Single Coil Pickups

[VikingBlues]

Just been reading a pretty interesting article in the May Guitar & Bass Magazine on Single Coil Pickups.

It really is quite remarkable how they have stayed so popular for so long - most of the single coil pups in the guitars for sale now are really very little different in design to those just after World War 2.

The magazine compared it at first to it being as if black & white tv had survived the arrival of colour, then digital, and then HD.

At the end they concluded a better comparison was with black and whire photography - still used by a lot of pros due to the greater sense of tonal depth and contrast that can be achieved.

I do like that final conclusion - there does seem to my ears to be so much extra shades of tone that can be brought out with single coils, particularly if it's by an amateur like me. Must be some reason so many of us single coil users keep suffering the buzz and hum when we stand facing the wrong way or move to close to some other electrical equipment.

Or is it just that guitarists are just very conservative and hate change? I'd like to think that's not the case!

[losaavedra]

I've never taken too much interest in pickups on my guitars ... that is until very recently when I upgraded the three single coils on my late 70s Maya strat copy with a set of ceramics I got from Warman Guitars in the UK. The cost of doing so was very low (less than 12 quid) but the difference is quite remarkable. Mayas are well known for their original low output pups and I've always found that particular guitar pretty uninspiring to play. The ceramics on the other hand have turned out to be absolute screamers, and the Maya has become my number one guitar now! The only other changes were to put a new bridge on (with blocked trem) and change the wiring to accommodate a five way switch instead of the original three way, again Warman sourced. In due course I'll turn my attention to the old home-made (Chimera) I've had for 40 years. On that one I'll probably put a Warman humbucker in to replace the pair of side-by-side single coils that are on it at present. The third (bridge) pup on the Chimera is what came with the tele ashtray I fitted last year. Maybe I'll change that too.

The Warman site is worth a look, they're also on UK eBay needless to say. Josi Warman is a guitar builder too.

Sounds like an interesting article in G&B mag. Unfortunately (for me) most guitar mags I can get out here are in Spanish ... and can be hard work when the best I can do with the lingo is stuff related to supermarkets, bars and building supply companies!!!

[vancouverois]

The magazine compared it at first to it being as if black & white tv had survived the arrival of colour, then digital, and then HD.

At the end they concluded a better comparison was with black and whire photography - still used by a lot of pros due to the greater sense of tonal depth and contrast that can be achieved.

Interresting and nice comparison. I can get the point single coils are still with us due to their tonal specificities.
Each single coil has a lot of personnality and character, A Tele treble PU sounds different from a P90 treble PU or
a Jazzmaster PU. The same between a Tele, a Jaguar and a Strat neck PU.
I suppose these qualities made them so popular amongst players and why they are still produced even today

About gear conservatism I also noticed that amp modelling is more or less accepted but guitars like the Line
6 Variax for example is not so spreaded.
Basically at the turn of a knob, you can have a Strat, a Flying V or an ES335 that can be a perfect match for some modeled
amp pre-built in the box. May be studios use this type of gear but I don't think it's higly regarded.

[ElMano]

I was a bit surprised that this topic has been started. The Skreemr V is almost finished and i collected a stack of marvelous wood to build the Woody II. But before i start building i will do an other thing that i have in mind for a longtime. I want to wind my own Single coil Pup's I have been reading a lot of information and watch a whole lot of YT clips. Yesterday i start browsing the pile of stuff i collected for the this. The best thing of the single coil in my opinion is that the character of the pup can be influenced in a simple way. The less windings the sound will be high and clear More windings and you get more mids and low.

An other option is that i want to wind some Lipstick pups. I will start a topic and keep you informed if you want. Monday i build a electric winder.
It wont surprise you if i tell you that i want make the Pup covers of nice an shining wood!

[VikingBlues]

I was a bit surprised that this topic has been started.

It was when I saw how old the technology was when I saw it printed in black and white - over 60 years old and not displaced by anything new - I must admit I do find that remarkable in an age where techniolgy advances are rampant!

I can get the point single coils are still with us due to their tonal specificities.
Each single coil has a lot of personnality and character, A Tele treble PU sounds different from a P90 treble PU or
a Jazzmaster PU. The same between a Tele, a Jaguar and a Strat neck PU.
I suppose these qualities made them so popular amongst players and why they are still produced even today

In addition to that for me, I find I can get more variation in tone and sound from a single coil than a humbucker - it just seems more responsive to picking dynamics, position on the fretboard the picking takes place, the part of the finger / nail being used, etc.

About gear conservatism I also noticed that amp modelling is more or less accepted but guitars like the Line
6 Variax for example is not so spreaded.
Basically at the turn of a knob, you can have a Strat, a Flying V or an ES335 that can be a perfect match for some modeled
amp pre-built in the box. May be studios use this type of gear but I don't think it's higly regarded.

I'm feeling old fashioned again I think!

On modelling - I've had 4 amp modelling pedals / interfaces. By farthe best for tone for me has been the oldest. I have yet to find a modelling amp (in my budget!) that I find convincing. I am sure I would be much more convinced by the likes of the Fractal Audio Systems Axe-fx ... but, hey - I'll never be able to justify one of those.

Of the amps I've had over the years the best for sound has been the one with the oldest technology.

Of the pickup types I have on my various guitars my preference us for the oldest basic design.

Unfortunately the variax aren't in the right price range for me to even consider them! I do find that with my current guitars, the way I play them is affected by their shape, weight, balance, neck, etc. The way I play them therefore affects the tone and sounds from each guitar. I can't help thinking as well as the sound modelling changing the sound, for it all to work 100% they'll need to develop a Variax that also changes in shape and weight and feel too.

[StratLover2]

I am not a technical expert on single coils, but I am more of a single coil fan than I used to be. When I started playing about 6 years ago, my first electric was a 2004 Fender Toronado with a pair of Seymour Duncans in it, hum buckers, and I thought it was the coolest sound in the world. When I got started playing early Clapton stuff about 2 years after that, I was jazzed with the Toronado, which would give me a sound approximately similar to Clapton's SG. Though I was no where near the proficiency that I am noow at the time, (Where I can achieve a nice approximation of his early tone on the Strat, with a few tweaks to the amp settings and in Garrgeband, well with digital modeling that is a completely different story.) which leads mt to the point that really in my opinion, I do not care really what pickups a guitar has, if it sounds good, it sounds good, regardless of what pickups it has.

Though on the single coils, I must say that I am rather fond of the Vintage Noiseless that is both in my Stratocaster VG and the Clapton Strat, especially the latter has grown on me, and I am addicted to that mid boost, which gives me the advantages of a hum bucker guitar for the most part in a single coil guitar.

THis is just my two cents on the subject,

StratLover2

[Blindboy]

I have always loved a single coil sound. I even put a coil tapped humbucker in the neck position of my SG to try and get a more "Strat" sound. (didn't work ) I agree that a large portion of guitar players are fairly conservative. The newer pickup technologies, ie Lace Sensors, active pickups, and modeling technology, have not dominated the market, and for my ear, don't stack up to the real thing.
For some sounds or types of music, I do like the humbuckers... The Ibanez sounds great on Jazzy stuff, and my SG sounds cool with the bottleneck. I do keep going back to the Casino and the P-90s.