Question coil-tapping certain pickups

[PunkBillCarson]

Hey guys, I have a question about the PRS SVN. It has coil-tapping by default and my question is whether or not I can install Black Winter 7's in it and if it will affect the sound any. I'm completely new to coil tapping and I don't even know anything about it other than it makes it a tad better for cleans and such.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Hey guys, I have a question about the PRS SVN. It has coil-tapping by default and my question is whether or not I can install Black Winter 7's in it and if it will affect the sound any. I'm completely new to coil tapping and I don't even know anything about it other than it makes it a tad better for cleans and such.

all you need for coil tapping is a pickup with 4 conductor wiring (which the black winter has). you'll be fine.

 

[PunkBillCarson]

all you need for coil tapping is a pickup with 4 conductor wiring (which the black winter has). you'll be fine.

So I would be fine with putting the BW's in there? Good, good. I wonder what the sound would be like, coil-tapping a Black Winter? Does anyone have any experience with that?

@KnightBrolaire thank you for the quick reply, by the way.

 

[KailM]

Is it setup for coil-tapping or coil-splitting? There is a difference, but I'm not sure what it is, lol. I have my BW set with a coil-split option via a push-pull tone pot. They sound great split. I use them that way all the time for cleans. I wasn't sure I'd use it that much at first, but now I'm finding I almost prefer the split tone for cleans -- it reduces the output quite noticeably, so the cleans are cleaner even if you dig in to the strings a bit, and there's more of a glassy sparkle to the tone -- a lot like a Fender Strat. My favorite is using both pickups, but split. That's my current go-to clean tone.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

it's been a while since I've coil split the black winters but I do remember the neck had a nice chimey sound to it.
coil split vs coil tap:
https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/the-tone-option-that-could-be-hidden-in-your-pickups
split=turn off one coil in humbucker, and get a single coil tone
tap= switch attached to different section of coil to reduce output. mostly for single coils.

 

[spudmunkey]

Is it setup for coil-tapping or coil-splitting? There is a difference, but I'm not sure what it is, lol.

It's easy: the thing that everybody calls coil-tapping, if they offer no further explanation, really mean coil splitting. Actual coil-tapping is so rare because the pickups need to be uniquely designed for it, that anyone who really means coil tapping will go out of their way to make sure you know that it really is coil tapping.

 

[Drew]

The only other thing I'd note is it's pretty likely that the stock pickups and whatever you put in their place won't have the same color code for their wiring. There's a guide that's pretty good in the Pickups forum, so definitely sit down and work out the substitutions first.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

https://guitarelectronics.com/guitar-wiring-resources/humbucker-wire-color-codes/
this is one of the most comprehensive color code diagrams I've found.

 

[mastapimp]

So I would be fine with putting the BW's in there? Good, good. I wonder what the sound would be like, coil-tapping a Black Winter? Does anyone have any experience with that?

@KnightBrolaire thank you for the quick reply, by the way.

Seymour Duncan will provide some wiring diagrams with the pickups, but for less common configurations, you can use their website to look up the wiring guides based on your configuration (# of pickups, volume, tone, push/pull, etc...). I recently installed a dimebucker set and did the coil splitting without any issue. Like another poster said, 4 conductors is what you'll need.

 

[Zoobiedood]

OH! You mean splitting. Tapping is a very different process. Any 4 conductor humbucker can be split. 2 conductor humbuckers have to be modified to be split. None of them can be tapped. Splitting just shuts off one coil (grounds it out).
'Tapping' a pickup (usually single coils), is when wire is wound around a bobbin, and an output wire is attached. Then more wire is wound around the bobbin, and another output wire is attached. You can add many taps if you want to. You get several different power levels.

 

[Andrew Lloyd Webber]

Over 9,000, in some cases.

 

[Sollipsist]

I'm planning on splitting my Black Winter 7s as well, curious how this turns out. The neck & middle positions already have such a great clean tone, but they're pretty hot for most amps. Splitting should help that, but I'm also concerned about hum and shrillness.

 

[spudmunkey]

https://guitarelectronics.com/guitar-wiring-resources/humbucker-wire-color-codes/
this is one of the most comprehensive color code diagrams I've found.

*bookmarked

 

[odibrom]

For those in facebook, there's a group called Guitar Wiring with some very acknowledged people there. It is a group worth joining. The group also has an edition of said diagrams, but in a more friendly format (screen size / proportion), just click on their banner. It was a copy paste thing by one of the members/owner? of said guitarelectronics.com compilation.

About hum with single coils, it is only noticeable with dirt sounds AND when not playing or doing some light playing stuff. On clean channels it is pure crystal bliss.