Secret PRS Coil-Split Mod | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 67 | Thomann

Even though splitting the coils of a humbucker makes it more versatile, there are some issues with it.
Most humbuckers will sound very thin and quiet if you disable one of the coils for a single-coil sound.
Let me show you PRS's awesome trick to avoid all of that.
Enjoy Guitar Tech Tips!

Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:22 Issues with coil splitting
0:47 How coil-split works?
1:18 What's the PRS mod?
2:09 Time for a test ride | Comparison
3:11 Outtakes

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[emilong]

In case you want to compare the mod without the full humbucker in between:

2:26 before the mod
2:46 after the mod

[cironicholas]

The coil splits on my PRS S2 sound outrageously good and I assumed it was the pickups. Great to know, now, that this is an easy and cheap mod that can be done with any split-able humbucker! Thanks Kris!

[mvyper]

You can also put a potentiometer in between the coil and the ground so you can choose the amount of signal you're actually putting to ground.

[MrShredarg]

Cool, I prefer switch to parallel rather than split, sounds more straty yet hum-canceling🔥

[Waterinmenbenen]

I always wondered why the split sounds on my PRS McCarty are so much better than my other guitars. Thanks for sharing!

[travismccartney]

Late to the party, but you could use a small through hole mount type pot to dial in just the right amount of resistance for a setup with both humbuckers on one split. That would save you from needing to solder in different options.

[josephhughes]

Kris,
Absolutely love your tech shows even though I am way to terrified to mess around with my guitars. I learn a lot from you anyway. Always have Kris playing guitar time on the show. You are amazing.

[FendCore]

Didn't know that trick!! I now have few guitars that will see a new resistance coming! Thanks!!

[ampersandmcvinegar]

Dude. I did this and put a push/pull pot on my bridge with reverse phase wiring. Absolutely mental! Thank you so much!

[donald-parker]

Cool idea! And easy enough to test with several different R values using some wires with clips on the end (which, BTW, are very handy to have in your kit at any time) before soldering tings in permanently.

[philcorcoran]

I have a PRS and have wired the resistors in. It works OK, ish. My preferred way of wiring for coil split is leave one pickup wired this way via a push/pull pot, and as I never use the tone pot (always flat out) I've wired the other pickup so that the tone is a blend pot on it. On 10 the pickup is full humbucker and as I turn the pot down it slowly shorts one coil to earth. It allows me to dial in exactly the tone response I want. I use hot rail type pickups on my strats and have used the lower tone pots to do that for years on them. I replace the pots with push/pulls so I can also series/parallel the coils as well for that fatter sound.

[vitaliistep]

That's a really nice mod, thank you very much, Chris!

[mghumphrey]

Just did this to my HB CST-24T which has Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB in it. I used 2.2K bridge, 1.2K neck. It made a huge difference - much more than I could hear in this video. Sounds great, and very similar to the way my PRS SE Swamp Ash Special sounds when I coil split it.

[RaymondLandis]

This was very enlightening and will change the way I see the coil splitting option forever... thanks!

[deanallen]

Hey, we're over here! Quit looking over there! There's nobody there! LOL!
The "after" sound of the tapped pickups is far superior than the old usual way, without a doubt. I'm putting that in my friend's PRS SE Standard 24, which I already had to fix and does not have that. Thanks!

[wesboundmusic]

Yeah, makes a lot of difference, hadn't known this little resistor would have such an impact!

[felipousismix]

Thanks for the tip, worked like a charm. I wanted to do the coils split on my Ibanez S so using the Volume was the only option, thanks to your video the coil-split sound more full. Cheers!

[chitarrafaidate]

That is great! I just ordered a 2.2 k resistor for a pedal and i got 5! I know what to do with it!

[garnettpetrey]

Go PRS! This has hounded me for several years

[KozmykJ]

Excellent tip thanks.
I'm currently in the middle of modding my HB35+ which I've had and loved for four years now.
Locking Klusons and IronGear Blues Engine pickups; I'm looking for a bit of extra brightness over the original Wilkinsons.
Converting to '50s tone wiring' and replacing the 47nf caps with 22nf.
While I'm in there I'm going to add this coil-damper mod as well, now that I've heard the difference.
👍