P90 Pickup w Coil Tap - the Next Project 

Scott, thanks for watchin! Glad you enjoyed the project, and I'm learning along the way too. P90's are a cool pickup, and this was a interesting project. I have a follow-up (part 2) P90 project planned, just need to find the time. The test mule guitar has been a lot of fun and a great experiment. I like being able to move a pickup and hear the difference in output and tone. I used this to test the placement of a filtertron style pickup, and moved it away from the bridge, definitely rounded the sound a bit. I'm also looking for a good affordable short scale guitar to do the same "mule" thing to. Project list keeps getting longer. Hope all is well, be safe and take care!

Thanks for watching and hope the video is helpful for your upcoming project. Winding is a fun challenge. There is a lot of variation that can be "built-in" to the process, and as you say it can be incredibly rewarding. It's opened my eyes to the simplicity of the process, also exposed me to the science of pickups. Also to the fact that there isn't as much magic and voodoo as marketing portrays. It can be a consuming hobby, the opportunity to endlessly created "tests", which will move you along an ever winding path (no pun intended). Good luck, be safe and take care!

Chris, thanks for watching! I hear ya, and I think any P90 I use going forward will be tapped. I hope to do some additional testing in the future, but this was a good starting point. Be safe and take care!

Benoit, thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the project. It was/is pretty interesting for me. A lot more to learn yet. Be safe and take care!

Kelly, thanks for watching! You're probably right, soaked or vac'd. I bet a lot of people may be surprised that a lot of big name pickups are vac potted. It's fast, and that is money saved for a factory. I like the vac process, I have a better idea that the coil is completely coated. I feel that just soaking leaves a lot of windings uncoated, but that may be okay too. I hope to do another P90 coil tap video soon. A slightly different take on this experiment. Hope all is well, take care!

Derek, thanks for watching! I'm liking the project too. I feel I gained a great deal of information trying this. All the pickups sounded different, yet very similar. The video (and my playing) don't do any of them justice. The "mule" guitar is pretty stripped down - weight relief for sure. Be safe and take care!

Matthew, thanks for watching! So far so good. Take care!

Hey Dave, thanks for watching! It is a bit nerve-racking the first time or two, then a bit frustrating, then a bit " are we there yet". I'm still learning, but it's not as scary as it seems overall. I'll probably wind more over the years, but I do question the real value. It takes time, materials, trial and error...it all adds up financially. Yet there are some really good pickups for cheap in the market. Unless you want to test ideas like this, or wind special taps and splits...I'm not sure if it is practical financially. However, it is fun to learn and try new things. I guess that's where my interests are. Anyway, you can do it, if you wish. It's not that difficult. I'm sure you already to other tasks that are tougher....so, go for it! Take care!

Jurgen, thanks man! The current barrage of content is a fluke, I've had some content sitting for a while, and I also have a little time on my hands as I caught the crud and quarantined from work for a week... I feel fine, just can't pass the healthy test, or whatever. So, I've been walking the dog and working on some video stuff. The dog is glad to have me at home, but he still sleeps all day. Glad you like the variety of topics, and I guess that's just me. Everything is interesting and I want to give it all a try. Hope you and your family are doing well. Take care!

HeadGear, thanks for watchin! Agreed, vac potting gets the wax in there.... I want to do a side-by-side comparison, dipped vs vac potted, then cut them both open. A long to-do list...it's on there. Hope all is well, take care!

@@theNextProject Yeah make a video comparison, it would be interesting to see :D

D-8, thanks for watching! It was a great experiment and is slowly leading to a part 2 test. Be safe and take care!

@@theNextProject I am on the way of discovering the world of P90s, it was an interesting addition to my journey, thx again

Gary, thanks for watching! Yep, more of my "i can do that" attempts at learning. All the pickups turned out great, all will be used somewhere, as some time. While they all sound very similar, they each have their own "second" voice. Interesting. #1 is already promised to the HB SG project, that will be wrapping up soon. Thanks for the comment/compliment, greatly appreciated! Hope you are doing well, take care!

Andrew, thanks for watching! I've been using that guitar more and more all the time. The speaker connectors seem to be working pretty well so far. It's nice to be able to use a common partz no need to invent something, although, I'm always wondering if there is a better way, probably is. Oh well, good enough for now. Be safe and take care!

j roc, thanks for watching! It was an interesting experiment. Next test will be a A/B test where both are wound to the same turn counts, but the tap will be inside the coil (A), the other will have the tap to the outside of the coil (B). This should help shed some light on the impact of magnet strength, and coil length... or something. Both pup will have to be of the same physical build, unlike one of the pups in this project.

@@theNextProject cool, I am looking forward to it, by the way, it was well played and the pickups all sounded great

Graham, thanks for watching! Interesting to hear about the Iron Gear pup, glad you're liking them. Happy Holidays!

Hey Michael, good to hear from you and thanks for watching. Sounds like you have your build figured out. P-rails sound pretty cool, but I've never seen/heard one in person. Yours will be the first. Sounds like a good conversation. Happy Holidays, take care!

Josef, thanks for watching! My poor testing practices makes them all sound rather twangy for sure. Another test is to get amp setting that record well enough to distinguish all the subtlety. Ugh, so many things to juggle. More testing required. Hope you enjoyed the project, take care!

Bahaha, I never thought I'd hear that. No, they never caught the gorilla. The search continues! Thanks for watching and the great Waterboy reference, laughed so hard coffee shot out my nose. Be safe and take care!

Erik, thanks for watching and the comment/question. The way I have these pickups wired: The start of the coil is my ground (-), the coil builds out from the center and exits for the tap (+ when selected), the wire then returns back to complete the full wind count and does a finish exit of the coil (+). If the tap (+) is selected, only the winds from the start (-) to the tap (+) are "in circuit". If the tap is not selected, it the loop out of the winding (tap) acts as a continuous strand of winding wire on to the finish (+). You could add another switch at the end of the pickup to reverse the "flow", basically changing the phase of the pickup I guess. There may be additional noise from having the start be on the outside of the coil, rather than buried in by the magnets. Interesting idea, changing the "ground" points. Some experimenting may be fun. Sorry I don't have an answer for you. Be safe and take care!

Mike, thanks for watching! Good to hear your preference. I wish I could put together better sound comparisons, amp settings and a better player to boot for the test drive. Hope you are doing well, take care!

@@theNextProject The differences are subtle, but noticeable. And, you did fine - we're all our harshest critics it seems. Be well

Giulio, thanks for watching! Interesting your P90s have poor sound. How do they sound, I mean do they get dark, muddy, or sharp... Very interesting. Hope you can find a solution. Thanks again for watching, be safe and take care!

Anthony, thanks for watching and I appreciate the compliment! I have another coil-tap P90 winding test coming up soon. Send me a message at: thenextproject.info@gmail.com We'll talk. Be safe, take care!

Paintboxpash, thanks for watching! I'm still learning, and enjoying the process. So far, the pups are all very usable! Good question regarding handmade vs stock/production pups. I honestly don't see the need to handwind unless there is something specific/odd you need. That was the main reason I did this test. Finding P90 with a coil tap isn't easy or cheap if you could find them. If you just want good single coils, good himbuckers... I can't see looking anywhere other than what a pickup company already makes. My playing ability doesn't really call for anything special either, I'm working on that too. Hope this answers your question. Take care!

@@theNextProject Yes thanks, that seems to be a very honest, sensible answer. There seems so much mystique around what gives the best tone, when most of us just play at bedroom volume. Cheers.

Monsi, thanks for watching! I agree, at this point, the 35% is my choice. Sadly, my playing and the video-audio didn't do any of the pickups justice. Still learning. Take care!

Im going to try this ,was thinking a 10000 turn wind and an A3 magnets , along with a 35% difference could be very cool especially in the neck position

@@edadpops1709 sounds like a great place to start. I like the 35% wind offset too. Good luck with your project!

Value, thanks for watching! Good Info you've shared, my testing will continue. These P90s don't seem to be too far out of line resistance wise. Seems a lot of 10k wind P90s are in the 7.5kohm to 10kohm range. From what I've read and a few personal tests. My audio testing lacks quite a bit making them all a bit brittle. A lot more to learn for sure. Back to the drawing board, at least it's fun to fiddle with this stuff. Hope you are doing well, take care!

Pandor, thanks for watching! The P90 coil tap, is to have a lower output coil available, which will impact the sound, without having to changing volume or tone. In this video, I'm in search of what percentage winding is before and after the tap, gives the best combination in sound. Personally, I like the greater percentage, but others line something more in the middle of my test range. Not sure if I've found the sweet spot yet. Everything is subjective. Hope you enjoyed the video, take care!

@@theNextProject Thansk for answering, my question was not rethorical, as far as i know, only a proper humbucker composed of 2 coils can be splitted, therefore how can a single coil (i know some P90 actually have 2 bobins but most don't) can be splitted ? how do you actually manage to do that since there's only 1 bobbin ?

Ah, maybe we are talking 2 different things. You are correct, a humbucker can be "split" into 2 separate coils. But a coil "tap" is not splitting coil(s), it is having a point in (1) wound coil that exits that coil at some point in-between the start and finish leads of that coil. It's an off ramp along along the highway in-between home and work, a rest stop... That's probably a bad analogy - sorry. A switch can then be placed to use either the entire wind count of the coil, or the portion of the coil up to where the tap exits. This gives you the choice of going the whole distance, say 10K winds, or taking the off-ramp at 7K winds. Both take you somewhere, but they are different places/sounds. WOW, more with the analogy - sorry again. I can't help myself, lol. So a coil tap is cutting into a single coil, at whatever point it's placed. A Coil split, is as you mentioned separating the two coils of a 2-coil humbucker. Great question you have, glad you asked and if I'm not explaining it well, please let me know. Thanks again for watching!

@@theNextProject I thank you for taking time and effort to explain me those things, about which i'm totally ignorant, analogies are perfect btw, this is the natural path of human brain, i see theorically what you mean, even though i don't fully understand how it's physically feasible, i mean a wire is a wire, unless there's like a bridge, you can't just tell electricity "ok, now, after you've crossed 5000 turns, you stop and go to the output jack", sorry if my observation is ridiculous

Pandor, glad to chat with you about this. You have a great question and so many people have that same question. We actually can tell the electricity in the coil where to exit. That is what the "tap" allows. If we have 10K winds of wire on a coil from start to finish and that's it, the current will only have one path to travel. Now, if we add an exit to this coil during the winding of the 10K coil, at say 7K winds, and the remainder of the wire loops back in to complete the 10K coil. We have introduced the "tap", or the off-ramp. If the off-ramp is closed by a switch, the current has to travel the full 10K winds of wire. If the switch closes the highway and opens the off-ramp, then the current is diverted and will only use the 7K winds of wire. The other 3K winds aren't available for travel. Maybe a train on a set of railroad tracks that has a switch to divert a train to a different set of rails is a better analogy. Depending on where the switch diverts the train, changes the destination/sound. You can go to either travel to the 10K destination, or the 7K destination, not both at the same time. Or, think of the letter "y". The lower tail of that letter is the start of the winding, and maybe if you stay on the direct path from the tail to the upper right of that letter "/", that is the full 10K of winds. However, if the path is diverted from the start, to the upper left ")", that path may only have 7K winds. I hope I'm not making this more confusing. I am having fun trying to think of different anologies and scenarios for comparison. I'm goofy. Let me know if any of this helps.

Achim, thanks for watching! I hear ya, #2 and #3 aren't "typical" P90s due to the slug magnets. They are P90 dimension, covers and all. Just "slugged", which is kinda nice. LOL, I agree they are all - pickups. Take care!

Hmm, not sure if this will answer your question, just a guess at costs... The pickup kit +/- $20ea., wire +/- $5ea., time +/- $50ea., pickup winder +/- $50 - $500+. Education = priceless. If I sold these pickups they'd be +/- $150ea., just a guess. Mainly because I'm not in this line of work and I don't intend to be competitive with anyone who does this for a living. Price myself out of the game. Depending on what you are after in a pickup, it may be more affordable to purchase readymade from a brand name or boutique. Since I'm cheap, I won't buy brand or boutique, but rather throw my money at learning projects like this. It's all fun and I'm a bit goofy that way. Hope all is well for you, take care and Happy New Year!

Glann, thanks for watching and great question too! I'm not 100% on all the fine points but these are similar to jazzmaster visually, and are using slug magnets, but the bobbin/physical dimensions are different than Jazz Master pups. These have 1/4" between the flatware for wire winding, JM pups are closer to 1/8" if I recall. JM pups have 4 mounting points on the outside edge of the cover, while these are using standard P90 covers and mounting points. So kind of a blend of both worlds, at a glance they all look alike. Hope you are doing well, Happy Holidays!

David, thanks for watching! I hear ya, when I put my winder together, there was limited "good" info available. I basically just did a bunch of mental plans and re-plans. Eventually built pretty much what you saw in the video. I could put a short video together on this thing, but it wouldn't be a "how-to", as there are upgrades that could be made, and maybe some simplified steps too. There is a video of a pickup wider. Look up "chase's workshop" on RU-vid. I think he may have a good starting winder build video. I'll take a look at putting together a "this is what I built" video, and you'd have to improve it from there. Hope all is well, take care!