Coil mods- How much do you use them ??????

[jadm]

There are more than a few options on pickup mods that we have to choose from.
1Coil splitting
2. Coil tapping ( I am told this is different from splitting)
3. In phase
4. Out of phase

My question is…how useful are these options?
How often are they really used when you play??
And would you be inclined to pass on these options for a really good sounding set of pickups that didn’t have these options?
(Or are splitting coils something you can’t live without???

 

[CB91710]

I've had them.
My Hondo H1 had a Duncan Invader and a Fender single coil.
It had 5 toggle switches... coil split, series, phased.
I used exactly one setting.

90s Epi LP, Duncan JB + 59. P-P pots.
They remained down at all times.

If I want a single coil tone, I grab a guitar with a P90, one of the Fenders, or the G&L.
Split humbuckers just don't sound the same... with the output drop, they don't balance properly with the other pickup, or if you split both, they don't balance with your rig setup.

If you can only have one guitar, it's an option, and there are some humbuckers available that are a bit hotter on the tapped coil to help with the imbalance issues.

 

[Wuuthrad]

I use them all the time and love them, just like Jimmy Page.

Not that I’m as good as him, but I do like the option in jam sessions to dial in a wide variety of tones.

Splits are different than taps. A split coil is splitting the two coils into one, whereas a tap is a tap into the humbucker at a point of less winds, and therefore less output.

There is really no objective truth that either is “better” than the other, it’s all subjective.

But in practice, the ability to switch between coil split, tap and phase, as is available on the Gibson HP circuit (one of the best designs to me) provides for a wider variety of sounds than one without.

Not to say that guitars without taps or splits sound worse, it’s just another tool. In fact less is more is often more often true than the other way around!

For example the Les Paul DC Tribute Junior with a single P90 is one of my favorite guitars. It really is all in your fingers. Pardon the cliche…

I think a variety of push pull pots may be best suited for lead work, or jack of all trades type of playing. It’s definitely easier to sit in a variety of settings.

 

[noodlingguitars]

I've had them.
My Hondo H1 had a Duncan Invader and a Fender single coil.
It had 5 toggle switches... coil split, series, phased.
I used exactly one setting.

90s Epi LP, Duncan JB + 59. P-P pots.
They remained down at all times.

If I want a single coil tone, I grab a guitar with a P90, one of the Fenders, or the G&L.
Split humbuckers just don't sound the same... with the output drop, they don't balance properly with the other pickup, or if you split both, they don't balance with your rig setup.

If you can only have one guitar, it's an option, and there are some humbuckers available that are a bit hotter on the tapped coil to help with the imbalance issues.

View attachment 667704

Holy crap... how many people have you slayed with that thing lol. That H1 puts BC Rich and Jacksons to shame.

 

[cmjohnson]

Most of my guitars have two humbuckers. All but one have series/parallel switching and also coil split.

I have absolutely no use at all for out of phase so it's not in them. But the options I do have, I use.

 

[noodlingguitars]

There are more than a few options on pickup mods that we have to choose from.
1Coil splitting
2. Coil tapping ( I am told this is different from splitting)
3. In phase
4. Out of phase

My question is…how useful are these options?
How often are they really used when you play??
And would you be inclined to pass on these options for a really good sounding set of pickups that didn’t have these options?
(Or are splitting coils something you can’t live without???

personally I've found coil splits to be useful in gig situations where I'm playing a variety of music, and when I need a single coil sound but am too lazy to switch guitars. Coil tapping I've never found a practical use for them. 3 & 4 are two sides of the same coin. Personally, I don't really need an out of phase HH sounds (ala the Peter Green thing), but I like using an out of phase switch in conjunction with coil splitting to get an approximation of strat tones (they never really get you fully there, but again, sometimes I'm too lazy to switch guitars during a gig).

I can definitely live without any of the above, but then again, I have different guitars for those specific sounds if I really needed them. You can also mess with an EQ pedal to approximate different tones as well. Just depends on what you're doing - I used to do a lot of gigs where I'm playing stuff I really didn't care too much about and did them purely for the money. Most audiences (particularly for pop gigs) won't care whether you're using single coils or humbuckers or whether the quack is genuinely strat like etc... just gotta find a way to make sounds that are acceptable to whoever you're working with.

 

[Spirit]

I can live with the single coil sounds ,and just love the straight up sound of humbuckers

never really gelled with strats or anything else with singlue coils,well maybe a tele i had once but that had n3 noiseless in the neck and a. Enforcer Humbucker in the bridge( I did primarily use the bridge though)

 

[Dilver]

Split is nice int he context of a super strat with humbucker in the bridge position. Allows you to get that glassy bridge + middle tone that stats do, and the full humbucker tone. But that’s the extent of my splitting needs. I mean, how many options do you really need on one guitar?

 

[icantshred]

I don't like any of the fancy options - I prefer a traditional wiring setup.

I have experimented with coil splitting a lot. I had a custom guitar with 3 humbuckers and a six-way switch. Each pickup had a push/pull for splitting. It had a boost on the remaining pot. I thought it would be the ultimate in versatility for live playing and recording. However....

Split humbuckers never sounded as good as I wanted them to. The change in output/volume was a side-effect I also didn't like. Maybe that was just my guitar or those particular pickups, I don't know.

Nowadays, I avoid guitars with coil-splitting and certain other wiring options. It seems like just having things like splits and treble bleeds (more often than not) change the taper of the volume pot.

If I'm playing live, I get "in the ballpark" and that's good enough for me. If I'm recording, I don't mind grabbing a guitar with singles if that's the sound I want.

Never tried coil-taps. That might be interesting.

 

[NotScott]

My PRS came with a simple master volume, master tone and 3-way switch setup. When I changed out the pickups, I went with 4-wire units so that I could split coils and get more of a Stratty type tone when needed. So I installed pull pots with built-in switches to accomplish the switching. The master volume when pulled splits the neck pup. The tone pot pulled splits the bridge pup. It works great and sounds great for my needs and still looks stock.

 

[rbraad68]

Most of my guitars have two humbuckers. All but one have series/parallel switching and also coil split.

I have absolutely no use at all for out of phase so it's not in them. But the options I do have, I use.

HAHAHA!! Yeah the out of phase for me is totally useless as well!! I did the magnet flip on a aph2N and i didn't like it at all. I sold the guitar with the aph2's in it with the out of phase set up. All my other guitars are just straight up volume and tone on each pup. No bells or whistles for me...

 

[rbraad68]

I would love to find one of those nancy willson LP's with the 5 way selecter switch and the HSH combo or what ever the neck pup is. That would be the only way i would have all that crap on one of my LPs.

 

[rbraad68]

LOL this thing is cool man!! Dare I ask if this was your "youth" guitar Thats the Hondo you were talking about? I have never seen this model before...

 

[CB91710]

LOL this thing is cool man!! Dare I ask if this was your "youth" guitar Thats the Hondo you were talking about? I have never seen this model before...

It's the model H1, but I've seen the same design from other builders, including one that was a "fitted" type thing where the pointy one mounted to the top of an acoustic body that was cut to fit the bottom profile.
When we saw Molly Hatchet at Magic Mountain in the mid-80s, one of the guys was playing one the same shape, but that multi-wood laminated thing that was popular in those days.

I won mine at a raffle at LaHabra Music in '83. I was coming out of a rough year and had sold off all of my electric gear in '82, just had the acoustic 12 string. I bought the Kramer Focus Rhoads "V" in '84 or '85, and those were my only electrics until the mid 90s.
I sold that Hondo around '97, but by that time I had 10 electrics.
It was originally a Fender style tremolo with a single humbucker and volume pot.
I installed the Kahler locking trem and routed the body, added the custom pickguard. The neck pickup was one of the original pickups from my '78 Strat (which got upgraded to a set of SDS-1)

 

[efstop]

I've never had a guitar with splitting, tapping or boost. But I have multiple guitars and pickups to choose from and amps and pedals for boost.
I'm not gigging, and I have the time to set a guitar down and uncase another one