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Post by L on Jul 9, 2010 12:26:22 GMT -5
Hey guys im interested in these guitars (HM strats) and was wondering about the coil tap.
Are they effective, as in a drastic change in tone?
And what tones can you cop from the pup when tapped?
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Post by nickwellings on Jul 9, 2010 13:07:18 GMT -5
I think there's a difference in my stock coil, at loud volumes. You can get a close "strat bridge tone" but anything "vintage strat circa 1958" is going to require an upgrade a think. It's certainly useable though, if you can deal with the 60 cycle hum!
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Post by L on Jul 10, 2010 3:32:26 GMT -5
I think there's a difference in my stock coil, at loud volumes. You can get a close "strat bridge tone" but anything "vintage strat circa 1958" is going to require an upgrade a think. It's certainly useable though, if you can deal with the 60 cycle hum! Cheers So the coil tap can get a single coil like tone? or is it more like a low output humbucker? |
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Jul 10, 2010 10:36:49 GMT -5
Cheers So the coil tap can get a single coil like tone? or is it more like a low output humbucker?
A Coil Splitter splits the humbucker into two single coil pickups. |
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Post by L on Jul 10, 2010 11:26:38 GMT -5
From what I understand, it's actually a Coil Splitter and not a Coil Tap.
A Coil Splitter splits the humbucker into two single coil pickups. are you sure? Because the wiring diagrams on this site labels the switch as a coil tap rather than a coil split. |
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Post by heem6 on Jul 10, 2010 11:44:14 GMT -5
Well, naming conventions aside, it's designed to do what Nick said - give you a single coil in bridge position.
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Post by nickwellings on Jul 10, 2010 11:58:33 GMT -5
The correct name is in fact a coil splitter as Bod says.
A tap just changes the sound.
Fender just got the name wrong. It is a common "mistake".
From Seymour Duncan site:
What is a coil tap?
A coil tap refers to a lead connected to an individual coil’s winding and is used to raise and lower a pickup’s output and change its tone. This is most often utilized on single coil pickups where the player wants a higher output pickup but also wants to be able to switch to a lower output and more vintage-type tone using the same pickup. Many of our pickups for Strat® and Tele® are available in tapped versions for an additional $1 - $11, depending on the model. In addition,you can special order a "Shop Floor Custom" tapped version of any other pickup for an upcharge of $12.
What is coil splitting?
Coil splitting refers to the ability to disable one coil in a humbucker-type pickup. This offers the player option of getting a single coil-type tone from a humbucker-loaded guitar. Many pickups have three- or four-conductor wiring that allows for one coil to be disabled by shorting one coil to either ground or hot. All production Seymour Duncan humbuckers can be purchased with four-conductor wiring either stock from the factory or as a Production Floor Custom order. The exceptions to this rule are the Vintage Rails (SVR-1) and Duckbuckers (SDBR-1), which are wired internally in parallel from the factory.
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Post by lbeast on Jul 11, 2010 7:43:51 GMT -5
My understanding is that the SD3 is coil split to where when you put the switch in the front position it turns off the front coil of the humbucker so that only the rear single coil is working. When you put the switch in the rear position, the pickup is once again in humbucking mode with both coils acting in concert (sometimes literally). I don't think the description of tapping in Nick's explanation of tapping & splitting is what SD3s were designed to do, as he stated. IMO Fender wanted a single coil sound so that Strat purists playing a HM could get a more country music sound from the HM (twang). I don't think the SD3 is put into a low power state to simulate a single coil by using both coils at once. Maybe someone could research it or ask Dimarzio what up to put the matter to rest. 
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Post by L on Jul 11, 2010 9:00:28 GMT -5
Sweet if the switch is infact a coil split the HM would be the perfect strat for me.
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Post by spacerocker on Jul 11, 2010 15:33:43 GMT -5
Coil split, coil tap...whatever!
What the switch does is take the mid-point of the humbucking pick-up, and short it to ground, effectively disabling one half of the humbucker.
Does this make it sound like a single coil pick-up? A bit, but not much, in my opinion! If you want traditional classic strat tones, forget it, and buy a traditional strat!
I use all the pick-up positions on my HM, but rarely the coil-tap, as it just doesn't sound sufficiently like a single coil in the bridge position.
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Post by stratznhatz on Jul 11, 2010 16:33:52 GMT -5
I personally think that a Strat bridge single coil is harsh on it's own and rarely use it, but I like the classic 'out of phase' tone when combined with the middle p/up. How does this combo sound on an HM when the bridge 'bucker is split?
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Post by nickwellings on Jul 11, 2010 17:25:44 GMT -5
I think maybe some sound clips are in order!
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Post by tommyh on Jul 12, 2010 17:50:40 GMT -5
Folks,
OK so I did some testing. Mine is an 1988(?) Teal model, from UK. It does not have a DiMarzio S3 but has a Fender(?) humbucker. You can test whether a pickup is 'live' by gently touching the pole pieces with eg a screw-driver and you get a loud 'toc' sound - you can also test the DC resistance. In normal humbucking mode both coils are active and mine has a resistance of 13.08 kohms. When you throw the mini toggle, only the 'slug' coil and not the 'screw' coil is active and this is confirmed by the DC resistance becoming 6.66 kohms.
In my understanding, with a single coil pickup you cannot 'spilt' the coils (obviously as there is only one), but you can 'tap' the coil - ie the full pickup has (just for illustration) 12,000 windings and an overall resistance is 12 kohms, you can connect an output wire half way through and therefore take the output from 6,000 windings (which would hacve a resistance of 6 kohms). With a humbucker with 2 coils you can 'split' the coils ie do the same sort of thing but with each individual coil - so you can use just one coil. However, if you 'split' then coils you can then re-wire them in other ways eg in parallel. For example, this is what is done in the Showmaster - position 5 is the neck pickup in standard humbucking mode, both coils active, wired in series (DC resistance 6.88 kohms), position 4 is the same pickup with the coils in parallel - both still active (DC resistance1.74 kohms). The sound is different - that 'hollow' in-between 'Strat' sound.
So how is the 'single -coil' sound of the of the HM humbucker? I think not bad - in mine, neck has resistance of 5.92 kohms and middle 5.52 kohms so the split/ tapped bridge is a little bit more and sound rather more middy to me (still some humbucker character) but, as I say overall not bad, maybe like a slightly hotter & mellower bridge single coil??
Cheers, T.
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Post by stratznhatz on Jul 12, 2010 18:05:31 GMT -5
Thanks for all this info guys, the more I hear about HM's the more I know it's the guitar for me, a cool 80's shred axe that can do almost all the Strat tones and more besides, except the ones I don't like. Cool...!  |
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Post by stratznhatz on Jul 13, 2010 16:40:58 GMT -5
I think maybe some sound clips are in order! Great idea Nick, it would be great if a few people would do that. Come on guys, show off your axes and your skills! ;D |
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