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Coil tap

Instruments and Gear
BodomBeachTerror  
3 Sep 2010 17:14 | Quote
Joined: 27 May 2008
Canada
Lessons: 2
Licks: 1
Karma: 25
So i was gonna buy one of these babies.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Dot-Electric-Guitar?sku=518250
but then I realized they didnt have coil splitting/tapping pickups! *gasp!* it wouldnt be as easy as putting in a 5 way pickup selection instead of a 3 way would it? How much wiring, rewiring, and modifications would be involved in making it coil tap or splitable? enlighten me.
macandkanga  
3 Sep 2010 19:14 | Quote
Joined: 03 Oct 2008
United States
Karma: 21
From Wikipedia:

Coil splits
Some guitars which have humbucking pickups feature coil splits, which allow the pickups to act as "pseudo-single" coils by either short-circuiting or bypassing one coil. The electrical circuit of the pickup is reduced to that of a true single coil while the magnetic circuit retains its original closed loop configuration. Usually, this feature is activated using a miniature toggle switch or push-pull switch on the tone potentiometer. Some guitars (e.g. the Peavey T-60 and the Fender Classic Player Jaguar HH) make use of a variable coil split circuit that allows the guitarist to dial a variable amount of signal from the second coil, from pure single-coil to full humbucker and everything in-between.

Coil splits are often wrongly referred to as a "coil tap". Coil taps are more commonly found on single coil pickups, and involve an extra hook-up wire being included during the manufacture of the pickup so the guitarist can choose to have all the windings of the pickup included in the circuit, for a fatter, higher output sound; or some of the windings in use and some "tapped off" for a brighter, lower output, cleaner sound.


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