G&L Legacy HB: What is lost with the coil tap/humbucker?

[timacn]

Hello. I have a Legacy HB in swamp ash with the coil tap. This might be a dumb question, but I was wondering if a bridge humbucker with the coil tap employed (making it act like a single coil) sounds different from a regular "standard issue" single coil pickup in the bridge position.

A local guitar shop salesman told me there is a difference, part of the reason being the angled bridge pickup in the standard single coil configuration.

Any truth to this? Any difference?

Thanks for your help/insights.

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi timacm,

Yes, there is a difference. You already mention the difference in angle of the pup. This affects individual string response; you pick up different amplitudes and harmonics compared to a "true" single could bridge pickup because of that difference in position. Beyond that, although the humbucker is split, the 2 magnetic fields of each coil are still affecting the response of the pup as a whole. This will affect the frequency response of the pup and hence it sounds different. Some of it can be compensated with the passive PTB tone stack. Be aware you can only cut frequencies that are present already but never add any frequency that isn't there from the get-go.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[timacn]

Thanks, Yo!