Sounds available from a short scale/flats/Thunderblade? coil split question

[NHM]

I'm working on a body refurb of a short scale bass (fitted with flats) which has a single TV Jones Thunderblade pickup installed. I really like the humbucker sound, but while I'm doing the refurb I'm considering fitting a switch to tap into other sounds available by splitting the coils.

Are there other modes available that will give a distinctive sound to significantly contrast with the humbucker sound? Or, given short scales with flats have such a narrow sonic/harmonic band, is it worth the bother?

I'd welcome any advice from your esteemed coil-tapping experiences!

 

[Maude]

I'm assuming the pickup has the classic four wire output, so you can have the two coils wired in parallel, in series or one or the other single coil. 

The single coil will have the largest difference in tone but all different options come with differences in volume. 

It's handy to be able to choose the different options from a pickup but be prepared to live with the volume differences, it's not massive but it's there. 

[NHM]

Thanks Maude. It is a four wire pickup, so I expect I'll go for a series/parallel/single as you suggest.

 

[itu]

You actually want two sounds only. The functional choices are:

1) series - parallel

2) series - single coil

Parallel and single coil are so close together that it is pretty hard to hear any distinctive difference between them while playing. Parallel gives slightly more output, but only so little that the difference is very close to nothing.

On the other hand single gives slightly more edge (compared to parallel), although we are talking about really tiny details.

If you need a boost sometimes in your act, consider the second option, single / humbucker.

[NHM]

Thanks itu, that's really interesting.

So parallel has the advantage over single coil of slightly higher gain; single coil has the advantage of a bit more edge (I assume you mean more 'cut' as in an eq-shape - or is it better 'attack' - or something else?).

I can't see the point of having impractical options available (sort of devalues the modification), so perhaps I'd be better off going with a two way switch rather than a three.

Decisions, decisions, another thing to worry about at night! 

[itu]

Series has the sound and high level, single can be slightly compressed and has that edge. At the moment I might use only single and humbucker in my basses.

[NHM]

It's only a bit of re-soldering to try out both parallel and single options see which one works best. Thanks for the help.