hz AC hum and other sources of electrical interference. The single-coil design Gibson used at the time was....the P90. So it's not surprising that the humbucker when coil-split would tend to sound quite a bit like its progenitor.

Now how about somebody who really knows what they're talking about on the subject of P90's chiming in here?!

EDIT ADDITION: My comments were meant to pertain only to a standard humbucker design, not the "humbucker-that-fits-a-Strat" flavors that SD, DiMarzio and others make. The physical construction on those is quite different, and since they are specifically designed to go into a Strat, I wouldn't be surprised if they sounded quite "Strat-single-coil-ish" when split....

[tot_Ou_tard]

duhvoodooman's right, I check my site's stats every now and then and I saw this thread come up on a forum I hadn't seen before which is cool!

Well it's cool to have you here. Stick around a bit!

The P90 had more mid-range emphasis, as I recall.

From what I've heard P90's have a pronounced midrange. This is supposed to come (I gather) from extra windings (= higher output, lower tone).

EDIT ADDITION: My comments were meant to pertain only to a standard humbucker design, not the "humbucker-that-fits-a-Strat" flavors that SD, DiMarzio and others make. The physical construction on those is quite different, and since they are specifically designed to go into a Strat, I wouldn't be surprised if they sounded quite "Strat-single-coil-ish" when split....

You bring a a good question. What is the difference in construction & sound between a single coil sized humbucker & a normal buckeroo?