Read how to create a “Virtual Pickup” using a low cost modification employing the concept of Series/Parallel wiring. It is a rather long discussion and we hope that you will find it beneficial.
The concept of Series/Parallel can be confusing because it can be applied in two seemingly unrelated ways. However, the same fundamental concept can be used in two different applications, each producing a different tonal effects:
- Combining two pickups in series
- Allowing the coils of one dual-coil pickup to perform independently in parallel.
In the first application we will fuse two pickups together in series, e.g. the neck and bridge, to produce a fatter tone than is achievable by simply selecting both pickups at the pickups selector switch. In the second application we will show how you can separate and wire the coils of one dual-coil pickup to get a jangly and quackier tone using a parallel wiring scheme. A Double Pole/ Double Throw (DPDT) switch is used to allow you to switch back and forth between the series and parallel tones of each application.