Tapped HB, suggestion on connecting the "extras"

[Peter Naglitsch]

Hi guys

Recently I made a set of under wound HBs. They sounded very interesting (Gretsch-like) but they are a bit of a “one trick pony”. So I got the idea to turn them into tapped HBs to add some versatility. The question that I would like to get some input on is this: Should I take the effort to get each coil in series (coil 1 inner wind in series with coil 1 outer wind and that in series with coil 2 inner…) ending up with 4 wires and a bit complicated switching. Or can I just run the inner coils in series and connect them to the outer coils in series (inner 1 going to inner 2, split signal, running one to the switch, one to outer coil 1 going to outer coil 2 going to the switch) ending up with only two wires and very simple switching. My main concern is if the sound would differ. Any thoughts?

[Sock Puppet]

You could always bring the wires outside the guitar and try the combinations by twisting the wires together - then decide if it's worth it.

I would think the difference would seem more volume related though.

S.

[Sock Puppet]

Re-reading that, one full coil in series with part of a humbucking coil...

might be magic.

S.

[David Schwab]

Run the finish end of each coil out, and start a new coil on top of that. You can connected the old finish to the new start. That will be your tap. So each coil will have three leads, a start, a tap, and a finish.

You can switch from the clean to the full setting that way.

[Peter Naglitsch]

Yeah that was my plan. What I was contemplating was if there would be any difference in sound between running the ful coils in series compared to the tapped coils in series and those in series with the both "extra" in series with each other.

What the heck, I might have to go the full 6 wire option and just try it out.

thanks guys

[David Schwab]

Yeah, try out everything! Also shorting the unused coils together would probably affect the tone. You can also try shorting the coils with caps.

[black_labb]

what about the original coils in series and the extra in parralell? there are alot of options...