I found a secret pickup combination in my Silo...

[RocketRalf]

Yet I'm not sure what it is!

It happens somewhere between the neck H and neck+middle position. It is louder than any other position, has the top sparkle of a single coil, and it hums. I'm guessing it's the full neck humbucker parallel to the single coil, where one half of the switch blade is already touching the single coil but the other hasn't split the humbucker yet. Is that possible?

It is a perfectly usable sound, quite different from the other positions, great for solos because it is louder and cuts trough better than the neck H.

As anyone else experienced this before in a Silo or any other guitar for that matter?

 

[threeminutesboy]

Similar thing happen with my ASS where I have somehow just one coil of the humbucker when the blade is between 2 position

it's nice but hardy manageable during live performance

in order to know which pup is active take a screw driver tip and tap on the pole piece of each pole you will be able to see which is really the active part of the pup

 

[robelinda2]

Same thing on my old HSS Silo Special, there's a little position between the humbucker and the humbucker/middle position.

 

[RocketRalf]

Similar thing happen with my ASS where I have somehow just one coil of the humbucker when the blade is between 2 position

it's nice but hardy manageable during live performance

in order to know which pup is active take a screw driver tip and tap on the pole piece of each pole you will be able to see which is really the active part of the pup

True, but it's worth considering adding a switch or push/pull pot to get that sound. I'll try the screw driver thing. Can a split humbucker be louder than both coils in series?

 

[mikeller]

I get the same as Rob on my Silo Special.

 

[guitfiddle]

Thanks for the tip. I was considering a coil split with a push pull pot. This will help me decide whether to do it or not.

 

[HCB]

I noticed this today on the ALHH. If I'm on the neck and I move the switch maybe a coupla hairs back I get this glorious single coil sound with no quack. It is thicker than 2 or 4 positions but not as thick as 5. It is a crazy good rythm tone. I'd like to have a switch or push/pull thingy to get this sound. Its really nice.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

I have a feeling that you guys have all stumbled across a "not so secret" phenomenon where along the travel of the switch tip, two pickup combinations are bridged while selecting one or the other, thus creating an "in series" connection which is why the result is a louder sound. Same happens on my Stingray 5 between pos 2 & 3. It's cool though, enjoy.

 

[RocketRalf]

It's "secret" because it is not intended as one of the 5 positions.

These switches have two or more poles which move in parallel, in the case of the Silo one moves to select which pickups are active, just like a strat, and the other pole splits the humbuckers in the 2 and 4 positions to get the quack sounds. My own theory is that in these "secret" positions, one pole is making contact with a pickup selection while the other has yet to arrive to the intended location. So what I am hearing in the secret position is the full neck humbucker in parallel with the single coil.

In the ALHH it might well be the other way, the humbucker is being split before the single coil from the bridge is selected.