Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

[PFDarkside]

I've got the Jimmy Page wiring in my Paul and while I don't use the Series or Phase too much, I find the Coil Taps to be incredibly useful! The Custom is a great pickup full, but split it's still strong enough to me very useful. Bright and cutting but not weak. The 59 neck is a touch bassy and mid scooped but split it's as useful to me as a Strat neck pickup! I kind of miss my A2P in the neck, how does that split?

Regardless, I don't know why coil splits aren't a standard option on all Les Pauls... If you've got 4 conductor pickups you owe it to yourself to try splitting them.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

To each his own I guess?

I don't know man, coil splitting to me never yielded results that particularly care for.

Luke

 

[lex666]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I wouldn't mind it just for the versatility.

I'm dying to try in an ES 335 tho...

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

Because they're not as good as Michael Kelly's!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I've got the Jimmy Page wiring in my Paul and while I don't use the Series or Phase too much, I find the Coil Taps to be incredibly useful! The Custom is a great pickup full, but split it's still strong enough to me very useful. Bright and cutting but not weak. The 59 neck is a touch bassy and mid scooped but split it's as useful to me as a Strat neck pickup! I kind of miss my A2P in the neck, how does that split?

Regardless, I don't know why coil splits aren't a standard option on all Les Pauls... If you've got 4 conductor pickups you owe it to yourself to try splitting them.

You're right. My Strat with the PGn and Custom with a single/series/parallel switch for each pickup is the most versatile guitar I own - although it's on permanent loan to my buddy AJ.

I don't like to see Les Pauls cluttered up with extra switches though - Fenders seem like better platforms for that sort of thing.

They're like hot rods - born to be tweaked.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I don't like to see Les Pauls cluttered up with extra switches though

I agree completely.

On the Michael Kelly Les Paul knockoffs, the coil splits are push-pull pots.

I imagine the same pots would work with a Gibson electronics cavity.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I use push-pulls, but I'd like to try push-push pots.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I have a thin line Tele that has a JazzN & 59B that is tapped. Its a great guitar, but personally I would never consider this on a Les Paul. Just not my thing. When I pickup a Les Paul I want it to be thick, tapping the coils will just thin it out to much

 

[blueman335]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I wouldn't mind it just for the versatility.

I'm dying to try in an ES 335 tho...

I have my JP wirings in LP's & 335's. Highly recommended.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I don't like to see Les Pauls cluttered up with extra switches though.

I agree that mini-toggles clutter things up, and usually require drilling holes (a mortal sin). The beauty of push-pulls is that in the "down" position, everything is normal, and there is no clutter, no confusion, & no holes. The tricky stuff is all out of sight. If you don't want to use the options, then don't lift the knobs up. Come on. You don't lose anything by having the JP system in a guitar, or any other push-pull wiring. It's there if you need it, and not in the way if you don't. It's like censorship: if you don't like it, don't watch it.

I'm a die-hard tweaker, and since I don't play Fenders (its a religious thing), Gibson designs seem like the perfect platform for mods. Twin HB's (four coils!) and four knobs. Much more to work with than a Strat or Tele. A Les Paul is a tweaker's paradise, as Jimmy Page proved. If you find coil cuts to be too thin, Artie's coil swap mod is great alternative. I'm retro-fitting coil swaps in my hollow bodies, which is a guitar design that certainly doesn't go well with clutter, but coil swap is the perfect mod for them. One push-pull, and no one knows that but you. Clutter? Hardly.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I always use push-pulls, or DTDP switches (whichever is appropriate) on my bridge HB guitars. Really lends a degree of versatility.

However, I'm all Fender SC at the moment.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

This is split, not tap, just to split hairs

I find it to be useless with PAFs. My McCarty had it.

Now, out-of-phase in combination with serial, that's where some music is.

 

[Diego]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

It's funny, my Ibanez has a JB in the neck and a Breed in the bridge, and both are fat. So fat, I find myself using them split most of the time! It's a great sound, bright and bity yet with a healthy dose of mids, and more "air" so to speak.

Coil split should be a standard option on all two humbucker guitars. Come on Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson... chop chop. Schecter and ESP are already doing it!

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I wonder the same thing about treble bleed on stock volume knobs.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

This is split, not tap, just to split hairs

I find it to be useless with PAFs. My McCarty had it.

Now, out-of-phase in combination with serial, that's where some music is.

Yeah I know.

I can see how a PAF split in the bridge could be thin, but in the neck I think it's great.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

Nope. If you even mention it your guiatr is automatically worth 20% less.
That aint no Les Paul. Get a friggin Burney or something if you want that bogus crap.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

As to why...in truth coil tapping is not as popular as you might think plus it is more work to wire up on top of that high quality push/pull pots are not really common and cost a lot per unit add to that that most bi companies (Fender, Gibson, etc) know that a lot of people change the pickups in their guitars and assume that if the person that bought it wants coil taps they will add them when they change pickups.

 

[MikeS]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

They aren't standard because they aren't for everyone. I'm fine leaving my LP's humbuckers in series. Leave the coil splits out of LPs I say... if Gibson were to begin incorporating push/pulls into every Les Paul then we'd see the price of a Les Paul increase $50 for a couple $5 switches.

I'm with Lew... I hate to clutter a Les Paul with switches. Push/pull pots work out fine, but the operation is often clumsy for on-the-fly adjustments. The operation of push/push pots is fantastic, the only problem is no one has managed to build a push/push pot that wasn't a piece of garbage... everyone I've tried has had the spring catch fail.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

Mike, Im with you on thre quality (or lack of!) in push/pull's...try the DiMarzio branded ones, they are made by CTS, have a great taper and the switch part is really high quality...they cost a little more than your standard push/pulls but it's well worth it IMO...you can even order direct over the phone with the front desk at DiMarzio!

 

[Aceman]

Re: Why don't Les Pauls come with Coil Taps?

I think Gibson can swing the cost of the quality pots in the margin of a Les Paul.

Why not you ask? It would make sense, ergo it is off limits to Gibson production mentality.