Coil Tapped/Split Humbucker Recommendations

doober314 · Post by **doober314** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:48 am

Looking to do some coil tapping/splitting action on the ol' Korean Gretsch.

Anybody have recommendations on humbuckers that'll produce some pretty tones?

Not exactly sure what I'm looking for right now, just wanted to see if anybody had some favorites to share.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:43 am

I'm using GFS Loudmouth humbuckers in my Nu-Sonic that sound great and actually work pretty nice when you split the coils. They are 14k or something daft like that, though, so you'd really need to get a set or your other pickup is going to sound like a weak fart in comparison.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:18 am

My thoughts exactly, some of the nicest split coil tones I've got from a humbucker.

I was also pleasantly surprised how (despite the looks) the Loudmouths have a nice chime about them not unlike vintage wound PAFs, yet huge amounts of oomf on top of that.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:55 pm

I haven't got around to trying the loudmouth pickup ive got yet

Split sounds are cool if not a little weak with mid-low output pickups. The best sounds I've found are when I had seperate switches to split each pickup on a guitar, the neck humbucker and bridge coil-split sound was awesome.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:08 pm

I have a bunch of split pickups.
My white SS has Dimarzio pickups split independently. The Tone Zone bridge is amazing on both settings, and the PAF neck is fine.
I have a Dimarzio YJM stacked strat singlecoil-sized humbucker split on my black SS. It is ok.
I have P-Rails in my silver SS, which means four sounds from each pickup. That being said, the best sounds are the P90s by themselves. You can get these with SD's Triple Shot mounting rings to get all of the sounds easily. AND, they now come in hotter models.
My new coral SS has a Seymour Duncan BG1400 stacked esquire humbucker. It is 29-30K according to the website, and sounds amazing in full HB and in single coil mode. I also have a 4 way switch on this one so I get 8 tones from one pickup.
With regard to Gretsch style pickups, I have a Power'tron Plus in the bridge of my Billy Bo, which sounds like a overwound / hot PAF and at tele pickup at the same time in full HB mode. It isn't split, but it seems to do both at the same time to my ears.
What I want in a guitar is a spanking tele bridge sound and a overwound humbucker sound.

doober314 · Post by **doober314** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:08 am

It's a toss up between the GFS Loudmouths and the GFS Liverpools. I'll sleep on it and see which set of these pickups wind up in this hollowbodied sucker.

Thanks for the input everybody!