what options do i have with my coiltap?

[GTOutlaw]

Hi, i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to wiring pickups. i just bought a SH-4 JB for my gibson les paul GT. its going on the bridge position to replace the 498T stock pickup. anyway each pickup was its own volume control and tone control and the tone pot has a push/pull coil tap which i don't really use. i play mostly metal and don't require a single coil sound much. so i have thinking what other options do i have for that coil tap?? can i use it to switch between series and parallel for example?? i'm not sure really what would be benificial for my style and sound but would appreciate any tips or advice on this, many thanks!

[super rad stuff]

imo, as far as metal is concerned a full output bridge humbucker, or p-90 in some cases, works best for metal. the only thing that i can think of that would be useful for you would be a series switch for solos, but it would be a bit cumbersome to use a push-pull mid-song.

[taxi]

If you don't like the JB, don't panic. Surf around here and you'll learn all kinds of ways to re-shape the sound with magnet swaps.

I've never had much use for a coil split on a les paul, you could just lose that pot and put a regular one there. But some folks do a series/parallel thing with their hummers, with parallel being a little brighter, you might like that.

[GTOutlaw]

thanks guys. is there any wiring diagrams on this site for the serial/parallel thing for my coil tap??

[Gingrel]

Series/parallel can mean two things, check out this page:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...at_are_series/

If you decide which one you want, I can do you a wiring diagram.

[Mark Le Comte]

You could try a coil swap. I use it quite a bit with a superD/paf set up.

[ACH91332]

Parallel would be nice if you pile on TONS of gain but yea it wouldnt be very practical other than that. It would brighten things up a bit.

[GTOutlaw]

Gingrel, so i could setup my pickups on parallel instead of series? i guess that would be selectable using the middle position on my 3 way pickup selector switch not via the coil tap or am i wrong?? sounds intriguing anyway.

Mark, what is a coil swap?? i assume superD/paf is a pickup configuration??

Ach91332, i was thinking of setting the JB so i could do series/paralell. why would yuo say its not very practical?? i do use a pretty high gain amp (bogner uberschal)

[ACH91332]

I forgot what pickup it was, I want to say Custom Custom but I'm not sure, but I used to have a series parallel switch and when in parallel it seemed more searing and more VHish (for me). So thats what I did but while it was cool for me it wasn't very practical since I'm not trying to copy his tone or anyones for that matter. I can see it being usefull if you pile on gain because it could retain clarity better than in series. Get what I sort of mean? It just wasn't practical for me since I don't saturate my tone. My tone on it's own is pretty bright so using a PU in parallel wasn't needed. I was just trying to see if it was twangy in parallel but it wasn't so I split the coil instead which was more of what I wanted.

[Mark Le Comte]

Artiel's coil swap mod creates extra 'virtual humbuckers' by combingni one coil from each pickup.

This works well for me with ahigh output super D in the bridge and a low output paf in the neck and gives me something in between.

I have attached a diagram for how to do it.

[taxi]

This is stock in some dual hummer guitars. McInturffs for example have a five-way blade switch where down is bridge hummer, one click up is the inner coils of each pickup, middle is both hummers, one more click up is outer coil of each pickup, and top is neck hummer. The PRS custom 24 was notorious for the stratty "quack" tone it got with position 2 of it's five-way switch, which was the inner coils of the two pickups. On a 24 fret guitar the pickups are pushed closer together, so the inner coils produce more of a stratty quack than the inner coils of a 22 fret guitar, there's some mojo in the distance.

What's meant by "series parallel" is that in a typical humbucking pickup, both coils are on and they are wired in series. Some folks use a switch to choose between that and placing the two coils in parallel, which is a little thinner and brighter.

Technically there is a difference between "coil tap" and "coil split", although most people use both terms to mean turning off one coil. But a truly "tapped" pickup is one where the pickup is "tapped into" somewhere inside the coils, allowing you to run the pickup "full strength" or to tap out part of the coils for a brighter lower-output sound. This in effect will turn an overwound high-output (and usually mid-heavy) pickup into a more vintage-voiced brighter pickup. I had a blonde 335 once that came stock with tapped pickups (the tap switch looked like the three-way but it was on the lower horn).

"Coil split" means turning off one coil and leaving the other on, turning the hummer into a single coil pickup (and thus, the nasty hum returns). The problem with this is that each coil of a humbucker is generally much lower in output than a real single coil pickup, so when you split coils on a vintage-voiced humbucker it tends to sound much thinner and weaker than a real single coil. It's a different sound... but most people don't consider it an authentic single coil vibe. Hotter humbuckers have more windings on the coils, making each coil a little closer to the real thing. So hotter pickups often sound better in split coil mode than vintage output hummers.

Rio Grande pickups in Houston make some pickups that cater to folks who care more about their single coil sound than their hummer sound; the "tallboy" line is two actual single coils strapped together into a hummer (they have tele and strat versions). When split, they are the real deal. As hummers, they are quite hot and do best in the bridge position.

I think DiMarzio has some pickups where one coil is wound hotter than the other and designed to be the one left on, but I don't know as much about that.

[super rad stuff]

This is stock in some dual hummer guitars. McInturffs for example have a five-way blade switch where down is bridge hummer, one click up is the inner coils of each pickup, middle is both hummers, one more click up is outer coil of each pickup, and top is neck hummer. The PRS custom 24 was notorious for the stratty "quack" tone it got with position 2 of it's five-way switch, which was the inner coils of the two pickups. On a 24 fret guitar the pickups are pushed closer together, so the inner coils produce more of a stratty quack than the inner coils of a 22 fret guitar, there's some mojo in the distance.

coil swap actually isn't any of those things. it's similar, but definitely not the same. while those configurations might have both screw coils, or both slug coils, coil swap maintains a series humbucker with one of each, just from each pickup rather than the slug and screw coils of one humbucker. basically, you still get a humbucker that has the coils a few inches apart.