A coil tap is a wiring feature found on some electrical

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

inductor An inductor, also called a coil, choke, or reactor, is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it. An inductor typically consists of an insulated wire wound into a c ...

s and coil pickups, all of which are sets of wire coils. The coil tap(s) are points in a wire coil where a

conductive In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is an object or type of material that allows the flow of charge (electric current) in one or more directions. Materials made of metal are common electrical conductors. Electric current is gener ...

patch has been exposed (usually on a loop of wire that extends out of the main coil body). When the coil taps are disconnected, the coil operates as normal (see

). When a coil tap is connected to one end of the coil (or the end disconnected and reconnected to the tap), the section of coil between the tap and its connected end is bypassed - effectively reducing the number of turns in the coil.

Uses

Musical Instruments

Single coil magnetic pickups found in electric guitars can be coil tapped to reduce the number of windings around the magnet. A tapped single coil pickup typically contains three wires: a ground, an output, and a tapped output - with the two outputs generally wired to a switch on the guitar. The guitarist can then choose between the loud, punchy, midrange-heavy sound of the entire coil, or 'tap' into the inner coil for a quieter, yet bright vintage tone with a more clear and detailed high end. Many guitarists mistakenly refer to humbucker coil splits as a coil taps, however, this is incorrect: a coil split is a humbucker with one coil removed from the wiring, leaving a single coil. Because of the ubiquity of this error, and the rareness of coil taps in general, it is difficult to find tappable single coil pickups. However, pickup manufacturer

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan foun ...

offers tapped versions of many of their Telecaster and Stratocaster pickups on thei
website
at a slightly greater cost than a standard version. A Few Tapped Coil Pickup Manufacturers: *

- Coil tapped models denoted by T following name, for example, the SSL-7 "Quarter Pound" pickup with a coil tap option would be listed as SSL-7T "Quarter Pound" pickup. *Häussel Pickups - Häussel makes a pickup based on Schecter's F500T pickup. *Zhangbucker Pickups - Offers tapped versions of their pickups. * DS Pickups (Argentina) Offers tapped versions of some of their pickups.

Transformers

In a

, coil taps are often used on both the input and output coils. *On the input coils, the taps are usually connected by switches to compensate for differing supply

potential Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple re ...

- for example, between 110 V and 230 V for

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an mains electricity. *On the output coils, taps are used to provide a range of output potentials. Prototyping transformers are often supplied in cases which have spring-loaded contact taps - one common and several taps (for example, Common; 3 V; 5 V; 10 V.)

Inductors

Coil taps on inductors are quite rare, but are sometimes used for band switching in

tuning Tuning can refer to: Common uses * Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component * Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice ** Guitar tunings ** Piano tuning, adjusti ...

circuits.

Coil Pickups

Coil pickups used with measuring instruments often feature coil taps to compensate for band rejection or equipment input impedance.

Telephone tapping

Coil taps can be used as a rudimentary method for recording telephone conversations. See

Telephone tapping Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coil Tap Electromagnetic components