Coil Tapping a Humbucker

[Mike Sulzer]

Mike, you just have to try these things to find out. I love all the theory, but it has not told me much about tone other than being able to predict resonant frequency and Q, and that's just not enough for me. I have to try things and use my ears. I've found a lot of tone that isn't in the simple resonant bandpass filter model of pickup response. I know you don't see it that way, but I trust my ears more than I trust your theoretical knowledge...which I respect, as far as it goes. Your approach is useful, and it's not the entire picture.

I never said the resonant frequency and Q are everything, just that they are important. Obviously there are other things that matter as well. And it is not a matter of trusting ears or theoretical knowledge, but rather of using both together. If you have so much to try and so little time, it makes sense to figure out which ones you do not need to try.

For example, coupling the coils together. If the effect is to destroy the hum canceling of a humbucker, then you probably will not make pickups that way even if you like the sound. The other major effects are to double the inductance of the coil combination if you get perfect coupling as well as doubling the output voltage. Then you have to take off about 30% of the turns to get back to the original inductance. That still leaves you with about 40% more output. That is why I was interested in doing this: more output without making the magnets stronger. But the hum kills the idea.

[RedHouse]

I use a tapped-coil setup in my dominant coil preference jig, which I use with a player to determine (generally) which type of humbucker they like, equal coils, dominant screw poles, or dominant slug poles.

Here is an example of the wiring:
(not the actual turns count)



I call it the J/D in honor of our very own Joe(G) and David(S) who slapped me around for having it wired to short the final turns instead of just selecting them like it is in this drawing.

(thank you gentlemen, I think)

[ZeroCool7]

the reason i ask is; Are four conductor wires[Duncan/Dimarzio] used to coil tap or coil split humbuckers?

[peskywinnets]

the reason i ask is; Are four conductor wires[Duncan/Dimarzio] used to coil tap or coil split humbuckers?

I'd say none of the above (you are neither tapping a coil or splitting a coil - unless you're of the type where you view two humbucking coils in series as one coil)....I'd say coil elimination (in that you're removing one of the two coils from the output.)

[PAF-Boy]

Look here:
Boris Dommenget Guitarmaker handmade Guitars and Pickups
This guy uses a tapped strat sinle coil in combo with a regular humbucker coil.

[PAF-Boy]

Found the Patent No: 10 2005 015 136

[RedHouse]

the reason i ask is; Are four conductor wires[Duncan/Dimarzio] used to coil tap or coil split humbuckers?

They are normally used to access the four leads from the two coils. What you do with them is another matter, some people do series/parallel some do coil cut/select, some phase switching, it's all up to you.

[Mark Hammer]

But generally, when you see a pot with a push-pull switch and PAF-style humbuckers, the switch is used to eliminate one of the coils, or alternatively, as is the case on my Parker, eliminate one coil in both neck and bridge simultaneously.

Because all coils will have an in and an out wire, all dual coil pickups have four leads. Whether the manufacturer makes them accessible to you is another matter. They might give a single-conductor shielded wire. They might give you two conductors and a shield, where the connection between the in of one coil and out of the other are hidden from your view, and all you see is another wire coming from their junction. Or, they might give you all 4.

To cancel/eliminate one coil, you would need to have some sort of access to the junction between the two coils, no matter how it is provided. Access to 3 wires (hot, junction, ground) obliges you t cancel one coil in particular. Access to 4 wires (where none are grounded) allows you to decide if you want to cancel/bypass coil A or coil B, and as Red House also astutely notes, it allows you to decide if you want the two coils to be used in parallel or series, or combined on an individual basis with individual coils from other pickups (as PRS has astutely noted).

[big_teee]

Here's the age old picture of most humbuckers and how the coils are wired.

[Peter Naglitsch]

The old Fender humbuckers were, I gather much more like a pair of non-magnetically-coupled single-coils, than like a PAF

They have a ferrous plate at the bottom that close the “magnetic circuit”. Dunno if that is called magnetic coupling or not…

Another trick is to overwind one coil, but use the extra windings only when in single coil mode so as not to lose so much output.

Done it: Didn’t like it!

[Joe Gwinn]

(thank you gentlemen, I think)

I think he's saying that the attending physician hopes that the patient's concussion will soon resolve.

[salvarsan]

I think he's saying that the attending physician hopes that the patient's concussion will soon resolve.

Is that like when my doc sez "all bleeding eventually stops"?

[ZeroCool7]

So, Is a 4 conducter wire Dimarzio used for coil splitting or coil tapping a humbucker? Also, PRS pups have 3 wires and are said to be coil tapped. Which is which?

Thanks

[Guitarist]

Normally this is "coil splitting" but saying "tapped" is misleading perhaps. You-re just spliting down the middle. Those massively overwound pickups are great for jazz. I found this out when switching is series, two single-coils in a full h.b. route. What's the first thing a jazz-head does when he grabs your guitar? Turns the tone control to zero. So save him the step and when the solo comes, there is LOTS of power.

[socalscott]

So, Is a 4 conducter wire Dimarzio used for coil splitting or coil tapping a humbucker? Also, PRS pups have 3 wires and are said to be coil tapped. Which is which?

Thanks

Wow, now here's a patient man. A simple question deserves a simple answer.
These standard pups don't provide a coil tap, just splitting.