Bongo pickups - series or parallel?

[stu42]

I tried to search for some info on this but couldn't find any.

Does anyone know...are the Bongo pickups wired in series or parallel? I'm guessing they're in series just based on the sound of the guitar but it would be nice to know for curiosity's sake.

 

[mynan]

Parallel.

 

[stu42]

Parallel hey? That's interesting...not what I'd guessed. It's definitely got a different sound than the Sterling or Stingray Parallel sound.

 

[bdgotoh]

Neodymium magnets and a different preamp.

 

[keko]

Neodymium magnets and a different preamp.

And different body wood too!

 

[ivbenaplayin]

and some kind of classified secret weapon too...

 

[MadMatt]

and some kind of classified secret weapon too...

Dark matter!... I'm telling you guys its dark matter... Maybe even anti-matter. I think I have found indirect proof... The Bongo is simply too light to sound so big!

 

[stu42]

Hey again...so, just to clarify....what about each of the humbuckers individually? Are each of the coils of a single humbucker wired in parallel to each other?

Thanks again.

 

[bdgotoh]

The coils inside each pickup are wired in parallel, and they are wired into the blend pot in parallel too.

 

[stu42]

Thanks guys! I guess this just goes to show how little you can really generalize about the sound you'll get from an instrument just based on any particular technical detail of how it's built (IE whether it has ceramic vs alnico pickups, series vs parallel wiring, basswood vs ash, etc etc). This has been discussed before and I know that it's true but this is yet another example.

I have a friend who builds tube guitar amps and he has to deal with the "cork sniffer types" who have pre-conceived notions about different things....like how carbon-comp resistors sound compared to metal-comp resistors. It's craziness. Like he says, it's not any one thing that determines the sound; it's how the whole thing is designed and put together....

Anyway...it's still interesting to know these things but just proves that the proof is in the playing and listening...not in knowing the specs.

Cheers