Coil Tap and Parallel?

[Shredcows]

Hi there,
Can somebody tell me the different in tone between coil tapping and parallel?

I'm using a 2 hum configuration and a 5 way switch. Thinking of adding a push pull coil tap and keeping the 5 way. Problem is, I don't know if there is enough of a tonal difference to do that, for all I know, it could be a redundant thing.

Cheerio!
Daniel

[Jammy]

Coil tapping earths the centre "join" of the 2 coils, meaning that only one provides an output - resulting in a single coil type sound. Wiring a humbucker in parallel gives quite a pleasent result - hum cancelling, but slightly lower output and a different sound to the standard series wiring.

[steve]

To add to Jammy's explanation, the tonal aspects of the two are quite similar - more treble frequencies in relation to the bass frequencies, lowered 'cleaner' output, all-'round snappier single-coil like sound.
But the parallel option does retain the hum-cancelling aspect of the pickup, being as both coils are active, and retains more of the over-all output level of the pickup when run in series (typical wiring).
Split to single-coil, the pickup is much more prone to noise, has a bit more snap to the sound, and is a lower output.
Both are useful - I actually use the parallel-wired neck pickup sound quite a bit.

I make use of both, but in my wiring scheme, I make available on the 5-way the neck pickup in parallel, the outer two coils of the two humbuckers (along the lines of a Tele sound), and the inner two coils of the two 'buckers (along the lines of a Strat when using the bridge and middle single coils).
Add to the outsides of that the regular, series connected neck and bridge 'buckers, and there's my typical wiring scheme on 4-out of 5 Ibanez guitars (the other doesn't have the 'Tele' sound, and won't until I replace the switch with a different multipole... it's an RG7).

[Shredcows]

Ok, so the general view is that its useful to have both options available...

I'm thinking of doing the following wiriing to my axe...
A 5-way switch and a Coil Tap (push pull or switch)
So the switch will go:
1: Series/Split Neck Hum
2: Parallel Neck Hum
3: Parallel/Split Neck and Bridge
4: Parallel Bridge Hum
5: Series/Split Bridge Hum

Is there a better way to do this? Like using a 3-way switch instead?

Cheerio!
Daniel

[Drew]

I've got a 3-way with a coil tap on the tone control in my 7620 (2 humbuckers). I VASTLY prefer a true tap to a parallel humbucker - sure, you still get 60-cycle hum, but you get a much more organic, dynamically repsonsive tone, too.

Basically, I got my start as a strat player, and I REALLY like singlecoils.

-D

[Shredcows]

Hmmm...
How bad is this 60 cycle hum? I've never played strats (kinda dislike them )

And what do you mean by a much more organic, dynamically repsonsive tone?

Cheerio!
Daniel

[Dr. Funkenstein]

60 cycle hum can be very bad if your guitar is not properly shielded, it's a problem single coil users have faced since the single coil became available, and it's why most single coil guitars use Reverse Wound Reverse Polarity pickups (RWRP) in the middle position - this means that positions 2 and 4 on strats are humbucking because of the difference between the 2 pickups in use, thus cutting out the hum significantly. Positions 2 and 4 are essentially the same as a humbucker wired in parallel, althought the coils are much farther apart obviously.

Regarding parallel wiring, I feel it's another very useful sound to get out of your humbuckers. A humbucker in coil split mode (or coil tap, as its erroneously called most of the time - this is actually when you run a 'tap' wire out of a coil after a certain percentage of the winding, e.g. a tap at 6000 turns on an 8000 turn coil, resulting in more wires coming out of your pickup) will tend to sound thinner and weaker than a true single coil because of the difference in construction between a single coil and a humbucker. I always find them a bit weak sounding, and they still hum of course. A parallel wired humbucker will sound weaker than a series wired humbucker, but it will sound significantly brighter and retain more clarity. It doesn't sound like a single coil, but that doesn't make it a bad sound. I love the clarity. The best thing is to try it out for yourself and see what you think.

Incidentally, you can get all 3 sounds (series/parallel/coil split) out of your humbucker by using an on-on-on DPDT switch. See StewMac (http://www.stewmac.com) for details on how to wire such a switch, but it's pretty easy, if you don't mind cutting holes in your guitar / scratchplate. On my RG570 I have 2 DPDT switches alongside the standard 5 way selector switch, giving me a total of 13 different sounds. I particularly like the neck pickup in parallel mode.

Cheers,

Dave

[Drew]

It also depends on the pickup - the Air Norton in my 7620 splits amazingly well, while the Tone Zone is fairly anemic. It's not a BAD tone - rather like a tele in ways, in fact, it's just the AN sounds much "rounder."

-D

[Shredcows]

hmmmm... the on-on-on DPDT switch sounds good! But it's going to affect how fast I can change tones... Hmmmm... Got to think it out carefully!

Maybe having 2 3-way switches will do the job? THe DPDT switch does look quite fragile but the 3-way switches, I know you can hit it harder to switch modes quick..

I've got a Breed Neck and Bridge... in parallel, both are WONDERFUL! Almost acoustic-like for the Bridge... However, I'm changing the Breed Bridge to a tonezone.. heh, need a thicker and bassiser tone.



Cheerio!
Daniel

[Shredcows]

I got it!!!

Hows this idea?
Add a mini 2-way toggle switch that does split coil/parallel switching operations... AND that mini toggle only affects the positions 2 3 and 4 on the pup switch. This would leave the 5-way pup selector to do this:

1: Neck (Series)
2: Neck (split/parallel) --- }
3: Neck + Bridge (split/parallel) --- } affected by 2-way mini switch
4: Bridge (split/parallel) --- }
5: Bridge (Series only)

Is this possible?

Cheerio!
Daniel

[Shredcows]

OR what if...
i use a 3-way mini toggle that went... on (parallel) / on (split) / on (ground)
and the ground only works with positions 2 and 4?

Oooooo.... I'm excited!

[JESTER700]

Originally Posted by Drew

It also depends on the pickup - the Air Norton in my 7620 splits amazingly well, while the Tone Zone is fairly anemic. It's not a BAD tone - rather like a tele in ways, in fact, it's just the AN sounds much "rounder."

-D

The Tone Zone is a dual resonance pickup, so one side might be hotter than the other. Be sure to use that side when splitting.

[steve]

Hey, Drew - a piece of information that you may or may not know.
Those DiMarzio humbuckers often use blending of slightly different specifications on each of the coils in a humbucker (they have a trade name ofr this technology, which I forget) (eg; one might handle the mids and highs more, the other, the lows)... so, if you do a coil split, you'll get a slightly different result, depending on the physical orientation of the pickup, and the polarity of the wiring...
=]
Food for thought.

Edit - oops, Jester mentioned that already.