Coil splitters, what are they good for?

[EveningSky]

I bought a Shechter Jazz-6 guitar from MF. Great deal, very nice guitar. It has coil splitters on both Humbuckers (pull pot). I do not notice much change when I split the coils; less loud?! What do they do? What are they good for? Anybody?

 

[Richard Monroe]

I don't know how it works on bass, but coil splitters (taps) allow you to switch back and forth between single coil (Fender type) and double coil (humbucker-Gibson type) pickups at will. In my case, my fingers don't get along with Fender necks, but I love the sound of a Telecaster. I use an SG with Seymour Duncan SH-4 (neck) and SH-14 (bridge) pickups, which can sound like an SG, a Tele, or a hybrid Strat. If you don't hear a difference live, listen to the recording. I bet you will. Remember that when you switch a pickup to single coil, you reduce the output, so if you're only switching one, you probably need to run a higher volume on that side to compensate.-Richie

 

[EveningSky]

Thank you. But can you help me understand what the difference between a single coil and a humbucker is. The difference I perceive to hear is one of intensity. Is there a qualitative difference as well?

 

[foo]

If they are wired like a regular coil tap (splitter etc.) then they will remove one coil from the humbucker configuration.
Humbuckers are two coils mounted together with the wiring reversed - what that does is cancel out the noise but allow the signal to go through.

The sound of the single coil will be brighter and thinner. You will get a lot less middle and less distortion in an 'overdrive' mode.

You'll probably get a really nice jangly rhythm sound with both single coils on, and a fairly light jazzy sound with the neck single coil on and the volume backed off to about 7 or 8.

Experiment - there's a lot of cool sounds in there.



foo