Grateful Dead Music Forum

I've got a coil split option on my Super 2's and I'm just not digging it. The volume drop is too much, and the single coil sound is too bright for my taste. (Sorry, I know, sacrilege, but that's what I'm hearing, and maybe Jerry would have gone to a partial coil split if he were alive today). I read about the partial coil tap process where a resistor is placed between the cut coil and ground. Used by PRS on some of their models. Recommended by Fralin when splitting anything other than an overwound. Anyone here tried it with a Super 2? Any recommendations as to the resistor rating?

This may or may not work, but I raised the poles in the north coil up ala strat style, and lowered them a bit in the south coil (both in the middle pup), then play it in hum bucking mode. Seems to sound great! It does not sound as "Jerry", but it is closer while still retaining more thickness.

I have never heard of your trick with the resistor? Perhaps someone with more knowledge than me on this board, Waldo!, could chime in.

I'm partial to the addition of a blaster with the single coils split... makes all the difference to me.

If you are going to try this, in terms of a resistor I would start by trying between ~4.8K and ~15K to ground between the coils, with the higher value being more HB and lower being more SC. I haven't done this with a Super II, but it will vary with the PU and taste and if you go too high or too low it can be too little difference to bother with it.

I just hook up jumper cables to make switching parts out and and do it by ear for this sort of thing.

You could use a trim pot, but if I have one of those in something I tend to get an irresistible urge to open things up and monkey with it periodically even though I always end up setting it back the way it started.

Drewfx, could you tell me about the jumper cables that you speak of? I'm picturing the use of clips, attaching the resistor to exposed portions of the already existing wire. Is that right?

Yes - just wires with clips on each end making it easy to try out stuff.

Life's funny. When I split my Super 2s on my Tiger style axe, I'm always surprised at how slight the volume drop is.