Newbie coil splitting question

[LearningDisabled]

When splitting a humbucker which coil remains active and which coil is disabled? Is it the screw side that remains active and the slug side disabled, or vice versa? Can you tell by the wiring in the compartment?

 

[beaubrummels]

Welcome to the forum

Depends on which wires are doing the split and whether they go to ground or hot. For Duncans, they typically favor a wiring that splits to the slug coil being active. Results in a better Fender/Strat single type of sound, generally. You can tell which one is active by tapping on the coil pole pieces with something metal.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Generally - especially in bridge position where half an inch can make a big difference in the sound - it's best to split to the slug coil.
Makes far less difference in neck position, but there are some who prefer to split to the screw coil at the neck.

 

[GuitarDoc]

If they are Duncan pups, the red = white wires will be switched to ground. This, as has been said, will leave the slug coil active. If you switch the red = white wires to the lead instead of ground the screw coil will be active.