Tappable Humbucker

[Artie]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

That could be interesting. :scratchch

Speaking of ridiculous wiring, someone in the forum gave me a set of Schaller pups, that came out of a Godin. These:



Each "coil" is actually a coil stack, for a total of four coils, with eight wires. It's hard to see in that pic, but the "rail" side is a sort of wave design. I've never gotten around to trying them out. But, now that I'm retired . . . :naughty:

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

I used to have a guitar with 'Quad Rails'- I think these were available in some Kramer guitars-...2 rails in series in 1 humbucker ring. Those pickups sounded terrible in series. You could get some interesting sounds split/parallel/etc, but in the end, there were better pickups available to get those types of sounds.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

I used to have a guitar with 'Quad Rails'- I think these were available in some Kramer guitars-...2 rails in series in 1 humbucker ring. Those pickups sounded terrible in series. You could get some interesting sounds split/parallel/etc, but in the end, there were better pickups available to get those types of sounds.

Kinda like the Kent Armstrong Motherbucker?

 

[Artie]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

. . . but in the end, there were better pickups available to get those types of sounds.

Which might be why those pups were given to me for free.

Kinda like the Kent Armstrong Motherbucker?

Ditto.

 

[PicoRiveraTele]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

I used to have a guitar with 'Quad Rails'- I think these were available in some Kramer guitars-...2 rails in series in 1 humbucker ring. Those pickups sounded terrible in series. You could get some interesting sounds split/parallel/etc, but in the end, there were better pickups available to get those types of sounds.

It might have been the coil values that turned you off to the pickups, and not necessarily the fact that it was made up of four rails.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

If you won't take the simple solution that Fishman offers the next easiest thing would be to add a coil to a mini humbucker. It will fit in a std HB package and you have six conductors to play with.

That's not the point of this project. The whole reason I'm doing this is to experiment is to mess around and make something other folk don't have. Right now I'm getting the idea down and later I'll work on refining it. This same Tele I'm putting this in will also have the controls on the side of the guitar near the strap holder and I'm working on a way to put a cellphone jammer in the normal control area. That's what type of guitar this is going to be.

I'm also trying to hire someone to make an app for my phone that would connect to a button on the guitar that would automatically order new strings, but I think that part of the project might have to stay in my dreams.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

It might have been the coil values that turned you off to the pickups, and not necessarily the fact that it was made up of four rails.

More often than not; more does not equal better

 

[PicoRiveraTele]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

More often than not; more does not equal better

Well I did say above that if you were to use two Cruisers, it would uncomplicated the wiring by a lot. I agree with the sentiment, but at the same most of us like the idea of a guitar that can magically do everything and do it well.

Besides... mo tonewood, mo betta. Everyone knows that.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

More often than not; more does not equal better

More is always better, sometimes you just need more in the opposite direction.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

More is always better, sometimes you just need more in the opposite direction.

There's a rather low threshold when your tone goes south because of that. Been there, done that.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

It might have been the coil values that turned you off to the pickups, and not necessarily the fact that it was made up of four rails.

Possibly, but in the end, it doesn't matter. I don't get hung up on the values or the design. I wasn't going to experiment with multiple 4 rail humbuckers that take time to create when I can be playing, recording, or performing.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Tappable Humbucker

Back to the original question, taps are incredible when you have time to experiment.

My favorite example of a tap working really well is the Vox coaxe... A coil within a coil with finely tuned tap points that are switched in tandem. In tapped mode both coils are cut back to a noise free teleish sound. Full coil is very much P90 ish and still noise free. Clearly they spent a lot of r&d to find that balance.

I've experimented with many tapped approaches with as many as 3 taps per coil to find the best combinations. Rather time consuming and not incrediblly repeatable with my setup.

However, as mentioned above, spin a split can provide similar tones, it's really variable and it's really easy to do.

So many of my customers end up with spin designs while I keep most of my taps for my builds.

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