Coil taps, who has 'em or has done 'em?

Baltar · March 23, 2011, 08:26:40 PM

I have the Eastwood Corona (SG) with a GFS Dream 180 (neck) and '59 PAF (bridge). I've been toying with the idea of tapping the neck. Should I do it?

eyeprod · March 23, 2011, 08:45:39 PM

It's an easy job. The main issue is the switch. Do you want to drill a hole? If not, you can get a push/pull pot that will work. I have one in one of my guitars. The re-wiring is easy to do.

Baltar · March 23, 2011, 09:10:28 PM

The push-pull pots are a cool sleeper mod. The switches would give it a nerdy fusion-rock look. Gary Lee Conner of Screaming Trees had a Les he got from Chris Cornell that had the switches. Prolly go with push-pulls.

spookstrickland · March 23, 2011, 09:40:17 PM

I have a coil tap on my Dimarzio PAF pro in my HRR Srat and it's pretty cool. I don't use it all the time and it does not really sound 100 percent like a single coil but it's really nice to use with amps that don't have a lot of head room or with certain fuzz pedals.

mawso · March 24, 2011, 06:49:38 AM

I have series to parallel on my main axe. Not quite the same thing, but pretty close & no hum

they're great to switch to for cleaning up

dogfood · March 28, 2011, 11:34:51 PM

my ole SG special 400 has Dirty Fingers that tap out to a PAF spec. pretty cool. Came standard even.

Instant Dan · March 29, 2011, 12:59:06 AM

I had it on an Orville LP. Not going to give you a single coil tone but pretty cool for different sounds. I recommend just getting push pull pots from a parts supplier vs drilling holes in your gee-tar.

db3jed · March 31, 2011, 07:18:57 PM

I fitted my Explorer with a push/push DPDT switch to split both the bridge (Dimarzio SD) and the neck (PAF Joe) to single coils simultaneously.
Both pups are relatively high output so when split they don't really loose much oomph.
Makes for a really fat "strat" sound in all 3 positions and they all clean up nicely with the volume knob.
I chose the push/push because it's easier to activate than having to pull up on a knob.
The tone knob on the Explorer is far enough away that I don't inadvertently bump the tone knob and split the pups accidentally.
Anyway, I think it's a great mod for any H/H axe and it avoids drilling your instrument for a switch.