Tele'fying your humbucker guitar

Reinhard · 2013-10-11T08:40:34+00:00

= I still need to have some coffee, but this sounds pretty damn close. The guy takes really long to get to the point, but if you want to hear what the guitar sounds like after the mod, go to around the 7:15 mark.

Psean

I haven't watched the whole thing (skipped to 7:15) and listened to his explanation, but would a coil-tap not function similarly?

AlanRatcliffe

Psean wrote would a coil-tap not function similarly?

Yup (although, more accurately called a coil cut). Better, because then the unused coil is out of the circuit. You can also just parallel the coils too - not as sparkly as a coil cut, but stays hum cancelling. Either method is better than just removing screw slugs as it's something you can do with a switch.

Also, none of these methods work particularly well with a vintage output humbucker, as you end up with a very underpowered single coil. Works best with humbuckers wound to 12K and above or with a resistor across the coil-cut switch.

warrenpridgeon

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Psean wrote would a coil-tap not function similarly?
Yup (although, more accurately called a coil cut). Better, because then the unused coil is out of the circuit. You can also just parallel the coils too - not as sparkly as a coil cut, but stays hum cancelling. Either method is better than just removing screw slugs as it's something you can do with a switch.

Also, none of these methods work particularly well with a vintage output humbucker, as you end up with a very underpowered single coil. Works best with humbuckers wound to 12K and above or with a resistor across the coil-cut switch.

Apparently people use coil-tap and coil-split interchangeably (I am scott grove has a video calling people dumbasses if they do...lol).

coil-split -> taking one coils out of the circuit sort of making it function like a single coil.
coil-tap -> taking some of the windings of both of the coils, lowering the output and changing the tone.

I think?

Psean

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Psean wrote would a coil-tap not function similarly?
Yup (although, more accurately called a coil cut). Better, because then the unused coil is out of the circuit. You can also just parallel the coils too - not as sparkly as a coil cut, but stays hum cancelling. Either method is better than just removing screw slugs as it's something you can do with a switch.

Also, none of these methods work particularly well with a vintage output humbucker, as you end up with a very underpowered single coil. Works best with humbuckers wound to 12K and above or with a resistor across the coil-cut switch.

Cool. And thanks for correcting my terminology ?.

AlanRatcliffe

warrenpridgeon wrote Apparently people use coil-tap and coil-split interchangeably

They do. But they are different things.

coil-tap -> taking some of the windings of both of the coils, lowering the output and changing the tone.

Almost. A tap is a connection further back in a coil. If you look at the Reilander Strat pickups MikeM is selling in the classifieds, the neck pup is wound to 7.5K but has a tap at 5.8K.

I've actually never seen a tap on a humbucker, BTW. Possible, but you'd need one on each coil if you want them to stay balanced...

Nitebob

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Nitebob wrote Saw a clip of a guy tele'fying a strat by joining neck and bridge pups. Anybody try that? Spent so much time and money making my strat look good. Dont want to sell it now for a tele....
I do that all the time (although my fave is still "all 3 on"). It gets some of the "gonk" of a Tele mid position, but it's not quite the same because the pickups, bridge pup mounting and pickup spacing are all different. You can also add a plate under a Strat's bridge pickup, which pushes it more into Tele territory.

Sorry to flog a dead horse, but can one join neck and bridge pickup AS WELL AS put a plate under bridge pickup or would that be 'too much'? And if one goes the twangbanger route...should you just replace bridge pick up with twanbanger, or carry out alternate wiring?

AlanRatcliffe

Nitebob wrote can one join neck and bridge pickup AS WELL AS put a plate under bridge pickup

Yes, you could.

And if one goes the twangbanger route...should you just replace bridge pick up with twanbanger, or carry out alternate wiring?

Depends on what you want - how much you want to turn your Strat into a Tele. Twangbanger will give you the Tele bridge pup tone, wiring a neck/bridge combo will also get you closer to the Tele middle tone.

At some point though, you might want to rather actually just get a Tele. ?

Keira-WitherKay

Yep +1 to what alan said .... Fiddling with rewiring and pups can give a "simulated" tele tone , and great if you need it for a song or two at live gigs .... But it's not quite the same .... It's like using the ac30 modeller on your pedal board or amp or using the real thing

tele's have a unique feel and tone ... So if you want a tele tone for more than an "effect" live get a real telecaster ....

They are just perfect for what they do .....

Psean

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Also, none of these methods work particularly well with a vintage output humbucker, as you end up with a very underpowered single coil. Works best with humbuckers wound to 12K and above or with a resistor across the coil-cut switch.

Been reading and contemplating this stuff a bit (I got plans ? ) and I'm not entirely clear on the workings of the cut yet . The resistor across the switch would be going from the wires used to cut the coil, to ground (or am I mixing things up?), leaving some of the cut coil in the circuit right? Would that make it useable on vintage output humbuckers?

Chocklit_Thunda

Psean wrote
Alan Ratcliffe wrote Also, none of these methods work particularly well with a vintage output humbucker, as you end up with a very underpowered single coil. Works best with humbuckers wound to 12K and above or with a resistor across the coil-cut switch.
Been reading and contemplating this stuff a bit (I got plans ? ) and I'm not entirely clear on the workings of the cut yet . The resistor across the switch would be going from the wires used to cut the coil, to ground (or am I mixing things up?), leaving some of the cut coil in the circuit right? Would that make it useable on vintage output humbuckers?

Yup. It creates a partial coil cut which allows for some hum cancellation and adds some meat to the single coil tone. Perfect for vintage output (it will leave you with something similar to a 5K vintage strat single)

Another (better IMO) mod is to use an existing tone pot as a variable coil cut resistor. It lets you dial in/out exactly how much of the coil you want. From full HB to full single and everything in between. I think it's called a spin-a-split mod. ?

AlanRatcliffe

Psean wrote The resistor across the switch would be going from the wires used to cut the coil, to ground (or am I mixing things up?), leaving some of the cut coil in the circuit right?

Exactly that, yes. Use one per pickup so you can tweak the values for each pickup to find the right values to get your preferred amount of power and low end. Added bonus is it adds back some of the

The best option is to use miniature preset pots instead of fixed resistors - then you can experiment and dial in the perfect values.

Would that make it useable on vintage output humbuckers?

Yup. Just one coil alone of a vintage 7-8K humbucker will be 3.5 - 4K (assuming more-or-less balanced coils), making for a very bright, underpowered single-coil. By adding some of the second coil back you add some of the power back and tame some highs.

In contrast, a modern high powered 14K + 'bucker will cut to about 7K - which is already in the right range.

And yes, you can extrapolate it a step further and use a pot to dial in anywhere from a single-coil to full humbucker on the fly, while playing. The spin-a-split mod as it's sometimes called. In practice I've found this to be a bit fiddly though.

[EDIT: Choklit beat me to it!?]

Psean

Cool. Thanks Choklit. The resistor should suit my needs. I might go for a trimpot instead of a fixed resistor. I've heard of the spin-a-split but I don't like that you sacrifice a pot. Well not for the guitar in question anyway; I'm probably going to add a third pot (it only has master vol. and tone), so taking one away for the cut ain't gonna work for me.

Psean

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Psean wrote The resistor across the switch would be going from the wires used to cut the coil, to ground (or am I mixing things up?), leaving some of the cut coil in the circuit right?
Exactly that, yes. Use one per pickup so you can tweak the values for each pickup to find the right values to get your preferred amount of power and low end. Added bonus is it adds back some of the

The best option is to use miniature preset pots instead of fixed resistors - then you can experiment and dial in the perfect values.

Would that make it useable on vintage output humbuckers?
Yup. Just one coil alone of a vintage 7-8K humbucker will be 3.5 - 4K (assuming more-or-less balanced coils), making for a very bright, underpowered single-coil. By adding some of the second coil back you add some of the power back and tame some highs.

In contrast, a modern high powered 14K + 'bucker will cut to about 7K - which is already in the right range.

And yes, you can extrapolate it a step further and use a pot to dial in anywhere from a single-coil to full humbucker on the fly, while playing. The spin-a-split mod as it's sometimes called. In practice I've found this to be a bit fiddly though.

[EDIT: Choklit beat me to it!?]

I saw Choklit's first and missed yours...
Thanks. I like the preset idea best - fine tuning but once you've dialed in what you want, it's an instant switch to that sweet spot. My Toneriders are in that 7-8k range, so that should work nicely.

Jayhell

funkadelic wrote PS: Why does anyone love a tele? Such an ugly guitar. LOL!

... same goes for your mamma. ? LOL!

Nitebob

Me again....the dead thread reviver.

I never use neck pickup. Am always using Bridge or Bridge/Middle. Anybody now where I can get a wiring diagram to wire it when I switch Neck on, that bridge goes on as well, and when I switch to Neck/Bridge I get an All on result? Sorry my wiring skills sux something aweful.

AlanRatcliffe

Just add a wire in from the bridge pickup volume control (where it has the wire running to the pickup switch) directly to the output jack. That way the bridge pickup is always on and you get Bridge/Bridge&Middle/Bridge&Middle from the switch.

Nitebob

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Just add a wire in from the bridge pickup volume control (where it has the wire running to the pickup switch) directly to the output jack. That way the bridge pickup is always on and you get Bridge/Bridge&Middle/Bridge&Middle from the switch.

Thanks Alan

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