Single Coils & Player Age

[Afghan Dave]

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?

[Ian Price]

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!

[Antag]

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.

[38thBeatle]

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.

[AndyR]

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:

[_tom_]

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!

[Fourth Feline]

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)

[gwEm]

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

[Fourth Feline]

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)

[_tom_]

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

[gwEm]

Also sounded quite thin.

You didn't try a good one yet then :)

[dave_mc]

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.

[_tom_]

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.

[Plexi Ken]

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.

[Philly Q]

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.