Coil split option

[FrankNew111]

Do you have/use the coil split?

 

[veinbuster]

Yes, sometimes.

 

[Proteus]

Few guitars have usable coil splits - unless you're looking for thin, dinky, knifey tones. But when a guitar's pickups and switching are engineered for decent-to-good single modes, I use them - a lot.

Electra-Westone guitars of the early-to-mid 80s, their proprietary Matsumoku "Unbalanced Coil" pickups, spoiled me with their exceptionally full single-coil character. As a consequence, I haven't had to chase every splittable humbucker since. For years the Electra/Westones sufficed - and then I escaped the terrible hegemony of humbuckers in geneal to the diverse lands of P90s, Dynasonics, and Filter'Trons (or straight-up genuine original singles) and had no need for fakey splittabuckers.

But you're presumably asking about splittable PRS pickups. I presently have a dozen-plus assorted PRSeseses with splits. On the SEs with 85/15s, I find the splits more usable than the average in the industry - if I back tone down to 3-6 on the dial. And, oddly, the single-coil modes work better with dirt than clean. And, yes, I use them. I wouldn't have bought the guitars just to get those tones, and they could rarely stand alone or become home base (though the neck pickup in single-coil comes close). But the capability is a nice bonus, a useful utility, and another factor in the SE value equation.

The best of the PRS splits, for my ear, are 58/15s in a Core McCarty and the "TCI" pickups in the SE Paul's Guitar. (I'm sure the Core Pauls are even better, just haven't had the pleasure - and I spect the other Core narrow-coil designs excel as well.) On those guitars, the single-coil settings are more than just usable or handy for variety - they're great tones in their own right. Pretty much as big and "authentic" as the old Electra/Westone UBC 'buckers of the 80s. (And probably a bit more refined and dynamic, as the E-W pickups had ceramic magnets which could tend to harshness, rather than good ol' AlNiCo.)

 

[Brad Lawson]

I love the split tones on both my PS and Artist DGTs. To me they are just about perfect.

 

[Rider1260]

Let me think YES !!!
on my
DGT
CU22 Special Semi Hollow LTD
408
CU22
CU24
SCT

 

[Malloc]

Yes / not all that much. Hardly ever use a single split bucker, but I’ve been finding more uses for combinations of split/bucker or double splits.

 

[tyfu20]

I use the neck tapped in my Paul's and the center position of my CE Semi-hollow sounds go great.

 

[bodia]

No too often. Then again, I rarely move volume and tone off of 10!

 

[ruger9]

The coil splits on my DGT are quite good; I will be using the bridge split frequently (especially with the band), the neck split more often at home. The middle position split is a bit thin for me, I like the middle position better not split.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Do you have/use the coil split?

Yes its nice to have color in the palette.

 

[KThaxton]

Yes....almost always split mine (one or both) for cleans.

 

[garrett]

Heck yeah!

 

[markd21]

All the time. I use my volume and tone pots all the time too. My current fav tone is my SE245 57/08 with the bridge vol at 8, the tone at 6 with the neck pickup split; volume at 4-5 tone on 10. That's a great sound no matter what I use to amplify it.

 

[Rod/]

Yes. With my DGT, all the time.. invaluable for going from nice chimney rhythm tones to singing lead guitar solos….

 

[EatSleepGuitar]

Yes, IF....IF there are independent splits. Mixing one pup split and one in hum mode (a la the 408 system) is magic. Having to have either BOTH split or neither in the middle position is gross.