Four-conductor wiring
A pickup lead that brings out both ends of each of the two coils separately, plus a shield, instead of joining them internally.
With access to four wires, the coils can be wired in series for the standard humbucker sound, in parallel for a brighter and thinner one, split so only one coil is active, or out of phase with the other pickup. That flexibility is why most aftermarket humbuckers arrive this way, and why push-pull pots and mini switches are so common on modified guitars. A standard vintage-style lead is two-conductor, which limits what can be done without opening the pickup.
Example: a guitar with four-conductor pickups and one push-pull pot can switch the neck humbucker to a single coil for clean arpeggios.
See also
Related
- PageCoil split
- PageSeries wiring
- PageHumbucker
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley