Coil Tap - Question for Geeks

[GavQuinn]

The other day, I was fiddling around with the neck pickup height and pole height on my core model Starla, trying to get the neck to sound brighter, etc.

I noticed with the coil tap engaged that the screw coil is the one that remains active. I noted with the screwdriver tip touching the pole screw. Usually, it’s the other way around, usually, the slug coil is the one that remains in the circuit when the tap is engaged.

This seems very unusual – I've never seen this in 20+ years of playing. Has anyone else noticed this or seen this before? Or can anyone shed any light onto why this could or would be the case?

 

[garrett]

Any PRS with the push/pull split goes to screw coil. I would consider this as the norm and it's what I prefer, sound-wise.

I think Seymour Duncan are the odd ones; their default split wiring is slug coil. Some guitars mix/match, like Ibanez will split to slug on bridge and screw on neck. Anyway, there are no real rules, just whatever works best for you.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

The new Paul’s guitar would appear to split to the screw coil and they are both the south coil on each HB, giving a slightly more treble response.

This is also unusual, because on other HB guitars I’ve noticed the screw coils are north on the neck and south on the bridge.

I guess it’s horses for courses. I’m sure someone will have an opinion on which is right or wrong.

 

[garrett]

The new Paul’s guitar would appear to split to the screw coil and they are both the south coil on each HB, giving a slightly more treble response.

This is also unusual, because on other HB guitars I’ve noticed the screw coils are north on the neck and south on the bridge.

I guess it’s horses for courses. I’m sure someone will have an opinion on which is right or wrong.

The 408/Paul's/Mason/MT splits are an entirely different beast. They split to slug coil (with added winds), but notice that the slug side of both pickups is closest to neck, bucking the tradition of having screw coil of the neck pickup closest to the fretboard.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

The 408/Paul's/Mason/MT splits are an entirely different beast. They split to slug coil (with added winds), but notice that the slug side of both pickups is closest to neck, bucking the tradition of having screw coil of the neck pickup closest to the fretboard.

Having re-watched the 2018 Paul’s Guitar videos again today, that makes sense why there is little volume deficit, when the pickup is switched to SC!

Bryan tells us that on standard split coils the earthed coil still has some effect on the sound, even though it’s switched off. Anyone able to make a “Luddite” understand this?

 

[garrett]

Having re-watched the 2018 Paul’s Guitar videos again today, that makes sense why there is little volume deficit, when the pickup is switched to SC!

Bryan tells us that on standard split coils the earthed coil still has some effect on the sound, even though it’s switched off. Anyone able to make a “Luddite” understand this?

I think he was talking about the resistor wiring that is common on PRS coil splits now. It started with the DGT, but all the regular Core and S2 coil split guitars use resistors to only partly cancel one coil. In that case, the second coil definitely does still impact the tone.

But with a straight up coil split --no resistor-- or with the 408/MT style split, the cancelled coil is cut out of the circuit completely.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Thanks Garrett. I think like Tosca, I’m more wood than wiring!

 

[GavQuinn]

Any PRS with the push/pull split goes to screw coil. I would consider this as the norm and it's what I prefer, sound-wise.

I had a 59/09 set and when I split them, the Slug coil was left on. The tap sounded really good.

The new Paul's guitar tap sounds incredible.