Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: Afghan Dave on January 12, 2010, 05:28:59 PM
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I've noticed a significant change in my outlook in the last year... I'm loving the sound of single coils more and more.
Previously I've always owned different flavours of humbucker tending toward the higher output models on most occasions. Writing off single coils as noisy, weak & purely suited to music I don't often play.
Well... My taste in music hasn't changed but my appreciation of the delicate colour of single coils has blossomed.
I've got low output Alnico pro 2 SCs on a strat and Trilogies on my other guitars and I find I'm spending more and more time with the 5 way switch sat on these.
Playing with the tone control opens even more options and I don't care about the noise anymore - that's what the volume knob is for...
My question to you is.
Did you develop into a single coil lover with age or were you born that way?
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I think I was born that way. I've had HB guitars before and never got on with them. Perhaps I'll do an Afghan Dave in reverse.
EDIT - you all know what I mean by my last sentence. No purile comments please!
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Did you develop into a single coil lover with age or were you born that way?
I've always liked single coil neck pickups - maybe even preferred them more in my younger days.
Since discovering BKP I've come back to them - the Sultans', Trilogy & base-plated Slowhands are all wonderful neck pickups.
However I've never owned a "proper" strat (i.e. with SC bridge), have absolutely no use for a split bridge humbucker sound & have never used the middle pickup much on my HSS guitars.
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I have always been a single coil player up until I got the 339 recently so I am also doing an Afghan Dave in reverse. I think I shall always be keener on Fender tones than anything else.
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I've pretty much been a single coil man for ever - 20 odd years now.
I've flirted with humbuckers on and off, and I likes me Riff Raffs and Mules, but when it comes down to it I find singles more versatile.
To illustrate, right at the moment, my favourite "bridge humbucker" tone comes from two guitars:
The bridge Mississipi Queen on my Explorer
The bridge and middle Burns Trisonics together (in phase) on my Brian May guitar (they're wired in series, so they do kind of work like a humbucker)
All well known humbucking pickups :roll: :lol:
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I can't really get into proper singlecoils, but I absolutely love p90s :) Saying that, I always go back to humbuckers as I find em more versatile. I used to hate singles, so I guess p90s are the closest I'll get to being a "mature singlecoil" kinda guy :lol:
Plus, you can't really beat the sound of a LP bridge humbucker into a loud british voiced amp!
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I always found single coil pickups more versatile for gigging - and they seemed to lend themselves better to nuances in playing. I did however get to like Humbuckers again as a compliment to ( but not instead of ) single coils ; when I discovered that Mules and Stormies were much clearer than stock pickups.
In the end, I found something good in both types of pickup ; but in the Manhattans ( via Missisippi Queens ) found every reason to return to single coils - in a new and hitherto unexplored way ; as the toneful bridge between Humbuckers and Strat / Tele types. I do agree that single coils (and the unique brand of subtlety they can bring ) does tend to appeal more, as you evolve, get a bit older, turn the gain down, unplug the effects rack - and start to appreciate the basics again.
I always think of Eric Clapton's tone on the 'Just One Night' live album and his 'Blackie' years - as opposed to that homogenised 'single coils forced to sound like a humbucker' sound he has clung to since.
( The mellow is going to get you ! ) 8)
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I can't really get into proper singlecoils, but I absolutely love p90s :) Saying that, I always go back to humbuckers as I find em more versatile. I used to hate singles, so I guess p90s are the closest I'll get to being a "mature singlecoil" kinda guy :lol:
Plus, you can't really beat the sound of a LP bridge humbucker into a loud british voiced amp!
you need to try a good tele
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I can't really get into proper singlecoils, but I absolutely love p90s :) Saying that, I always go back to humbuckers as I find em more versatile. I used to hate singles, so I guess p90s are the closest I'll get to being a "mature singlecoil" kinda guy :lol:
Plus, you can't really beat the sound of a LP bridge humbucker into a loud british voiced amp!
you need to try a good tele
Lets face it gwEm , everybody needs to try a good Tele - at least once in their life. 8)
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Played a few teles and just couldn't get into em. Main problem is how they hang on a strap, it feels quite uncomfortable. Also sounded quite thin. Maybe one with back/arm contours and a bridge p90 would work for me though :P
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Also sounded quite thin.
You didn't try a good one yet then :)
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i think i've always liked them. I prefer humbuckers (prefer is the wrong word- just the suit most of the stuff I play more), but i still like singles, too.
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Also sounded quite thin.
You didn't try a good one yet then :)
I reckon I'm just too used to a thicker humbucker or p90 sound.. They all just sounded really "clacky" and twangy, for lack of a better description.
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I must has been born a single-coil fan. First guitar (24 years ago) was a cheap strat copy, only bought my first humbucker guitar 3-4 years ago (LP w PG Blues). Main guitar has been a Tele for 21 years, I'm just addicted to that bighting treble. Embarrassingly, I've never owned a guitar with P90s, that's something that'll need to change.
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I like 'em both.
For sitting around playing at low volume with a clean or just-breaking-up sound, single-coils are best, no doubt about it. They have that open, airy quality.... I don't think a clean humbucker sound is ever totally satisfactory, the high notes are a little hard and characterless, the bass a little too boomy.
On the other hand, with a dirty sound I prefer humbuckers. When single-coils get mushy, humbuckers start to sing. They have that power and crunch. And nothing sounds as good as a neck HB with the tone rolled off.
Then again, maybe my favourite sounds are in the middle ground. I like lower-output HBs with a bit of definition, not too bassy. I like vintage-hot singles, not too piercing. I like P-90s, I like minibuckers. And - shoot me down in flames if you need to - I even like stacks and single-coil sized humbuckers. They have valid sounds in their own right. Not everything has to sound like a '57 Strat or '59 LP, so long as it sounds good.
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Also sounded quite thin.
You didn't try a good one yet then :)
I reckon I'm just too used to a thicker humbucker or p90 sound.. They all just sounded really "clacky" and twangy, for lack of a better description.
fair dos bruv
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I get my "mystery" ebay Telecaster copy tomorrow!!!
I really hope it's good :?
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Also sounded quite thin.
You didn't try a good one yet then :)
I reckon I'm just too used to a thicker humbucker or p90 sound.. They all just sounded really "clacky" and twangy, for lack of a better description.
Try Dave's CS Esquire. I'm pretty sure that will change your mind. It is a stacked HB though!
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Hitting 30 and being able to afford better amps did it for me.
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Also sounded quite thin.
You didn't try a good one yet then :)
I reckon I'm just too used to a thicker humbucker or p90 sound.. They all just sounded really "clacky" and twangy, for lack of a better description.
Try Dave's CS Esquire. I'm pretty sure that will change your mind. It is a stacked HB though!
Yep - I tried it and it was a fine sound
So much so that I have two of the Billy Gibbons stacked custom shop pickups on order to try out
For my own tastes I love the Boss bridge pickup in an alder tele
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I have two of the Billy Gibbons stacked custom shop pickups on order to try out
I didn't think you could buy those as a retro fit. Guess I am wrong!
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After playing yours I looked and they are availiable from the custom shop (or Feline Guitars apparently) :D
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You can Ian - they're Custom Shop though, and not cheap.
As PhillyQ, I like all types of pickups. I go through phases of loving some more than others, then the wind changes and my taste differs again. Most of my electric guitars have hum-cancelling dual coils in them though (8 out of 11).
The BG-1400 stack is something of an oddity though, as it sounds like a single coil when played clean and then sounds like a humbucker when it's played dirty. Perfect for live use!
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The BG-1400 stack is something of an oddity though, as it sounds like a single coil when played clean and then sounds like a humbucker when it's played dirty. Perfect for live use!
I think that's true, to some extent, with most stacks I've tried - DiMarzio HS and VV series, Duncan Hot Stack, Fender/Lawrence SCNs, even Kinmans. They get a bit more humbuckerish with distortion.
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I like them both, but use my singles less and less with time.
Used to be I swore by HSS and would be on the neck maybe a third of the time for cleans and leads.
Now I play HH more and on the bridge 90%. I do still use and very much enjoy them as much as ever, but not nearly as often.
Probably the same way I was a tollerable fingerstyle (not good by ANY stretch) player 2 to 3 years in. Now, after 11 years...well, lets just say I resurrected a little fingerstyle passage I wrote after about 3 years the other month and couldnt play it for shite :lol: (But me now would bury me then on metal rhythm and general shreddy technique).
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in my earlier years it was all humbuckers, the only use i could see for single coils was a nice clean sound. over the last few years it's completely changed! i actually find a good single coil is better for aggressive playing, with medium gain. recently i have gone back to mostly using humbuckers again, but that's because i got my 1970 Les Paul Custom, and i'm still on honeymoon with it! :)
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I've always been a strat/tele player, got a couple of humbucker guitars but they're rarely used, I'll always grab a single coil guitar first. I quite like the brighter sounding Diamondback pickup in my HSS strat, the double humbucking one with Seymour Duncans really just sleeps in the guitar case most of the time. Maybe it's time I ripped that one open and put Apaches in it.
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I always wanted a guitar with Super Distortions when I was a teen, but had Fenders - now that I have the wonga to buy a guitar and stick what ever pickups I want in it (by that I mean a relatively cheap guitar btw) I find I stick to Fenders. I like the Mules in my Esprit, but I find them less versatile than a single. I guess I like the thin, wirey tone that people criticise Strats for. As to rock, I find my Tele covers those bases pretty well.
Still I got some cheapo GFS Lil Killers sitting in their box that I might put in my Squier - I dont like the idea of single coil size buckers but now I have the surf green 'strat of my dreams', I might install the GFS for a change.
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I love the sound of a really good single coil (generally a Strat into a boosted Fender amp, they sing like nothing else) but I don't own a guitar with any installed. I don't need it and I can't afford it.
If money were no option then I'd definately go for a nice Strat, Tele and p90'd SG.
Paddy
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Like Antag, I've always liked neck single coils. My first guitar was an HSS Pacifica 112, which I replaced with an 812W (same configuration), so my first 5 years as a player were with a coil in the neck, unitl I bought an Epi LP when I was 19.
However, I could never stand bridge single coils, and never liked standard Strats or Teles for that reason. Now, nearly 10 years later, I've grown to really like a nice single coil bridge sound, and own a US standard Strat and Tele.
I don't know whether it's down to my musical tastes broadening, or becoming a more versatile player (for which read mediocre at many styles, rather than really good at one or two!), but I've definitely grown into single coils.
Still love humbuckers mind, and the majority of my guitars are twin humbucker, but there are times when only coils will do!
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From when I started playing at 14 up until I was about 20, I just couldn't get into the single coil sound or play a strat (the middle pickup always got in the way :lol:), but I used a friends Mexi Strat as a backup once and really got into them after a while and some work.
I've not really got too much experience with P90s, apart from the MQ in the neck of my V, but Teles have been the main guitar I've really had to work with to make work with me.
Listening to the tone I get when I play a Tele doesn't sound anything like when other people play Teles or what I'd generally refer to as the 'classic' Tele tone, but that's probably mroe down to me than a problem with the guitars :lol:
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me nolikey thinle coils :(
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single coils forever,think sweet home alabama, pure zing thing!for rock tones ritchie blackmore has always influenced me towards s.c. and then country spank (google doug seven and listen him)oh man i love fenders.
but what about gary m and carlos, good tone is good tone but comes in flavours, guess i'm sc flavour
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Always liked single coils for cleans. But used to prefer high out put humbuckers for anything with gain.
But over the past few weeks I've been more into single coils. Having a Sinner put in my Strat started it off, realising that I like the sound of a single coil in the bridge for metal as well.
Seem to be going through a slight transformation with my playing recently, prefering less gain, using my volume control to go from clean, rhythm to high gain leads.
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If I hear a Strat player on the radio, with a few notes I can usually tell who they are.
Humbucker Players take a lot longer. When I hear Joe Bonamassa for example I have to wait until the singing starts or the end of the song to hear it was him. Good playing but the tone does not have a personal signature.
I think single coils are generally much more personal although I think the distinction was less back in the day when humbuckers were a lot lower output. Peter Green, BB King, Paul Kossoff etc played with great personal tones.
So I prefer SC's generally but love HB's as well and to rock out they are great. I have to have at least one HB guitar.
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I think single coils are generally much more personal although I think the distinction was less back in the day when humbuckers were a lot lower output. Peter Green, BB King, Paul Kossoff etc played with great personal tones.
Very good point Tom . That certainly underlines why my chosen H.Bs are Stormies and Mules, to hear the 'air' in an otherwise warm and capable 'bucker .
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I have almost interely been a humbucker guy, but mostly due to lack of knowledge and interest in gear and only owing one electric guitar (with humbuckers). A couple of years back my interest in different guitars and their respective sounds was awoken and since then I've become more fond of singlecoils. I now own four electric guitars, but just one of them have "propper" single coils (I got one with MQs too).
Next buy on my list is a Tele, but it will have to wait a while :cry:
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my first guitar was a "proper" fender stratocaster, S-S-S. i liked very much neck, middle and mixed positions, but always found the bridge SC "wrong". after i sold it my only surviving SC is the middle pickup in my Ibanez S470... honestly i don't use it much - except for relaxed playing at home.