Single Coil Sized Humbucker Neck Pickups for Jazz

[AdroitMage]

That's a what I'm looking for here, recommendations for a single coil sized neck pickups, that you have experience with, that will sound great for jazz and integrate right into a Strat style guitar with it's 250K pots. Thanks

[Mick-7]

Lorne Lofsky said he put Seymour Duncan Cool Rails pickup in his solid body but that was a few years ago.

https://guitarfretbuzz.com/seymour-d...l-rails-review

[Bobby Timmons]

What sound do you want? Do you want fat or chirpy? The fattest Duncan is the Hot Rails. Real fat and smooth. The Cool Rails is a little chirpier but still with a smooth attack. The Lil 59 has max chirp because of the screw poles instead of rail poles.

[ruger9]

What sound do you want? Do you want fat or chirpy? The fattest Duncan is the Hot Rails. Real fat and smooth. The Cool Rails is a little chirpier but still with a smooth attack. The Lil 59 has max chirp because of the screw poles instead of rail poles.

Would you put the Hot Rails as leaning into P90 territory (tonally), being darker/fatter?

[Bobby Timmons]

No, because it doesn't have a sharp attack. It's the fattest and wooliest one, which some people want for jazz. It sounds like a fat humbucker but with a smaller aperture. If you want some P90ish attack I would go with the Cool Rails for some attack or the Lil 59 for max attack.

[rpjazzguitar]

I have a Lil 59 in the neck position of a Yamaha Pacifica Strat type. Sounds fine to me, but I've never compared to anything but the original single coil -- which also sounded good, but not the same. I prefer the HB sound.

[Cunamara]

I have been really happy with the Bill and Becky Lawrence/Wilde single coil sized L280 humbuckers. I have some in a Telecaster and in a Stratocaster. They are direct drop in replacements and get along well with the 250K circuit. They don't really sound like a true single coil, they are a little fatter and rounder on the top end than that; for my purposes, they're extremely good (playing jazz and Grateful Dead type stuff).

Noisefree Strat – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups

I have never tried the L45 double blade pickups from them, so I can't comment on those. I have a pair of double blade PAF style L90 pickups, which are very nice. It should be noted that you can do a lot with Bill's pickup designs with pots, capacitors, resistors, etc. to really tailor the sound you're getting to be exactly what you want. For example, I use a resistor in parallel for the bridge pickups to round off and cut the harsh high end for Telecaster and Strat sounds. Bill has wiring diagrams on the site about this, and similar information is available from other sources.

[jads57]

Well for me so far the only one that works is the DiMarzio Tone Zone S version. Other than that it’s a Seymour Duncan Mini Hum Bridge version in the neck position. It has more winds and is a bit hotter and darker.

[sgosnell]

I have an EMG Select stacked humbucker, Strat-sized pickup, that I like a lot. I have it on a solid-body electric mandolin, and it's mellow-sounding, not as bright as most pickups are on those instruments. I don't think they're still available new, but there is at least one on Reverb. The EMG Select pickups never got a lot of love, but I like them a lot.

[Bobby Timmons]

^ Yeah if you want a P90 sound, you might look at a hot stacked single coil. Stacks emulate true single coils but are noiseless. So they will have a similar attack as a P90. They are also rounder than true single coils. Then if you get it a little hotter, it might be into fat but chirpy P90 territory.

[ruger9]

No, because it doesn't have a sharp attack. It's the fattest and wooliest one, which some people want for jazz. It sounds like a fat humbucker but with a smaller aperture. If you want some P90ish attack I would go with the Cool Rails for some attack or the Lil 59 for max attack.

I've never heard P90s as having a sharp attack. To me, the attack was on the soft side, more similar to a PAF than a single coil strat/tele pickup. That's actually one of the things I like about P90s. Alot will say the P90 "sits in-between single coil & Humbucker", but to me the P90 is darker than the PAF in general (of course all this is highly subjective, due to magnet type and wire/winds, etc.)

[Bobby Timmons]

Well there's the heat of the wind and then the attack from the design. To me, humbuckers have a broader attack because there are 2 coils that you can hear a subtle cluck from, even if it's a lightly wound PAF (neck). P90s only have 1 coil so I hear it as a more direct, sharper attack even though the form factor and wind makes them fatter than true single coils. So 2 different things.

[Little Jay]

Have a Little 59 in my Aria Sinsonido, but I think I put 500K pots…