Bypassing Coil Tap

thegummy

In pickups that have a coil tap (not coil split, an actual tap), and have the hot wire and tap wire connected to a switch to allow switching the tap on or off, how would one go about wiring these pickups the standard way and ignoring the tap completely?

Would the hot wire just be connected to a pot/switch and the tap wire left unconnected or would both wires be wired to the same lug?

Also, how would one go about determining which of the wires is the hot and which is the tap?

SteveRobinson

Yes, just connect the hot wire to the pot/switch and disconnect and insulate the tap. 

To find out which is which, measure the DC resistance between each wire and earth. The one with the highest resistance is the full-on hot. Do this while the two wires are disconnected to avoid any other components influencing the readings.

thegummy

Thanks Steve!

CasperCaster

I take it you mean a tapped single coil pickup with two choices of output? If so, you can determine which hot is which by measuring the DC resistance as @SteveRobinson has said above.

 If you are only using the high output tap also do as Steve has suggested.

 However, for those people who only want to use the low output tap, or who do want to select between the two outputs it is desirable to connect both hot outputs together to derive the low output, and then lift the low output tap to derive the high output. Doing this will ensure that the additional windings for the high output tap are not left floating, and therefore cannot act as an aerial and contribute noise to the output.