Split Coils

[Dmoney]

Hey all,
I'm thinking I'd quite like to add some versatility to my Charvel. I'm playing it way more than my Les Paul now and getting really into the trem. With it being a lot lighter, it's also easy to carry around for various things and its construction and value means I can put it in a gig bag and not really have to worry.

It's been a LONG time since I had a guitar with coil taps, but I'd kind of like to explore those sounds again.

The charvel has 1 vol and a 3 way toggle.

I could use a push-pull pot and have one of the humbuckers (probably the neck) set to coil tap. doing anything else would require some drilling.

If I got one nailbomb neck with 4 conductor wiring and used the neck split sometimes, I'm sure it would be fine for recording, but would there be a huge volume drop?
does anyone here regularly use coil taps etc...?

[gwEm]

consider wiring in parallel instead - its humbucking (like two single coils wound in parallel - RWRP).

i have two guitars permanently wired this way now in the neck and like it alot. i may do more.

[Dmoney]

I don't think I've ever heard that. does it sound single coil but with less noise?

[WezV]

you can use the push/pull as a master coil split to split both humbuckers at the same time -

 but as gwem suggets, also try a series/parallel switch.  the switch will only affect one humbucker at a time, but it will still be humcancelling and still quite like a single coil.

neither offers you true single coil sounds - but they can still sound pretty good

[gwEm]

I don't think I've ever heard that. does it sound single coil but with less noise?

it definitely has some single coil-ish ness but its its own thing really. its alot brighter, and you can start to do some stuff you'd need a strat for. hum canceling indeed.

the reason i have it set up permanently this way is theres a volume drop with the coils in parallel (or split) compared to series. since i prefer the parallel sound i can compensate with pickup heights, and not get a volume drop when switching to the neck position.

[Dmoney]

The level is concerning. I thought it would be good to have something single coil ish in the neck, so I could kind of switch to the neck for leads away from the humbucking bridge.
The pups in the charvel are mounted direct to the body so I'd have to shim the neck up and they are are already kind of close to the strings. I'd have to start screwing around with the pole pieces.

starting to sound like for me it would a good recording tool but would perhaps be a bit of a nuisance in a live setting

[gwEm]

i can see why you'd be concerned about the level, which is why i brought it up.

the level drop could be useful, for getting a clean tone live for example. but agree, in the situation with using switching (rather than a fixed arrangement) its not ideal often (unless you use some sort of level boosting pedal for example).

i guess the switches would be better in the studio then as you say. but nevertheless i know you're a guy who like to experiment, and the split and parallel tones are good ones.

you probably know duncan do those switching pickup rings.

[dave_mc]

you can use the push/pull as a master coil split to split both humbuckers at the same time -

+1 that's what i was going to say.

I'd go with parallel wiring too- unless having something which sounds as close as possible to single coils (which still doesn't sound all that close, tbh) is the main priority, I much prefer parallel wiring.

[WezV]

i have fitted a few series/split/parallel 3-way switches now and come to the conclusion that there is a tonal difference between split and parallel modes - but it really is much of a muchness on most humbuckers and often not worth having both options.   

but it makes a much more noticeable difference on certain humbuckers, possibly due to differences in coil winds or structure.

i.e.  on normal open coil screw/slug blackdogs it was similar is split & parallel but still different enough to be worth having both, on a double hex bolt warpig it wasnt worth having both options.  the most noticeable difference was the noise in split mode

[Dmoney]

Parallel sounds like the way to go for sure.
My main idea was to make a HH guitar sound more like a HS, so I can bust out some chords on the bridge pup, and switch to a more single coil-esque tone at the neck.

Wez's idea cool but if i was playing Id have to make 2 switches to get from Bridge Humbucker to Neck Parallel.  


You're right Gwem, the level drop might sound cool, clean up slightly, could actually work really well. Since the guitar only has 1 volume control it might be handy just for cleaning up. I have seen the rings with the switches but this guitar has no rings, and I'd rather leave them off.

Series/Parallel is sounding like a cool way to go, especially after Wezs last post. I'd still like to use Nailbombs, It's just going to be invasive if I want to do switching for each pup separately. I can think of various ways with different levels of body drilling. hmmm.

[Dmoney]

I did some experimenting today.

I decided to try out a few more bits from floyd upgrades. The stopper, and the noiseless springs.
Didn't really get on with either. The noiseless springs aren't worth getting.
So, that stuff will go on ebay I guess.

I also remembered I still own the SD '59 neck humbucker originally fitted to this guitar. It has 4 conductor wiring so I stuck it in and wired a switch to it for series/parallel. apart from being muddy in comparison to the Nailbomb neck, in parallel it did have a noticeable difference in output level, in a good way though, not too much difference. It also lost some low end in parallel. It sounded interesting. I'd like to see how parallel sounds with a nice BKP. I hear the results can vary from pup to pup right?

In addition to that, I toyed around with a tone control. (yes at some point I had a spiders web of gubbins hand out the back of my guitar while I was playing).
I like having the tone control, it makes my tuner work a bit easier to use the neck pup with the tone right down, and I also enjoyed playing Fu Manchu styled riffs with the treble dialed out!!

So I replaced the toggle with a mini toggle on/on/on and installed a tone control. Kinda like a Kramer Pacer.
I also thought I'd try some horrid HOT PINK knobs! I'm sure those will change at some point though! and I think I would like to get some 4 conductor NB's.