8/12/2019 Shunt Split Tap guitar coils

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Coil Shunts vs. Splits vs. Taps

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Ah, the vocabulary! I THINK I have a handle on what MOST of us mean when we use

these terms:

COIL SHUNT: refers to playing only one coil of a humbucker's pair , accomplished by

routing a umper from the connection N"T brea#ing it$ between the two coils to ground or hot$

though a switch, which allows the signal to bypass (shunting ) one coil out of the voltage potential%

The resulting tone is thinner and brighter than that of a humbuc#er, with less output% This is probably

the &"'T ("&&"N way to get a single coil tone out of a humbuc#er%

COIL SPLIT: Also refers to playing only one coil of a humbucker's pair %

Technically, this would be done by brea#ing (splitting ) the connection beteen the tocoils, and routing the hot lead of the coil that is grounded straight to the volume pot or switch,

whichever% Again, the resulting tone is thinner and brighter than that of a humbuc#er, with less output%

&ost modern humbuc#ers come with a four)conductor option, allowing you to utili*e either the

+shunt or +split scheme to get that !sin"le#coil! tone $%o& a hu&buc'e%% -ersonally, I can N"T

hear a difference, but there are those who will say they can, I.m sure% I will confess that I believe the

'H/NT seems to retain some '&A00 measure of noise)cancellation, whereas a '-0IT does not% 1ut

again, perhaps that.s ust me% (onsider my handle%%%

'o many people IN("223(T04 use the terms 5coil)shunt 5 and 5coil)split 5 as interchangable,

that it has become "K to do so% Not me% I thin# we should all use the same terms, and as correctly as

 possible 6 it7s less confusing that way! 8hich brings us to%%%

COIL TP: Is a completely different idea% This /'/A004 refers to 5tapping into5

the windings of a SINGLE COIL cutting out bypassing or shunting$ a number of windings to

decrease the impedance of the pic#up% 8hen a SIN*L+ COIL pic#up is wound, an 5e9tra5 hot lead

is spliced on to the coil windings, part way through the winding process usually at about the ;<

 point$, and that e9tra lead allows the player to bypass the remainder of the windings% The /'/A0

result of playing a pic#up with the 5COIL TP5 oconnected is a brighter tone, with less output%

A number of custom)wound SIN*L+ COIL Tele bridge pups use this coil#tappin" scheme 6 ,on

Ma%e comes to mind 6 to get the big modern +hot and vintage +bite tones out of the same pic#up%

 -OTTOM LIN+: 'hunting with a umper wor#s because electricity always see#s the path

of least resistance, where splitting actually brea#s the connection between two coils% A coil)TA- can

 be wired as a shunt)type connection, leaving the full)coil lead connected, or it can be switched

 between the full)pic#up lead and the tap lead% 3ven though all three of these terms result in the same

#ind of change in a pic#up.s sound, I don.t thin# we should be using them interchangably% 0et7s

A''/&3 that the popular convention is that a COIL TP means something entirely different than a

COIL SHUNT% "r, maybe it.s ust me, again%%%

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Anyway, by this vernacular convention, you can coil)SHUNT or coil)SPLIT a humbuc#er=

you could connect a coil)TP on a pic#up that was manufactured or rewound with that 5spliced

halfway through the windings5 tap)option% 'o, you would N"T coil#tap your standard four)conductor humbuc#er ) the proper terms for your options there would be a shunt or

split%