Actually it’s a real coil but without a magnet 
so it captures ambiant electromagnetic signals/noises but not the vibration coming from the strings. Then the hum can be cancelled by combining it with the other coil (which is the actual single coil pickup, in this case), exactly like on a normal humbucker pickup.
It can work really good, even if it create a small but noticeable dynamic loss.
Ah - THAT I understand!
This is how I sold my preference for a used Jaguar XJS convertible over any new German Porsche.
The Jag had many flaws … and Porsche is perfect, of course. But it has no soul. It’s the perfect German engineering Nazi machine … the Jaguar is quirky and stylish
Didn’t buy any of them in the end. Again, a girlfriend story
Ok, but does an active EMG X series have not all that and more? And again: I can just toggle between single and dual coil.
I went wild yesterday, playing songs, toggling one or both pickups back&forth … listen to differences.
I am very grateful, @Al1885 , for the 35TW idea … and very happy to have chosen the 35TWX. It opened up a world of possibilities, much more than a simple tone knob.
It’s the best PU I have ever listened to.!
Of course it’s deeply personal, but I like the deep, defined/controlled tone with deep growl and nice mids (in dual coil mode) … and no noise at all.
Intermezzo
About strings - what to install where?
I have these strings here:
I plan to use it like this:
Makes sense? And no, don’t need other strings ^^
Ok, got quite some opportunity to fail and learn with the raw pickguards.
White sparkle pickguard, control plate and soapbar frame - 435x290mm:
Black pickguard, control plate and soapbar frame - 29x30cm:
Brushed aluminium pickguard, control plate and soapbar frame - 24x30cm:
Oh yeah, a dummy coil is not mandatory at all. It’s just something that exists, works, and is actually quite simple as it’s easily switchable and can be used only when needed on a single coil instrument. It’s a bit less simple in the case of an instrument with multiple pickups in RWRP configuration, because the dummy coil has to be wired in a different direction depending on the pickup, but that’s another story.
I’ve experimented quite a lot with this technology many years ago, I made my own dummy coil by modifying a Fender pickup, and I integrated it into my Esquire at the time. It was hidden under the pickguard :
I don’t use a dummy coil on any instrument anymore. I’m good with a thrusty noise gate.
Freak!
I hope I will not go as deep as you did, really. It absolutely interests me, but I have reached a point where things get crazy. And I know from experience (other hobbies, work), where that would get me … so now I have reached my limit of modding stuff, at least in terms of basses
As it is, I have almost maximum flexibility with only three cheap (but good) basses, upgraded with great parts, using some rather unconventional (aka improvised) means sometimes.
Some last changes (P/H config, fretboards) and that should be it.
After that: only learning, playing … and some more focus on some non-bass projects.
Don’t ask
Sims are great but there is a lot of routing required a lots of ctrls and wire to stuff in. One day I’ll put them in something a bit better but they work well in this $200 SBMM
Does anybody know how to sharpen the edge of a scraper?
Appearantly I need that to shape the edges of my pickguard.
I need an easy way to prepare the scraper (in the picture below it’s the lower drawing), so no special tools - only things I find in the kitchen or can borrow from neigbours.
@Al1885 ? @Wombat-metal ? @Barney ?
What do you have? Sharpening stone? Whetstone? What are you scraping? Oh pickguard. The 45*?
I want to get rid of the 90° edge on the newly made pickguards.
Like this:
I purchased a scraper, but it’s not “sharp” … it must be honed to get a bevel:
I’m looking for a very simple method to hone, with stuff I’l find in my kitchen…
Yeah you mean 45* or 60* right 90* would just be straight up.
You just have to sharpen it like you’re sharpening a knife. What do you have to home. A sharpening stone? Belt grinder?
It’s 90° now (freshly cut) and needs to go to roughly 45°.
In fact I have a great American Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition belt grinder for all my psycopathic tactical and survival knives.
On zzzeee ZZZerman forum everybody advises me, NOT to use it. It was my first thought, as it’s easy to use and for knives it will create a small bevel after I used it on one side of the knife edge only.
So my thought was that the belt grinder is ideal!
But I got a strong “NEIN!”
I have that too. Such a good tool.
You have a dremel. This is what I used before I got the bigger version. But you kinda need to have a dremel version of routing table. You do this with the pickguard upside down. Amazon.com
You could just use the nail filing type of sand paper or something like this Amazon.com
When I got that I really sharpened everything that remotely looked like a knife … and then the ones of friends, family and neighbours
Love it!
But zzzee Zzzermans don’t want me to have fun with this for the scraper 
Well we chase the burrs when we sharpen knives I guess scrapers are the opposite. I’m stumped
Ah, “burrs” … that was the word I was looking for.
So my thinking is: for knives, those burrs are unwanted. But when sharpening a knife, you always get them when you sharpen one side (and remove them when doing the other side).
So I would “sharpen” the scraper with a 90° angle, only one side … and this should create the burr I need.
But … “NEIN!” … according to zzzeee Zzerrmans. It’s not that the worksharp does not create a burr … it creates the wrong type of burr.
Don’t ask me why!
I would do a vice and diamond files, but I’m assuming you don’t have either?
So … these are my options. It’s not all bad, right?
I would at least try taking off the corner with a utility knife or exacto knife and then take a file until you like the shape on a scrap piece. If it goes fast and looks good that seems like the easiest method to do a little at a time until you’re happy with where it is with low risk of overshooting. Sort of the same as the Dremel, but everything happens slower.
