push/pull coil tap?

[jms1985]

apparently my tele ( http://www.fender.co.uk/products//se...tno=0262600521 ) has a push/pull coil tap. what exactly is this and how do i use it? many thanks

[GuloGulo]

One of the pots you can pull up and it splits the humbuckers into single coils.

Its probably the tone pot. Don't try to force it though. It should come up pretty easily. If it doesn't then its probably the volume pot.

[TG]

To turn the humbucker into a single coil what it does is to ground (earth) out one of the coils when you pull the switch.

But because a single humbucker coil isn't as 'good' as a proper single coil pickup the result is usually quite thin and empty.
But what you can do (if you are handy) is to run the wire that grounds out the coil thru a resistor (2.2Kohm I think) before ground so that you only ground out part of the coil so you end up with 'one and a half' coils, so to speak. The resulting sound is single-coil-'ish', but full enough to use.

[Colt W. Knight]

TG, do you know where there is a diagram for what you are talking about?

[TG]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

TG, do you know where there is a diagram for what you are talking about?

No. But it isn't tricky, even if, like me, you know very little about electronics.
Whatever switch you have 'splitting' the pickup, if you look at the wires on it you should find one comes from the pickup and there should be another one going to ground/earth, probably on the back of a pot. That 'grounding' wire is the one you alter, either by disconnecting one of the ends of it or cutting it...whatever is most convenient...and then reconnecting it with the resistor 'in line' so that the current has to go thru the resistor to ground.
(I think some resistors have to go in the right way around.)

Between 2Kohm and 4Kohm are the general size resistor to use, but you can also get little 'variable resistors' (like mini pots) and adjust it how you like with a small screwdriver.

I find that with a bridge humbucker the 'split' sound is a poor compromise whatever you do, but a good neck humbucker with this resistor mod will split into a very nice sound.

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by TG

No. But it isn't tricky, even if, like me, you know very little about electronics.
Whatever switch you have 'splitting' the pickup, if you look at the wires on it you should find one comes from the pickup and there should be another one going to ground/earth, probably on the back of a pot. That 'grounding' wire is the one you alter, either by disconnecting one of the ends of it or cutting it...whatever is most convenient...and then reconnecting it with the resistor 'in line' so that the current has to go thru the resistor to ground.
(I think some resistors have to go in the right way around.)

Between 2Kohm and 4Kohm are the general size resistor to use, but you can also get little 'variable resistors' (like mini pots) and adjust it how you like with a small screwdriver.

I find that with a bridge humbucker the 'split' sound is a poor compromise whatever you do, but a good neck humbucker with this resistor mod will split into a very nice sound.

What a great idea. Does it hum at all?

[jms1985]

cool, thanks alot for the advice

[Ronkirn]

the result is usually quite thin and empty.

I agree with TG here... in my experiance, when ever you get creative with various exotic switching schemes, you wind up with far more that you don't want to use than what you do.

Far too many are simply looking for "quantity" in sound choices, and forget quality. I get bunches of orderfor the "exotic" only to find the guitar back on my work bench a few months later for an "electronics-botomy" to simplify things.

What happens is, say your doing a Fogleberg tune, then follow it with a Hendrix... it can take you 10 minutes to "dial in" the correct sound.... With the Tele's KISS Methodology, ya got 3 choices and tone.... life is simple, life is good.

This is not to say many choices is a bad thing, it's just that I have found most requesting such, change their minds in short order. Those that ignore history. . .

Ron Kirn