You are currently viewing 29 Guitars With A Coil Split – And My Favorites

Last Updated on December 7, 2023 by Justin Thomas

Warm & thick tones of humbucker or spanky & bright tones of a single-coil…it’s hard to decide (been there). But what if you could get the best of both worlds?

Basically, you can. Coil-split enables you to split your beloved humbucker and use only 1 coil of it. Pretty cool right? But I have to be 100% honest here, split humbucker doesn’t necessarily sound exactly like a single-coil pickup (more about this later), but it does get close and adds a ton of versatility into your arsenal.

And what do I think of the coil-split feature? It’s not a must for me, but it for sure is awesome. That’s why I had a blast putting together this article listing the top-notch guitars with coil split. I also reveal my 3 favorites. So I basically picked the best guitars with coil split from hundreds of different guitars…just for you! If you have any questions, just check the FAQ section or leave a comment.

Let’s get started!

photo reveals owner of guitaristnextdoor.com

Author: Teemu Suomala

I first grabbed the guitar in 2009. I started this website in January 2020 because I couldn’t do window installation anymore due to my health problems. I love guitars and have played dozens and dozens of different guitars through different amps and pedals over the years, and also, building a website interested me, so I decided to just go for it! I got lucky and managed to get awesome people to help me with my website.

I also got lucky because I have you visiting my website right now. Thank you. I do all this for you guys. If you have any recommendations, tips, or feedback, just leave a comment, I would love to chat with you. I have also been fortunate to produce content for several large guitar websites, such as SongsterrMusicnotesGuitarGuitar, and Ultimate Guitar.

I spend my spare time exercising and hanging out with my wife and crazy dog (I guess that went the right way…).


29 Guitars With A Coil Split

display Donner DST 152

Nowadays you can get guitars with a coil split cheaply. One such example is Donner DST-152 which also comes with accessories. I got a chance to review it and it was surprisingly smooth to play and offered solid all-around tones. You can check the full review of the DST-152 here. It’s a solid option for beginners and budget players.

Price Range Icon Meanings:

$= $185-299

$$= $300-599

$$$= $600-999

$$$$= $1000-1599

$$$$$= $1600

*Consider all links in this post to be affiliate links. If you purchase, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission. It helps us to keep the lights on, thanks! 🙂

ModelPickupsBody StylePrice RangeCheck Current Price (affiliate links)
Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley – Cheapest Guitar With A Coil-Split2 x Roswell STA Alnico-5 vintage ST-Style single coils & 1 x Roswell HAF Alnico-5 humbuckerStratocaster$Thomann*
Harley Benton SC-450Plus VB Vintage Series – Cheapest Single-Cut (Les Paul) With A Coil Split2 x Roswell LAF Alnico-5 Vintage-Style humbuckersSingle-Cut$Thomann
Donner DST-152 – Guitar Pack – Read The Full Review2 x Single-coils/Ceramic & 1 x Humbucker/CeramicModern Stratocaster$DonnerAmazon
Harley Benton HB-35Plus – Cheapest Semi-Hollowbody With A Coil Split2 x Roswell LAF AlNiCo 5 humbuckers with capsSemi-Hollowbody$Thomann
Harley Benton Fusion-T HH Roasted – Cheap Telecaster With A Coil SplitRoswell HAF-B AlNiCo-5 & HAF-N AlNiCo-5 humbuckersTelecaster$Thomann
Yamaha Pacifica 112V – Best Budget Read The Full Review2 x Yamaha Alnico V Single-coil
& 1 x Yamaha Alnico V Humbucker
Modern Stratocaster$$SweetwaterThomann
Epiphone SG Muse 2 x AlNiCo Classic Pro humbuckersSG$$SweetwaterThomann
Squier Contemp Jaguar HH2 x Squier Atomic humbuckersJaguar$$SweetwaterThomann
Epiphone Les Paul Classic Worn2 x AlNiCo Classic Pro humbuckersSingle-Cut$$SweetwaterThomann
Guild Starfire I DC 2 x Guild HB-2 humbuckersSemi-Hollowbody$$SweetwaterThomann
ESP LTD EC-256ESP Designed LH-150N
& ESP Designed LH-150B Humbucker
Single-Cut$$SweetwaterThomann
Danelectro 59X Aqua1 x P90 single-coil & 1 x splittable dual lipstick humbucker Double Cut$$SweetwaterThomann
Epiphone Les Paul Modern Figured1 x ProBucker & 1 xProBucker 3 humbuckersSingle-Cut$$$SweetwaterThomann
Fender Player Series JaguarNew Player AlNiCo II Jaguar single coil & New Player AlNiCo III humbuckerJaguar$$$SweetwaterThomann
Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy2 x Fishman Fluence humbuckersSingle-Cut$$$SweetwaterThomann
Yamaha Pacifica 612V II – Best Overall2 x Seymour Duncan SSL-1 single coils & 1 x Seymour Duncan Custom5 humbuckerModern Stratocaster$$$SweetwaterThomann
Fender Player Series Tele HH – Read The Review2 x New Player AlNiCo II humbuckersTelecaster$$$SweetwaterThomann
Schecter C-1 Exotic Spalted Maple – Schecter With A Coil Split1 x Schecter Diamond ’78 Special & 1 x Schecter Diamond ’78 Modern Stratocaster$$$SweetwaterThomann
PRS SE Custom 24/08 – Coil Split for Both Humbuckers2x PRS TCI “S” humbuckersPRS Double Cut$$$SweetwaterThomann
Ibanez High Performance RGA42HPTQM2 x DiMarzio Fusion Edge humbuckersModern Stratocaster$$$SweetwaterThomann
Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas SD1 HH FRCustom Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro APH-1N Humbucker
& Custom Seymour Duncan Full Shred SH-10B Humbucker
Modern Stratocaster$$$$SweetwaterThomann
Fender Player Plus Strat HSS2 Player Plus Noiseless Strat Single Coils & 1 Player Plus HumbuckerStratocaster$$$$SweetwaterThomann
ESP LTD EC-1000 Piezo – Best Premium1 x Seymour Duncan ’59 & 1 x Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers & Fishman piezo systemSingle-Cut$$$$SweetwaterThomann
Schecter Ultra-III IVYP – Coil Split for 3 Humbuckers3 x Schecter Diamond Alnico Plus Gold Foil HumbuckersSingle-Cut Offset$$$$SweetwaterThomann
ESP LTD H3-1000FREMG F-57 Brushed Gold & EMG 66TW Brushed Gold humbuckersModern Stratocaster$$$$SweetwaterThomann
D’Angelico Excel Mini DC2 x Seymour Duncan ’59 humbucker with gold coverSemi-Hollowbody$$$$$SweetwaterThomann
PRS Satin S2 Vela Semi-Hollow1 x PRS S2 Type-D Singlecoil & 1 x PRS S2 Starla HumbuckerSemi-Hollowbody$$$$$SweetwaterThomann
D’Angelico Deluxe Bedford2 x Seymour Duncan STR52-1 single coils & 1 x Seymour Duncan SM-1b mini humbucker Semi-Hollowbody$$$$$SweetwaterThomann
PRS CE 242 x PRS 85/15 humbuckersPRS Double Cut$$$$$SweetwaterThomann

3 Best Guitars With A Coil-Split – My Favorites

Best Budget – Yamaha Pacifica 112V

photo displays Yamaha Pacifica 112V

What I like

  • Stays in tune well
  • Good hardware
  • Versatile tones and coil-split
  • Comfortable and effortless to play
  • Feels like a more expensive guitar
  • The contour for picking hand is really comfortable
  • Narrow neck
  • The synchronized Vintage Tremolo bridge works great
  • Coil-split on a budget guitar is always awesome

What I don’t like

  • Middle single-coil and split humbucker are nothing amazing
  • The neck feels slightly thicker than with many other Strats and Modern Strats

Who is it for?

With HSS pickups + humbucker coil-split setup, this guitar can handle pretty much any music out there from soul and folk to hard rock and heavy metal (not the best guitar for really heavy metal though). Playing is comfortable and the hardware is great. What more you can ask from a cheap guitar? Pretty much nothing. Pacifica 112V is my favorite budget guitar with a coil split.

You can read my full in-depth review of this guitar here: Yamaha Pacifica 112V Review.

Check Today’s Price on


Best Overall – Yamaha Pacifica 612V

displays Yamaha Pacifica 612V

What I like

  • Beautiful flamed maple looks
  • Coil-split adds versatility
  • Really comfortable playability
  • Amazing bang for the buck (Graph Tech TUSQ nut, Wilkinson Tremolo bridge, Seymor Duncan pups, etc.)
  • Great all-around quality
  • Stay in tune extremely well (Grover Locking tuners)
  • Narrow neck

What I don’t like

  • Sometimes finish issues out of the box

Who is it for?

One of my favorite mid-range electric guitars. Offers better hardware and pickups than many hundreds of dollars more expensive guitars, and oh boy, these Seymor Duncan’s (SSL-1 & SSL-1 RWRP & TB-14) sound awesome. I’m not exaggerating. This guitar sounds good. One of the most value-packed guitars out there and the best overall of this article with flying grades.

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Best Overall – ESP LTD EC-1000 Piezo QM

displays a ESP LTD EC-1000 Piezo

What I like

  • Great metal tones
  • Stunning looks
  • Spot on the action and smooth neck make this axe comfortable to play
  • Works well with small hands too
  • Versatile
  • High quality
  • Tons of different color options are available
  • Piezo adds a ton of versatility

What I don’t like

  • Upper fret access is not great
  • The use of plastic nut feels a bit cheap for this price

Who is it for?

I’ve been lovin’ this guitar since I first tried it out a couple of years ago. With this axe, you get excellent value for money. It’s built for metal but can handle different music too. And this model with a piezo just brings that extra notch of versatility to the table.

For people who mostly play metal, but want to explore other genres too, this guitar is definitely worth the money.

You can read my full review of ESP LTD EC-1000 here.

Check Today’s Price on


FAQ

What is A Coil Split on Guitar?

Coil split allows players to split a humbucker pickup (humbucker pickup has 2 coils) and only use another coil of it. This allows us to get single-coil-like tones out of a guitar with humbucker(s).

Coil Split vs Coil Tap? Same Thing?

Coil split and coil tap are not the same thing. Players, music stores, and manufacturers sometimes confuse these terms. But now, let’s get things straight!

Coil Split

Coil split splits a humbucker and allows players to use only 1 coil of a humbucker. This unlocks single-coil-like tones.

Coil Tap

The coil tap allows players to change between taking the signal from the end of the coil wire and taking the signal somewhere from the middle of the wire. This enables you to get tons of different tones out of only 1 single coil pickup.

Is Coil Split Worth it?

If you want more versatility out of your guitar with humbucker(s) and the idea of getting single-coil-like tones out of it sounds good, then coil-split is most likely worth it.

It should be noted that coil-split tones don’t necessarily sound exactly the same as single-coil tones, but they for sure sound similar.

If you don’t care about single-coil tones at all, coil-split is probably not a must-feature for you.

What Pickups Can Be Coil Split?

Humbuckers can be split since they have 2 coils. Single coils (lipstick pickups, P90s, etc.) can’t be split.

Do Split Humbuckers Sound Like Single Coils?

Most players do say that split humbuckers do not sound like single coils. But personally, I think that difference is not huge, and if I were blind tested it would be hard to spot which one is which.

Check this video and try to spot the difference:

YouTube video

Can You Split A Single Coil Pickup?

Splitting single-coil pickup in a way that humbuckers are split is not possible, since single-coils have only 1 coil. A coil tap (not the same thing as a coil split), which allows us to take the signal from the end and somewhere from the middle of a coil wire can be used with single coil pickups.

What is A Push-Pull Coil Split?

Push-pull coil split refers to a way that’s used to turn coil split on and off. Push-pull means that you pull one knob of the guitar (usually a tone knob) to split the coil, and you push the knob back in its place to un-split the coil.


Conclusion

That was some pure coil-split magic…and by this, I mean that there were some truly awesome guitars featured, and definitely guitar for almost everyone. From blues machines to metal shredders.

I hope this article helped you out, and maybe you even decided to get one of the guitars featured. If you have any questions, leave a comment, I and the GND team are here for you.

Now go, my son, and Rock!

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Teemu Suomala

I first grabbed the guitar in 2009. I started this website in January 2020 because I couldn’t do window installation anymore due to my health problems. I also noticed that most guitar websites don’t do a really good job, so I decided to just go for it! I got lucky and managed to get awesome people to help me with my website. I also got lucky because I have you visiting my website right now. Thank you. I do all this for you guys. If you have any recommendations, tips, or feedback, just leave a comment, I would love to chat with you. I have been fortunate to produce content for several large guitar websites, such as Songsterr, Musicnotes, GuitarGuitar, and Ultimate Guitar. I spend my spare time exercising and hanging out with my wife and crazy dog(I guess that went the right way…). Expertise: guitar learning techniques, electric guitars, and guitar amplifiers. You can connect with me on LinkedIn or just email me.

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