Series wiring

Connecting two coils or two pickups one after the other, so the signal passes through the first and then the second, adding their outputs together.

The voltage adds while the current path runs through both, giving a higher output and a fatter, more midrange-heavy sound than parallel wiring. This is how a humbucker's two coils are wired by default, and it is also the reason two single-coil pickups in series sound noticeably louder and thicker than the same two in parallel, which is the modification often offered as a switchable series option. The trade is a loss of high-frequency openness.

Example: two single coils wired in series produce a sound closer to a humbucker than to either pickup alone.

Series wiring

See also