View Poll Results: Single coils or humbuckers
- Voters
- 119. You may not vote on this poll
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Single coils of the Gibson variety: P90s, CC etc.
47 39.50% -
Single coils of the Fender variety: Tele, Strat etc.
32 26.89% -
Full Size Humbuckers
65 54.62% -
Mini Humbuckers
6 5.04%
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HBs, CCs, and P90s. I’m a fan of all three.
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01-07-2020 09:32 PM
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For playing with others I prefer single coils (CC) simply because they seem to work better (i.e. clearer) with my main amp (Henriksen Alfresco 12" open back) and preference for thick rounded picks as well as my picking technique. But the buzz can be kind of annoying sometimes for home practice so I prefer HBs for practicing.
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I chose mini-humbuckers, which I recently discovered via the cumbersome Firebird, but I enjoy the bite of a single coil and the warmth of a humbucker.
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P-90s. I like the clarity over HBs and the grit over most other single coils.
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Single coils have a more open and 3D sound to me. More scooped perhaps. But they can also be thin and bright.
Humbuckers tend to sound more congested and less articulate but they are fatter and less bright in general.
I use both but if I could only have one, that would be single coils probably.
You can get good results by using EQ to make single coils sound like humbuckers but not the other way around in my experience. I mean you can cut the mids and a humbucker will sound like a single coil but it won't be as sweet and multidimensional. You can't put the 6k+ frequencies back but you can filter them.
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
https://www.premierguitar.com/ext/re...-df-v3_WEB.jpg
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Originally Posted by medblues
Obviously it's the opposite. In fact many amps provide attenuated input for humbuckers.
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Originally Posted by Tal_175
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I like them all and they all have their place....tele strat gibby, etc. Use them all where/when applicable!
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Originally Posted by medblues
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Full size humbuckers for me, especially a good PAF or early Patent #.
But also have a soft spot for original Charlie Christians
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I am always smitten by the sound of the MHS neck pickup in my ES 175 ‘59 RI VOS. It has all the HB warmth but also the bite and clarity of a single coil. I don’t have a lot of technical knowledge about pickups, but I understand that these p/u’s have a lower wind than ‘57 Classics, for example. I definitely hear a difference when compared to the ‘57 in my L5CES.
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Personally I use humbuckers to get clean mellow tones - fingerpicked solo arrangements or warm melody lines. Single coils goes for all kinds of overdriven sounds, even with high gain. However speaking of single coils I mean humbuckers in split coils mode. This split coil option is great for somebody, who wants to have both in one guitar. I know, that split coil humbucker is not the same as pure single coil, but I find it close enough. Today You can get even humbucker, typical single coil and P90 in one pickup (SD P-rails). New Godin Montreal Premiere is equiped with this pickups.
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Originally Posted by Cunamara
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Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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Singlecoils every day of the week.
I prefer Telepkups, Franz and De Armond/Dynasonic-types.
Singlecoils got the least loss in tone, therefore more tonal range, dynamics and attack.
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I like them all, but I find that I have only single coil now: Tele, P90 Les Paul, Danelectro U2 with the lipsticks. The P90 gives me the best combination of warmth and clarity.
That said, I had an LP Studio Mahogany with Bursbuckers that I foolishly sold. That was a magical combination that makes me want a humbucker LP or an SG.
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P90s generally, Guild's Franz p/us especially
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md........yes to Franz pickups especially.......
Sometimes I think about sneaking a Franz under the P-90 cover on my '52 ES-150.
But then I have a '53 Guild X-100 that's already there so its best to enjoy the different flavors!
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Originally Posted by zizala
By the way- it‘s also the rich brightness of singlecoils. You can always turn less but you can‘t add it. Treble is a good thing. Listen to Julian Lage.Last edited by Stefan Eff; 07-05-2021 at 01:33 AM.
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True single coils are my very least favorite build of pickup. I like the way they sound when I hear others play them, but I don't really like their brittle sound. Everything else that is meaty I love, including the fat single coils like P90s or Jazzmasters. I think I'm a humbucker man at heart tho. I like the grit and punch of the 2 coils. Any kind of hum count me in, full size, mini, or sc size. I want to make a 3 coil humbucker for jazz.
Last edited by Clint 55; 07-06-2021 at 02:54 PM.
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I like the clarity of single coils but can really dig the sound of a neck humbucker, too. Last year I got a Yamaha Revstar with p-90's, so that is another sound I have been digging a lot. It's all good!
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My Trenier Jazz SPECIAL lam-top has a Kent Armstrong singlecoil floater attached to the pickguard and it will mos def stay there : the guitar has a beautifully balanced, warm, clear and still punchy tone, with enough "zing" to it for old-style 4-2-the-bar comping when needed but with a turn of the tone pot it's as velvety as you like it. OTOH my 2 other archtops (Victor Baker/KA PAF + Super-400CES/orig. PAF) def. sound best with their respective humbuckers and will also stay unchanged.
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I'm poor enough technique wise to sound bad with anything; I'm just happy to be playing, so "all of the above" for me
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The hum that I get with single-coil pickups drives me nuts. However, the tone I get with single-coils--especially with P90 pickups--makes it worth the struggle.
Humbuckers are deliciously quiet, but they are sort of a yawn.
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