Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Slarty on February 27, 2008, 11:20:38 AM
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Hi,
After playing my strat last night I fell in love with the neck pickup. However my Les Paul is 'the one' and I would love to have single coil-esque sounds from it.
Does anyone have a BKP humbucker with coil tap, preferably in a Les Paul style guitar? What are the sounds like? Which is 'the best' BKP for getting good single-coil type sounds AND a decent throaty humbucker sound? I guess I'm mainly interested in a neck coil tap but would be interested to hear about a bridge coil tap too.
Cheers!
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well, i have a couple of coil split 'buckers; a mule/miracle man combo and a crawler set, both in Les Pauls. i find that the split bridge pickup just gives a thinner, less powerful sound. useful but not very single coilly. the neck pickups are much better, not exactly like a genuine strat pickup, but there's a definite single coil tone to it. it's easy to put on the guitar, so i'd definately recommend going for it.
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when i spoke to Tim about putting Nailbombs in my Charvel one of my requirements was a decent SC tone. Not done it yet, mind you.
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I agree with Blue - split bridge isn't particularly useful (although I'm not a "proper" strat player so I'd say that anyway :)), but a split neck humbucker gives a nice useable sound - not quite as good as the real thing but still good.
Bear in mind that the construction of your guitar has a BIG effect on the sound. A Les Paul with all that mahogany is never going to sound exactly like a swamp ash strat, not matter which neck humbucker you split...
FWIW, I have 3 neck humbuckers with coil splitting: Miracle Man (Les Paul), VHII (PRS) & Painkiller (Charvel)
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Hey, just putting my two cents in:
I've got a set of apaches in a maple neck strat and a set on splitable crawlers in an all mahogany LP... well i agree with stuff mention above: a splitted bridge humbucker will retain its sound signature but with less mids and bass, it'll thin out a bit and will get clearer... but just won't sound like a bridge SC pup... but don't get me wrong it can be very useable (i love my tapped crawlers... they're said to be quite good splitted, i confirm) especially for those clean or soiled-clean moments/arpeggios....
The split neck bucker is what sounds most like an SC.... my crawler neck gets quite fendery when tapped, but without really sounding like a strat... there's just that taste... again really useable stuff... great for thinning out this really fat and round neck bucker for cleans...
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My Warpig is split. (bridge position) Just makes it even more versatile. Don't think I could go back to a guitar with just three options after having my main axe for so long.
:)
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I have a 4 conductor Mule in the bridge of my Les Paul. The single coil does sound "single coil and Straty" to me. But not sure what that's worth in the real world. It's beter than the split sound on the band's other guitarist's PRS SC. Humbucking and Split, sound virtually the same.
Andy
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Not to be picky but isn't a coil SPLIT where you split the humbucker in two and a coil TAP is something to do with the little coils?
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Not to be picky but isn't a coil SPLIT where you split the humbucker in two and a coil TAP is something to do with the little coils?
Absolutely right.
Split = Just using one coil of a humbucker. Only possible with humbucikers.
Tap = Taking 2 outputs from one coil, so one is full power and one is lower power. Possible with singles and HBs
Its a pretty clear distinction and I have no idea how the confusion between them persists.
I have a split C-Pig and Cold Sweat. Pretty constistent with whats been said. The C-Pig split isnt very single coily but is usefull if you need cleans in a hurry from a full volume C-Pig, or a more penatrating sound. The neck split still isnt a perfect SC, but its much more like it and is useable for anything you would normally use a SC for (provided you arent an SC purist. Not that theres a single thing wrong with that (he he) but you'll pick flaw with the sound).
You gotta remeber, basically split = SC electrically, but not tonally. Its roght smack next to another coil and that affects the tone.
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doesn't having the split on the slug coil sound better....
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Im probably going to be getting my Painkiller tomorrow and am wondering wether to go back to full humbucker sounds or keep the bridge coil tapped (Currently have a JB Coil tapped in the bridge of my EC-1000VHB) i would like to have that added little bit of versitility in my EC, would tapping a Painkiller be any use at all???
And does anyone have a Wiring Diagram for tapping a BKP or are the colours the same as a Seymour Duncan???
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colours are different. red to hot tag, green and white should be soldered together when you get it and they're the split, then black to ground. pretty sure that's right. happy rockin' with your new pickup! :wink:
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I have a rebell yell and holy diver split. The rebell works really well, but i'm so keen on the HD; its a tad harsh and trebly