Humbuckers with coil taps

[lifewithoutpain]

Are there any Humbuckers with coil taps?

I'm not talking about coil-split or coil-cut but an actual lower output tap coming off the coil. Something like the Quarter Pound tapped but in a humbucker.

I think it would be handy to have a nice hot humbucker for more aggressive styles and be able to switch it down to a vintage output level for more PAF type tones.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

well, you have the possibility to switch them from series to parallel, alway, what more or less does that.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

meh I don't know about that. there is a difference between a hot pup in parallel and a paf in series. you get some qualities of the lower output pup but its definitely different.

ive heard of tapped humbuckers but don't know who makes them if anyone besides custom shops or small builders

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

Not exactly a "tap", but spin-a-split could get you some of the tones you're looking for.

 

[jimman]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

Zhangbuckers splat option is the closest thing I can think of to what you are asking.

 

[lifewithoutpain]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

Thanks, those are some good ideas. I'll look into the Zhangbuckers. I've had the spin-a-split on a few guitars and really like it but it's not exactly what I'm looking for in this case. Maybe I'll get the SD Custom Shop to build me one.

 

[jimman]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

Thanks, those are some good ideas. I'll look into the Zhangbuckers. I've had the spin-a-split on a few guitars and really like it but it's not exactly what I'm looking for in this case. Maybe I'll get the SD Custom Shop to build me one.

My only concern with your idea is how hot do you want it to be? I doubt you will be able to get something like an invader and tap the coils to sound like a '59. The size of wire alone will make it different and im sure there are lots of other factors that will make it difficult to get exactly what you are wanting. But if anyone can do it its the Custom Shop.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

My only concern with your idea is how hot do you want it to be? I doubt you will be able to get something like an invader and tap the coils to sound like a '59. The size of wire alone will make it different and im sure there are lots of other factors that will make it difficult to get exactly what you are wanting. But if anyone can do it its the Custom Shop.

It's not that crazy different, especially if you use standard size slugs and screws. I do have experience with this sort of thing and you can go from metalhead to vintage pretty convincingly with it. On, say, a 14k pickup the "Splat" (combo of words 'split' and 'tap') would be set at about 9.5k (remember this is 43 gauge we're dealing with). To keep the splat vintage sounding though, you would have to stick with A5 and below.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

There is this thing called a volume knob....

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

There is, and yet it fails miserably at this particular mission. Rolling back the volume on a high output pickup won't make it sound vintage, even with the best possible treble bleed on the pot.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

The main reason why this isn't done is that there are no 6-conductor plus shield cables that fit. It would be silly to tap the 4 K coil of a PAF but a CC or DD class pickup, heck yes.

If you don't need out-of-phase and in-series (with other pickups) you could reuse a 4+shield wire for this.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Humbuckers with coil taps

You don't need to tap both coils, just one will do.