Members jerry_picker Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 Originally posted by Ryan Trevisol Okay, so could someone explain how to coil tap a humbucker with 4 wires? You probably can't. It takes three wires per single coil unit (i.e. one side of a humbucker) to have a tap. Think of it this way:A single coil has 10,000 windings of 42 ga. enameled wire.A tap would allow you to run it as (for example) a 7,500 or a full 10,000 windings pup at the filp of a switch. A tap on a humbucker can involve one side or both sides of the pup. That is, one or both single coils halves of the humbucker can be tapped, separately or together. Coil tapping is something that typically is done at the time the pup is originally wound, not something you cut-solder at the home workbench. As opposed to coil SPLITTING, a whole 'nother deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 Originally posted by Keystring I 'tapped' a Gibson PAF (2 wire with shield) by connecting another wire where the windings go from the first half to the second half of the pickup. Solder the wire to one pole of a mini toggle switch (2 pole) and the other pole of the switch to ground. Turns your 'humbucker' into a single coil. Flipping the switch again turns it back into a humbucker. Unless you unwound it part way,and added a pair of leads,you didn't tap it,you split it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 Originally posted by tlbonehead Unless you unwound it part way,and added a pair of leads,you didn't tap it,you split it. Yeah, he's basically provided a working definition of coil split. Why does this split vs. tap this have to be so hard for some folks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 Originally posted by jerry_picker Yeah, he's basically provided a working definition of coil split. Why does this split vs. tap this have to be so hard for some folks? One of life's greatest secrets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Devinstation Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 One time I split my single coil! :freak: Sorry, but this is getting pretty bad, but I used to make the same mistake so here we go guys. Coil Tap - Tapping a coil uses FEWER winds of in the pickup, making it lower output. Coil Split - Splits the humbucer into a single coil ... so I imagine it just turns off one of the coils. So now Jerry P. or Ttlbonehead can correct me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted May 17, 2006 Members Share Posted May 17, 2006 Originally posted by jerry_picker Yeah, he's basically provided a working definition of coil split. Why does this split vs. tap this have to be so hard for some folks? Because even the manufacturers and distributors use the lingo loosely in their literature. I find myself sometimes saying "tap" when I know I'm really talking "split" so as just to not confuse. Isn't that confusing? That makes me a "confusioner". But how the confusion started is kind of confusing. I mean after all, coil splitting is far more common than guitars with coil tapping. So why didn't the term "splitting" predominate. It's certainly more descriptive anyway to the actual physics of separating the coils. But since our lexicon includes "tapping into" it opens the box, doughnut? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.