Pickup with coil tap change?

Dave H

Just wondering if any of ye experienced this.
I have a Wasburn WG580, and it is probably the sweetest guitar I've ever played. But I want to change the stock pickup at the bridge,but I don't want to lose the coil tap,as it opens up a new set of tones.
I was on to Washburn and they say that it would'nt work with active pickups,and passive should be fine.I was thinking of installing a Dimebucker(still waiting to hear from SD) and was wondering if anyone's changed one out or if anyone knows for sure if the coil tap will remain when different passive pickups are installed.
Cheers.

68 lost souls

Hey.

It all depends on how they are wired. The Dimebucker has a 4 conducter lead which means it can be wired for a coil tap.

If you look at humbucker pickups they can come in either 2 conductor or 4 conductor versions. With a 2 conductor pickup both coils are wired through each other and you have one live and one neutral wire. With 4 conductors there is a break in the conneciton between the two coils that essentially lets you split the humbucker in two parts.

Active pickups are a whole different kettle of fish. EMG however do have one active pickup that can be split, cant recall the number off hand but they have been mentioned here before.

Dave H

That's exactly what I was looking to find out.
Cheers mate, much appreciated;).

Asiaprod

I think you are refereeing to this one:

EMG-81TW Active Coil Tap Humbucker

Based on the EMG-81 made famous by the likes of Zakk Wylde and Kirk Hammett, the EMG-81TW humbucker pickup features both the dual-coil sound plus single-coil sound accessed through a prewired push/pull knob.

feylya

I thought he was referring to the 89. Didn't know they'd come out with a splitable 81.

Asiaprod

feylya wrote: »

I thought he was referring to the 89. Didn't know they'd come out with a splitable 81.

Its a new one and seems to be quite popular. Since I primarily play blues I was very interested in this baby. Have yet to find a clip to see how it sounds.
http://www.emginc.com/products/index/190

I found this review that gives an insight to their sound

The output is moderately high. It is not as high and abrasive as some high output passive pickups, but defeinetly hotter than low output passives. In a passive pickup you either get dynamics and clarity without the hairy balls OR you get hairy balls with a terrible sounding clean sound. On these active pickups you never loose the clarity across the whole spectre of frequencies yet you get a pronounced mid range that drive an amp in very nice way. It is hard to describe as I am no guitar engineer, but it feels like you are more in control of which sounds the guitar puts out. Its very clear and articulate and each string rings through the amp without drowning in other frequencies from other strings. The Volume knob is a beautiful thing here as it works almost like a gain knob on an amp. You can clear up the sound very nicely, and gradually increase the hairy balls at will. The single coils do not sound like true vintage single coils, but they sound great all the same. No hiss, no noise, no hum. just ringing warm and clear notes.

EMGs are either hated or loved. I realize their tendency to sound generic. You will loose some of the true characteristics of your guitar. For certain types of music (Jazz, blues etc) I can definetly see how that is a big problem. For progressive hard rock and metal or for fusion type music that require a cleaned up neat sound with great attack and clarity they cant be ignored. Shredders will love these, but they are not just for the metalheads and shredders either. These pickups can basically do anything, but they will always have that characteristic EMG sound. Love it or hate it.. I love it.

68 lost souls

feylya wrote: »

I thought he was referring to the 89. Didn't know they'd come out with a splitable 81.

Yep the 89 is the one I was reffering to. I might check out the new 81 now. Ill have to read up a bit on it cause I was looking at putting a set of EMGs in a washburn myself actually.