Coil Tap VS Coil Split What's The Difference

In this video we show you the difference between coil-splitting a humbucker and coil-tapping a single coil.
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[@DylanTalksTone]

Here is a link to our Centerpunch Pickup we talk about in the video dylantalkstone.com/products/centerpunch-humbucker

[@charleswallace5818]

This is the video that caused me to buy those pickups. Thanks for sharing

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

I need one of these with white bobbins and black poles. Wish that was an option

[@chromaticstatic568]

6:57 “...So now we’re gonna use all 3 holes...” Hell yeah.

[@scramblesthedeathdealer]

🤣

[@SCALEBEASTS]

I've rewired two guitars and struggled to make sense of the color coding for the Humbuckers in then each time, but the whole setup makes a lot more sense to me after this video. It at least explains the usual instruction to tape two of the wires together: it's both coil's coil end.

[@drzainnas]

Thank you Dylan you such a great professional knowledgeable academic and very helpful with sharing your experience because a lot of people making videos and they are really don't know what they are talking about, but hey..glad you are here, I do salute you my friend.👍🤘👏

[@rickyhall7334]

You answered my question beautifully. Thank you.

[@revinlight]

Nice shirt! I have the exact one plus a few others from the same company. Thanks for the breakdown as well. Easily understood.

[@0oTHEJACKo0]

But there is a 3rd thing closely related to this, right? Parallel instead of serial output of the humbuckers. It sounds amazing. No volume drop, single coil sound, but still the hum cancelling of humbuckers. It is just amazing and do it on many of my guitars :)

[@windsweptguitars]

Just built a Esquire with a tapped pickup.... so many tones

[@louierubio]

This makes me just want a split coil that’s also tapped hahah

[@Kevin.odonnell]

Killin it with this videos lately!

[@wetpaperbag1346]

Dylan, great video as always. Did you acquire all of your electrical knowledge through some sort of EE degree or are you entirely self-learned from the guitar hobby?

[@marcelblade]

i have just replaced my tele bridge pu with a irongear steel twin wich uses a coil tap , very impressed by it.

[@monstersdad67]

Man I really appreciate this tech stuff

[@ljbanko1]

Ibanez Blazer strat style guitars from the early 80’s came stock with Quarter Pound style single coils with coil taps. Played one for years. Still have it.

[@michaelmenkes8085]

I have a 2015 Thunderbird that was described by the original website as having "coil tapped" pickups with mini toggles which create a bit of a mid scoop and increase noise but its a humbucker. I';ve read in a bass book (The Gibson bass book) that this was actually a coil split. I have no idea what it is really. Would I be able to tell if it had 3 wires (tap) or 4 (split)?

[@SonovaBish]

I love tapped coils. I rewire most of my guitars with stock splits into taps.

[@JC-11111]

Well, you can coil tap a single coil but you can't coil split one so that tells you right there they're completely different things. Kinda like that 3 wire Tele pickup you posted last week. Coil tapped. 👍 Couldn't you split & tap a humbucker? If you wanted a fatter sound than just one coil? You could do one coil and then tap 300 turns from the 2nd coil? Could that work?

[@willstocks4916]

Yeah, single coils are usually hotter than one side of a humbucker - more windings on a coil. I always wondered if you could have a humbucker with one coil wound hot with a tap. When using it as a humbucker, have balanced coils, when splitting it engages the tap to give the single coil more output. I can’t see why this wouldn’t be achievable.

[@jeffrichter5735]

I believe that's close to what Dylan did on his custom split Humbucker.

[@grayaj23]

​@@willstocks4916 Do you mean "splitting it disengages the tap"? I can see how that would work. With like 3000 winds on one side and 2000 on the other, when it's a humbucker the "fat" side is tapped at 2000 to balance out, but when split you bypass the tapped lead and use the full 3000 winds -- like that? Excuse the naive question, but does the humbucker setting have to be balanced? Can you have 3000 winds on one coil and 2000 on the other coil of an HB?

[@JC-11111]

@@grayaj23 you can, definitely have unbalanced coils. I believe some manufacturers offer humbuckers built this way, as a matter of fact. PRS does something to their so that when you split, it doesn't sound like half of a humbucker. It's got a full single coil sound but I'm not sure how he does it. Whether it's with more winds on one bobbin or what. I guess if the inductance and henrys were in single coil range, you could add in a resistor in series with the normal split coil to up the resistance when split to give a fuller sound. I'm not a pickup manufacturer so, I have no idea if that would even work

[@DylanTalksTone]

they need to be pretty close in wind count to stay quiet

[@JazzRockswithAdam]

Coil tapping is a great option for a Tele!!

[@Kend_sweet_like]

So the how does the resistance value effect the sound. Is there fixed values for pickups or tapped pickups or can you just make your own values up??

[@joogledlay1225]

You need to see a video called Single Coil vs Coil Splitting by Darrell Braun here on KZbin so you can see that splitting the coil does not make for a weak sound from the single coil left sounding. In fact, even when there is a difference, it’s an ever so small difference that is just different, not worse. It can be a sound that someone thinks is worse than a single coil and another person can think is better. The comments section there from honest people is proof. It’s a matter of taste or opinion. I actually prefer the coil split over the thinner more toy-like sound a true single coil produces. That’s also an opinion. I don’t think a coil split sounds exactly like a single but darned close and close enough for me.

[@DylanTalksTone]

Problem solved dylantalkstone.com/products/centerpunch-humbucker

[@That52TeleGuy]

Would of liked a discussion on phase switching; maybe in an another video?

[@marcvermeiren4490]

How is the reaction of d the centerpunch pick ups with high gain?

[@GregStraub42]

So lots of people complain about humbuckers split tone not feeling like a real single coil, say I have a couple of old single coils laying around. Could I just mount them against each other to make a "Humbucker"?

[@robbiedaug]

First, i wonder if some sort of capacitor or resistor, or whatever it's called (i have no idea), can be added to boost the output of the now split, single coil of the humbucker so that the single will have a similar output of a regular single coil, instead of having "half of a humbucker" (weaker) output in that single. And i wonder if THAT capacitor or resistor, or whatever it's called, can be canceled when the humbucker is NOT split so that the two singles that make up the humbucker will be as they were before being split.

[@kyledriscollmusic]

I heard Rhett Shull say he doesn't like the sound of coil split humbuckers and I think he's right. The only Fralin pickups I've ever been less than thrilled with are the ones setup for coil splitting (one is hotter so there's no volume drop as Dylan describes his). They sound great compared with the original Kiesel pickups, but compared to my other fralins there's no competition

[@JohnDobbertin]

Are you referring to the Unbucker?

[@kyledriscollmusic]

@@JohnDobbertin yea

[@JohnDobbertin]

@@kyledriscollmusic damn, I just purchased a set and am having them installed. We'll see...

[@kyledriscollmusic]

@@JohnDobbertin they're still great, I don't want to get you down

[@frankcarter6427]

is it particularly different from turning the volume down?

[@wesleyzimmerman94]

Having the volume at like, 3 or 4 where people set it when turning down, that rolls off highs. Tapping basically turns a modern sound and output into a vintage, lower output and sound

[@frankcarter6427]

@@wesleyzimmerman94 ah thanks

[@Pitsoup]

got a question...Who and when was the very first guitar pickup invented?...and how etc.

[@khan.tanvir]

Can I install a Centerpunch Pickup on my Godin Session (SSH) guitar?

[@johnabram3981]

2:28 This is a parallel HB he's describing. Series HB (the usual wiring) would have the finish wire of one coil joined to the start of the other coil.

[@DylanTalksTone]

No… you are incorrect…. Start finish… Finish start. If you do it your way, it will work, but it won’t be hum cancelling.

[@johnabram3981]

@@DylanTalksTone Ha, sorry, you're right. Dunno what I was thinking there!

[@samright4661]

Have you ever thought about winding 2 p90s together and make a super Humbucker ? I think it would sound Awesome...

[@kodykindhart5644]

Check the sd p90rails

[@Kevin.odonnell]

Now, could you apply the coil tap idea to a humbucker? Say get a dpdt toggle and tap both coils at like 8 and then 11k? That would be pretty sweet. A little have your cake and eat it too. If only one could adjust the magnetism that way...

[@dispersemedia]

I've been thinking of a similar idea. Basically on humbucker that has a series/parallel switch, both coils are tapped on the series position (about 60-70% of the full winding), while both coils use the full winding on the parallel position. This way the volume difference won't be too far off when switching between series and parallel. I just don't have the experience and equipment to build a pickup so I don't really know if that concept would work.

[@DMSProduktions]

@@dispersemedia They WON'T sound the same!

[@dispersemedia]

@@DMSProduktions what are you referring to?

[@DMSProduktions]

@@dispersemedia Wiring the coils in parallel instead of series. It also will not cancel any noise.

[@dispersemedia]

@@DMSProduktions Isn't that the purpose of a series/parallel switch? To get different sounds? My guitar actually has a series/parallel/split. Parallel is not as quiet like series, but quieter than split.

[@jacobbockover1628]

Wow its pretty hard to find actual info on my s2 on regard to coil split or tap. Im shopping for a new neck pickup n don't wanna order the wrong thing. Like the dragon is a tap n then say they bareknuckle Abe 4 conductor

[@chopper4484]

My tele build has a tapped seymour duncan quarter pounder in the bridge and a Fralin P-90(humbucker) in the neck with 500k pots. I have chosen to balance the untapped SD with the P-90. The tap has a resistor across it to get more classic telecaster single coil sound though its very quiet. I've used a 5 way switch with P90 in the middle position. Its not hum cancelling in 2 & 4 which I think is telling me the polarity needs to be switched. To be honest the P90 on its own gets the most use.

[@LordSonny94]

I LOVE your videos, but I still confused and have a question after watching this... I often see many brands mentioning both CoilSplit & CoilTap on their specs, but 90% of the time it has always been humbuckers and never Singlecoils or P90s...? But after watching this it sounds like you can't TAP a humbucker.....? I'm confused...

[@Krunchtastic727]

Him sodering vs me. ... Ah i've seen you waxed your pickups in soder.. that's bold

[@Noscrap909]

How doesn’t the volume drop when the pickup is tapped ?

[@yburyman9130]

I'll hit the subscribe. ...if you tell me if its possible to put a coil split on a 5 way. So its some thing like: sb,hb,sm,sm+sn,sn . ..I'll hit the button now in anticipation to your response mighty guitar wizard. ..

[@mailvilla]

10/23/2021: I assume you will not answer my questions (as usual), but I will ask anyway. I have been wondering if I purchased an H-H setup with a 3-way switch, could I split both humbuckers and get a quacky twangy country sound in the middle position of the selector switch? You know, just like a Telecaster can do.

[@voodoocustompickups2547]

I always correct people when they call a coil split a "coil tap." Its a pet peeve of mine

[@willstocks4916]

i would argue that every split is a tap, but not every tap is a split. if you view a humbucker as one complete pickup, a split is a tap at 50% of the winding. i do agree with your statment in principle though, and i'd rather people say "split" for a 50% tap on a humbucker, rather than "tap" as i think it makes the communication clearer.

[@BasemSayej]

okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk thanks

[@DylanTalksTone]

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur welcome

[@MarkSmith-vy3tq]

Bummer. I've looked on KZbin for actual sound demonstrations of "tapped" & "split." No one seems to want to do this right out the gates. Seems they want to "explain" what it means first--some in a VERY complicated manner. You explained it well, but no sound demonstration. Disappointed.

[@DMSProduktions]

Tap/split were NEVER the same thing! (Tho there is NOTHING to stop you tapping an individual coil of a hum bucker!)

[@maxmustardman298]

You probably would have to have 6 wires from that humbucker for a full functional tap and that explains why nobody is doing something like that, at least not on a standard production run

[@DMSProduktions]

@@maxmustardman298 Oh I agree! I never said it was a PRACTICAL set up!

[@maxmustardman298]

@@DMSProduktions it would be the ultimate humhucker tho

[@DMSProduktions]

@@maxmustardman298 Yeah, & ultimately over complicated!

[@Thurston86]

🤘👽

[@kluzz]

With the right switching, couldn't you technically get 3 pickups out of one coil tap? Start-to-Finish, Start-to-Tap and Tap-to-Finish.

[@maxmustardman298]

Its only ever 50 or 100 percent of the wounds so probably no sonic difference

[@deanallen927]

Oh come on! Everybody knows what you mean when you say "coil tap" a humbucker. People are thinking too much on this. If you want to get literal about it then "coil splitting" would specifically mean parallel wiring.

[@spoonsmith9506]

Could not understand the Scotsman for some reason. Prob me. So here I am.

[@gtritany]

Doesn't series//parallel solve the problem of volume drop? Sounds like humbucker/single coil, with little variation on volume. What do you think of it? Thanks for the vid.

[@dispersemedia]

My guitar has a split/series/parallel switch for the bridge pickup. The loudness of parallel is actually closer to split than series.

[@gtritany]

Also, I think the volume drop in this case would actually be desirable for the use of distortion and overdrive.