Coil Tapping


Drew77
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Drew77
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Joined: 01/26/05
Posts: 191
02/25/2007 9:29 pm
Hey guys

I am finally changing out my EMGs for a set of Dimarzios and I want to have the most versatility possible. If I want to split the coils and do all that stuff what kind of pots do you guys recommend I get. I know they should be 500k pots but as far as brand or specific functions I am not sure. DO I need two push pull pots or would I only need one and then another standard pot for my tone control?

Oh and I have a ESP with two knobs and a three way switch, would getting a five way open up any tonal doors at all? I don't mind complexity, I may not have any experience with this stuff but my brother works with this kinda stuff so he should be able to help me out. I am just looking for some options and what ever is going to give me the widest range of sounds.
# 1
aschleman
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aschleman
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02/26/2007 3:42 pm
500k push/pull audio taper pot for the volume....
500k linear taper pot for the tone....

You're kind of limited with what you can do with only the two knob slots... Is your 3 way a Gibson style 3 way or a Strat style blade switch??? If it's a blade switch like a Strat style guitar you could possibly skip the push/pull pot step entirely and go with a SwitchCraft SuperSwitch and do all your coiltapping through that... So you don't ever have to push or pull on a pot... You'd just have to flip the switch to where you want it.

If I had a 2 knob, 3-way switch, dual humbucking guitar... this is what I would do...

I would go with the SuperSwitch:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/Super_Switch.html

Wired so the 1st position is the neck coil tap, the 2nd is the whole neck humbucker, the 3rd is both buckers, the 4th is the bridge bucker, and hte fifth is the bridge coil tap.

Make sure you get your humbuckers in a 4 wire configuration rather than the 2 wire...

Another neat trick that I would use to trick out your guitar a little further would be to use concentric pots... http://www.allparts.com/categories.php?cat_id=616&cat_name=500K%20POTS (Part # EP_4586-000) Since you only have 2 knobs your tonal options are pretty limited within that... Concentric pots basically are two pots that are stacked on one another... If you've ever used an old cassette radio that had big knobs... where the center knob was the volume control and the outside knob was the balance or fade control... that's a concentric pot... You could turn your 2 knob guitar into a 4 knob guitar without drilling into the body. You could wire in individual volume knobs and individual tone knobs... giving you much more tonal diversity.

Another option aside from the 5 way SuperSwitch would be the MegaSwitch http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/2/Megaswitches.html

Or you can drill a few holes, get two on/off switches and wire individual coil taps so you can have the maximum tonal possibilities there are...

There are tons of stuff to do when it comes to wiring... especially when you get into series and parallel/in phase and out of phase type stuff..

Just some food for thought there though...
# 2
Drew77
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Drew77
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02/26/2007 9:09 pm
I have a strat style pickup selector.

So what I gather I could get a five way switch and then get concentric knobs and wire that in so I had a volume and tone knob for each pickup. I think it is possible, but not sure if it is possible with this setup to wire the pickups so that I am using one coil from each on a certain position. That way the gain loss wouldn't be as profound as it is when going from a double coil postion to a single, also they would still be hum-canceling, I think.

I like the idea about concentric knobs. I haven't seen any made for guitars specifically could I get one made for radios or whatever? as long as it is 500k, if that exists that is...
# 3
aschleman
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aschleman
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02/26/2007 9:13 pm
I gave a link to the allparts site that sells the concentric 500k pots... I don't know why Stew-Mac doesn't sell them.

Allparts.com Part # EP_4586-000
# 4
Drew77
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Drew77
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02/26/2007 11:03 pm
i'd probably have to route out a little more space for that concentric pot.
# 5
Drew77
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Drew77
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03/02/2007 11:09 pm
Alright, I know the setup I want for my five way switch.

But I dont know what five switch to get, I am looking for the least expensive one I need for this setup.

It is actually on the dimarzio website, but when I asked them they of course said the one I need is the one they make and its 40 dollars.

For my switch I'd like it to work like this...

1st position- Bridge Pickup, 2nd-Inside coils (parallel), 3rd-Inside Coils (series)
4th-Outside coils (parallel), 5th-Neck

Will just a normal 5 way swicth do the job or should I get te super switch or whatever?

Oh and i am going to get the concentric pots so I will have 4 knobs.
# 6

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