DIY WORKSHOP EASY PICKUP MODS THAT ANYONE CAN TRY PART 2
The modular construction of P-90s and PAF-style humbuckers makes it easy to experiment with them. Filter’Trons are much the same, and the magnet and screw swaps I covered previously will work with them too. Just ensure you have the right fillister-head screws and Filter’Tron magnet.
The scope for modifying Fender single-coils and DeArmond Dynasonics is more limited but there are still a few neat tricks that will change their tone and overcome some of the problems players encounter. First though, there’s one more humbucker mod that we didn’t have room for last time.
REWIRED FOR SOUND
Many humbucker fans enjoy coil splitting, tapping and phase switching but you can’t do it with vintage-style humbuckers that have traditional braided wire. Conversely, some players who have humbucker-loaded guitars featuring a bunch of trick wiring options that they neither want nor need may want to swap to vintage-style wiring.
Rewiring humbuckers is a lot cheaper than replacing them. The cover must be removed first, which I described in part one.
Let’s begin with four-conductor wiring. The wrapping tape has to be removed at one end to expose the coil wires, and you should be able to see two wires for each coil. One wire of the screw coil will be soldered to the centre conductor of the
