single coil tap location

ToneFiddler

ToneFiddler

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It's funny that if you place a neck humbucker like the SH-1n in the bridge the brightness increase is quite drastic (if i remember correctly) , although it's just a few turn counts less (at about 93%) which results in about 0.6 kOhms DCR.
I got a tele bridge single coil and it's between 9k and 10k on full and a wee over 7k on the tap which results in 76%. And another one where it's just a at 89%.
the 89% tap is pretty useless. i mean in direct comparison i can hear a slight difference, but even then it's very small. Way smaller than i remember the SH-1n/b change.
the 76% tap is noticable even with quite some gain, but nowhere near as drastic as i would have expected it. I remember people complaining about the SSL-1 how it is too hot for a true vintage SC. That's also at around 90% difference. Does it really matter?
Is it really that much more drastic in Humbuckers? or is it the dead wire in tap mode that causes this? What's the best tap ratio in your experience for a single coil? 70%?
 
ToneFiddler said:
or is it the dead wire in tap mode that causes this?
Click to expand...

The "dead wire" in tap mode is not dead capacitively... Which implies that when you play a single coil tapped, it's as if the cable from guitar to first input was suddenly longer of several meters. And if one change the wiring in order to cancel this parasitic capacitance, the wire is effectively dead but its layers form a kind of thick copper shield bringing Foucault currents...

To me, the "simplest way" to compensate this effect would be to vary the capacitive load of the cable from guitar to first input, thanx to a switchable capacitive load or, conversely, thx to a switchable buffer nullifying capacitance... Maybe someone will chime in with a better idea. In the meantime, let's recall that Sommer sells the cable with the lowest capacitance on the market AFAIK (Sommer Spirit LLX) and that it's not even expensive (at least it wasn't until recently, in Europe).

HTH.
 
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i see. so a SC coil with 9,3 k and one with 7,1k will sound drastically different as expected, but the tapped 9,3k at 7.1k will not because of the additional unused wire and therefore it's parasitic capacity? If i short the "dead" winding with itself it will get brighter?
That's what i "feared". Actually i like the effect. because i hated the brightness of the duncan STL-1, STL-52 (7k ish) with my setup. (Didn't know about mimicing a long cable with a small cap back then)

I use Sommer cable's "the Spirit" like forever, not the latest version, but i did this tests very early on. My local music store employee set me on this path. He did sell me something else, but after that, i tried quite a few end ended up with the sommer the spirit. It's great!
 
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ToneFiddler said:
i see. so a SC coil with 9,3 k and one with 7,1k will sound drastically different as expected, but the tapped 9,3k at 7.1k will not because of the additional unused wire and therefore it's parasitic capacity? If i short the "dead" winding with itself it will get brighter?
Click to expand...

Yes to the first question. :-)

Regarding the second one: Foucault currents rather tend slow the attack, diminish the output and flatten the resonance. But it can be a good thing: I love my Burns Tri-Sonic's albeit they're literally dipped in eddy currents. :-P

Glad to know you're happy with the situation as it is, anyway. And yes, indeed, Sommer has great products!
 
didn't have the time to try open (antenna) vs shorted extra winding but will try that soon.
I read on here that filtertrons also "suffering" from eddy currents. I like them!
 
I don't know that eddy currents means suffering. It's just a factor that influences the result. The question is, is that the result you want?
 
freefrog said:
Yes to the first question. :-)

Regarding the second one: Foucault currents rather tend slow the attack, diminish the output and flatten the resonance. But it can be a good thing: I love my Burns Tri-Sonic's albeit they're literally dipped in eddy currents. :-P

Glad to know you're happy with the situation as it is, anyway. And yes, indeed, Sommer has great products!
Click to expand...

Never really used tapped singles much but wouldn't that issue be eliminated if you use a DPDT that not only selects the tap but at the same time removed that end of the coil thats usually hot when not taped?
 
AFAIK, dealing in a better way with the downsides of coil tapping would ideally require 4 wires per pickup and not 3... but I'm not much in coil taps either so I won't open another of my tedious rambling sessions about that. I'll correct or complete this answer if something else comes to my mind (currently busy and tired, TBH)...

In the meantime, if someone has the possibility and courage to test a tapped pickup with the outer part of its coil electrically open then shorted, I'll surely read with interest the related conclusions (which might vary according to the precise model of pickup used, IMHO) :-)
 
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while tapped, instead of leaving open the unused part, I shorted the unused part with the tap wire (3 wire tapped Tele bridge).
total mud city. No highs anymore. unusable.

I wonder what 470k or something would do?
 
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