Doing The Splits Pt. I

Know your coil-splits from your coil-taps? No? Dave burrluck investigates the whys and wherefores of getting single-coil tone from your humbuckers

 

Who was the first person to coil-split a humbucker? That would make a great pub quiz question. Maybe some readers might know the answer, but certainly by the 1970s this kind of technical wizardry was the thing to do. The first time I came across it was, probably, a DiMarzio Dual Sound, a four conductor version of the Super Distortion. It came with a mini toggle switch and instructions on how to either run the two coils in parallel to create a lighter, brighter but still humbucking voice; or voice either of the two coils individually for true non-humbucking single-coil sound. This ceramic-loaded humbucker was a clever piece because not only did it have plenty of clout to warm up the front end of your amp, voicing one coil creates quite a big single coil sound. Split a PAF spec humbucker and your single coil is relatively weedy and it’s one reason why many of us can find coil-splits a compromise that doesn’t produce useful tone.

With Allen-key adjustable poles on each coil, along with that ceramic magnet, the Dual Sound, when split, was never going to ape a vintage Strat but I’m not sure it mattered back then. But put simply, DiMarzio changed everything for me as my fledgling handmade instruments could now boast a plethora of sounds.