HH with coil tap

MrArkadin

OK i love my HH and its humbuckers, but sometimes i would like a single coil sound so i'm thinking of having having it rewired (by someone who knows what they're doing - not me).

Given the complex Jag wiring i would like to know if anyone has tried this or something similar on a Jag or other guitar.

My initial idea would be to have the coil tap switch where the low cut switch is and lose the low cut function. i have no idea whether any of this is possible. Does it sound loony?

Cheers,

Mr Arkadin.

PenPen

Thats what I'd do if I had one of those guitars. A coil tap is a really cool feature, especially if you like the single coil sound. And yea, I'd probably wire it to the bass-cut switch. Maybe I'm a weirdo but I always hated that switch and thought it was pretty pointless on a guitar that is as bright as a Jaguar.

Though I'd probably put the tap on the neck pickup, I prefer the sound from that position. Has more low end.

Aug

It's ok to have more than one guitar, Mr. Arkadin.

johnniespring

you can wire it easily enough - i have done the same thing in a guitar i built which has a jag switch plate and switches - there's an on/off for each and the coil split switch.

the problem will probably be that the stock humbuckers are probably 2 wire so you'll need to either replace the pickups with 4wire pickups or cut open the pickup cut the wire that links the two coils and add extra wires.

MrArkadin

someone said: It's ok to have more than one guitar, Mr. Arkadin

Hell, why didn't i think of that (slaps forehead)?

Actually i wouldn't mind a single coil Jag but i hate the bridge and i'm not much of a DIYer. My mate has a nice Strat Plus that i get to use from time to time, but i just thought it might be nice to have a few more sounds from one guitar (also i can't be arsed to use more than one guitar live).

BobArsecake

Haha, this is the second person to come on here and want single coils in their HH Jaguars. Although a coil tap is fair enough so, I'm not bothered, but I'm still for bannishing any type of Jaguar with humbucking pickups, even the cars.

MrArkadin

Heehee. Don't get me wrong, i love my humbuckers. i e-bow a lot and prefer a humbucker for the rhythm pickup, and i always prefer a humbucker for the lead pickup, so the HH was the obvious choice for me (and as i said i don't like trems). I could have got a Les Paul, but that Jag shape... (plus it still has a Fender sound).

PenPen

I realize you wouldn't want to DIY it yourself, but if you wanted to take a shot at it I would be willing to help draw up a diagram for adding a coil tap in place of the bass cut. I'd need a bit of info first. Let me know if you are interested.

I personally like guitars that can get a wide range of sounds. I hate changing guitars. The ideal guitar to me would have single coil neck and bridge HB, like the Jagstang has, with coil tap. That would cover a nice range of sounds. Personally I bought the Jag for two reasons, one it felt better than any other guitar, and two it looks really cool. Unless I could get another guitar that had a neck as nice as a Jag and look just as unique, I would want to try modifying my HH Jag to get those sounds instead of getting a second guitar. Though no matter what I got I'd probably try modifying it anyway, I just like to open things up and modify to taste to make it my own.

MrArkadin

Any diagram help would be appreciated PenPen, although i'm not sure what technical info i could give you without taking my HH apart. i usually like the singlecoil neck/humbucker bridge config too, but i really like a humbucker for ebow, which tends to use the neck pick-up.

Would the coil tap only work on one pickup or could it work on both? If only one then i guess the neck pick-up would be the obvious choice. i'd probably get this guitar guy i know to do it (he also does the Buzz Feiten mod which i'm considering too).

johnniespring

you don't need a diagram you need new pickups (probably).

PenPen

Well, the two bits of info I'll need, and I'll be searching online for this as well, is a stock wiring diagram for it, to reference, and whether those HBs have single wire or 4 conductor. If they are single wire, then sadly I don't think it will be possible without some surgery to the pickup itself. In those, the leads between the two coils is already hardwired in series, and you'd have to open up the pup, find the wire, cut the two, wire leads to them, etc. A four conductor has the leads for each coil available, and you can do all of the cool wiring tricks with them. I'll see what I can dig up when I get some time, right now I'm at work so I can't do a whole lot but I'll try. If you can find that info out and could post links, that would be awesome.

johnniespring

they are two wire pickups.

PenPen

Ok. It won't be possible without opening up the pickup and separating the two coils then. Take it to a pro tech if you really want this done, and see if they'll do it, otherwise getting new pickups is really the only other way to do this. Sorry.

Thanks Johnniespring for the info.

johnniespring

opening pickups is pretty easy. though it depends on whether they are fixed into the covers or not.

PenPen

I agree its easy to do if you know what you're doing. Hell, repairing a crashed database or applying an Oracle patch is easy too, if you know what you're doing. But I'm not going to suggest that kind of surgery to someone who hasn't done such a thing before. No offense to Mr Arkadin, of course.

Mad-Mike

My cool railed Jaguar has a push/pull tone pot installed on the lead circuit to change the settings. I dunno if it's the right value for a Jaguar (1MEG), but it works great, and is hidden away so it's not obvious there's more to the tone knob than that it turns. Exactly how I would have done it (had I not bought the guitar that way and wanted to put a coil tap on it).

johnniespring

PenPen said: I agree its easy to do if you know what you're doing. Hell, repairing a crashed database or applying an Oracle patch is easy too, if you know what you're doing. But I'm not going to suggest that kind of surgery to someone who hasn't done such a thing before. No offense to Mr Arkadin, of course.

you have a point.

BobArsecake

If you love humbuckers, you love shouting at the top of your voice instead of talking.

Aen

i love shouting, but i prefer single coils.

Spitfire

Just a though but does anyone know the impedance of HH pickups because if it's anything under about 12k the split coils may sound just too weak to be of much use. Hot buckers usually split best.