Let's talk about single coils!

wakjob

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This is before I started doing my own pickup swapping so it's possible they were installed incorrectly, but I did the Timmons thing for a while with the Cruiser bridge in the neck and middle positions. They sounded great, very glassy... but I was REALLY surprised by just how weak they were, really no hotter than most "real" singlecoils I've played, and definitely not hot enough to keep up with a low-mid output humbucker like the AT-1 in the bridge unless you were looking for an audible gain reduction when you switched to the singlecoils. That said, Andy Timmons likes them, and his tone is to die for, so...

Oh yeah, totally low output.
But with high gain amps of today, it's just not a problem.

Andy recently confessed to having a Carl Martin Compressor "always on". It's NOT compressing, just fattening/thickening/boosting up those Cruisers.

Full disclosure, I have a full Cruiser set...
Cruiser neck pu in the neck & middle positions,
and a Cruiser bridge pu in the bridge. They just work.

I will be putting a Chopper in the middle soon for better 2 & 4 positions b/c they are super weak and dull sounding. Mainly b/c I like to keep the middle SC really low and close to the pickguard.
 

wakjob

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I'm really looking for a nice crisp twangy single coil tone but in a noiseless, humbucker-sized package. The Bluesbucker comes close but not quite...I wonder if there's anything for me out there.

Dimarzio's 'Humbucker from Hell' might be your ticket.
If it doesn't WoW you at first, try some magnet swapping.

It really is a sleeper pu for the bridge position.
 

Zhysick

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I love the Quarter Pound Tele neck pickup I had a while back. It's thick with lots of bass response but tight and bright enough on the high end to be fluid and defined. But I'm not sure if that's what I want for my bridge position now. I've been looking into rail pickups and stacked also but the Cruiser seems to be right there but with less output than desired and the others seems to be too thick and too hot. I have looked into The Chopper but very unsure... That's why a real single but thick seems like the right path to me.

I was very close to buy a BKP Sinner bridge but was sold before I could message the guy... I'm not been very lucky with used pickups actually but I keep an eye on local classifieds.

I would go SSL-6 and not SSL-5 because I prefer flat pole pieces as seem to be more balanced specially using skinny strings like I do (8-38).

EMGs are very appealing but I am not sure if I want to swap all the electronics in my guitar (I have done it so many times with other guitars that I am just tired of it) and a full set is quite expensive too. Don't feel like swapping pickups for the 40% of the cost of the guitar.
 

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diagrammatiks

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I love the Quarter Pound Tele neck pickup I had a while back. It's thick with lots of bass response but tight and bright enough on the high end to be fluid and defined. But I'm not sure if that's what I want for my bridge position now. I've been looking into rail pickups and stacked also but the Cruiser seems to be right there but with less output than desired and the others seems to be too thick and too hot. I have looked into The Chopper but very unsure... That's why a real single but thick seems like the right path to me.

I was very close to buy a BKP Sinner bridge but was sold before I could message the guy... I'm not been very lucky with used pickups actually but I keep an eye on local classifieds.

I would go SSL-6 and not SSL-5 because I prefer flat pole pieces as seem to be more balanced specially using skinny strings like I do (8-38).

EMGs are very appealing but I am not sure if I want to swap all the electronics in my guitar (I have done it so many times with other guitars that I am just tired of it) and a full set is quite expensive too. Don't feel like swapping pickups for the 40% of the cost of the guitar.
I love the sinner. I use a sinner bridge as the middle in a hsh guitar.
 

Zhysick

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I love the sinner. I use a sinner bridge as the middle in a hsh guitar.

Is it quacky? I mean if it has the characteristic bright highs of a single coil or is a bit more rounded off. It's difficult to be actually sure if you understand exactly what I mean but I hope so... The only thing I don't like is that kind of "quackiness" inherent to single coils when playing metal but it only bothers me in the bridge position for heavy riffing, and I know with humbuckers I will solve that because of the wide aperture of coils but yeah, dynamics and all that... I don't know if it is even possible to have the more frequencies of the single coil without the quacky character, will have to look for it I guess.
 

diagrammatiks

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Is it quacky? I mean if it has the characteristic bright highs of a single coil or is a bit more rounded off. It's difficult to be actually sure if you understand exactly what I mean but I hope so... The only thing I don't like is that kind of "quackiness" inherent to single coils when playing metal but it only bothers me in the bridge position for heavy riffing, and I know with humbuckers I will solve that because of the wide aperture of coils but yeah, dynamics and all that... I don't know if it is even possible to have the more frequencies of the single coil without the quacky character, will have to look for it I guess.


The sinner is definitely compressed. Not quacky at all.

But it doesn’t sound like a Humbucker exactly.
 

cardinal

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I’m a huge single coil fan. I’ve used a lot of Duncan SL1s and Lollars, but I’ve been surprised by how much I tend to like the import-style ceramic magnet singles. They really have a ton of quack and cluck.

I haven’t done a ton of swapping as I’ve noticed that it seems like Strats just have a personality and that I haven’t noticed a dramatic difference between what I have as long as the output is appropriately the same. Some Strats just sound hotter or more plinky or hollow, and single coil pickups just tinker around the margins of that
 

Drew

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@Drew I have seen your videos of the Suhr pups (well, I'm not sure if it's you but I swear...) and those pups sound amazing but are way out of my budget but even if I could afford them right now I wouldn't buy them just because I am sure spending that amount of money (approximately the 40% of the value of the guitar...) is just too much just for a set of pickups.
If it's a guy with either a silver strat with a maple neck or a sienna burst strat with a rosewood neck, then yeah, that's probably me. :lol:

Whether or not they're in your budget is a totally subjective thing for you to decide. Whether or not they're "too much for a set of pickups," though - that's about what a set of pickups wound in the united states is going to cost you, considering the proprietary magnets and small scale operation I'd even go as far as to say that at maybe $30/$10 each more than a set of Fenders, Suhrs are pretty competitively priced. If you can get cheap imported Chinese pickups for less than that, you do you, but that doesn't make non-Chinese pickups "too expensive."
 

Seabeast2000

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did a search but couldn't find anything....

Anyway, any opinions on the Duncan Hot Stack singles?
 

Zoobiedood

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The Hot Stacks are good pickups. They are sort of between a single and humbucker...like a darker, thicker P90. I like em.
 

Seabeast2000

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The Hot Stacks are good pickups. They are sort of between a single and humbucker...like a darker, thicker P90. I like em.

Thanks! Any comparison thoughts on how they'd compare to a single sized twin blade type pup? I like what you've described so far on these.
 

Mourguitars

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Ive tried the TR city limits , some big dipper clones of eBay ..ive settled on the SSL5 / SSL1rw /SSL1 combo and called it a day...you can go in a rabbit hole very quick. The SSL5 in the bridge handles gain very well and in the 2nd and 4th position i still get that strat sound i was looking for...adjust the heights and your good to go...i play more now.

mike
 

Zoobiedood

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Thanks! Any comparison thoughts on how they'd compare to a single sized twin blade type pup? I like what you've described so far on these.
Well, a twin blade is really a humbucker, and sounds/feels closer to one than a Hot Stack. A Hot Stack still sounds like a single coil, and not like a humbucker. It is just thicker. It responds like a single coil. The attack is there. More like a machete than a boning knife. But not like an sword.
 

Zhysick

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I found a Lil 59 used local for a nice price so I bought it just to try if it is an option for me... I wired it up today but didn't have the time to try it. New strings tomorrow probably and will try how it sounds... But it seems to be very hot and thick. Will see...
 

TommyG

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For telecasters, I actually like the Fender custom shop pickups. The twisted tele is nice and also the deluxe drive. Give them a listen...
 

budda

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I found a Lil 59 used local for a nice price so I bought it just to try if it is an option for me... I wired it up today but didn't have the time to try it. New strings tomorrow probably and will try how it sounds... But it seems to be very hot and thick. Will see...

A 59 shouldnt be hot.
 

Zhysick

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A 59 shouldnt be hot.

11Kohms and 8H for a "single coil" is hot, very fucking hot. The real 59 bridge is about 8Kohms and 4H but because of different structure (less coil aperture in the lil for example and different wire gauge) those values are not a direct comparison but for reference a vintage single coil is about 5Kohms and 1.8H
 

Kaura

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Does anyone have experience with DiMarzio Fast Tracks? I have them in my second Mustang at the moment (see my avatar, lul) but after the first impression I find them a bit too bright and I guess "hot". At first the stock pickups in my other Mustang (both guitars had the same stock pickups) paled in comparison but once I realised to crank up the input gain on my audio interface, I kinda prefer them, especially for leads. Just for future in mind, I'd like to know if there's any other single coil pickups I should try as like I said, I find the Fast Tracks a bit too treble heavy and Mustangs are pretty bright sounding guitars to begin with.
 

budda

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11Kohms and 8H for a "single coil" is hot, very fucking hot. The real 59 bridge is about 8Kohms and 4H but because of different structure (less coil aperture in the lil for example and different wire gauge) those values are not a direct comparison but for reference a vintage single coil is about 5Kohms and 1.8H

But its not a singlecoil :lol: so it shouldnt be hot. It will be hot compared to a singlecoil like 90% of humbuckers in existence. Apples to apples and all that.

Regardless, I hope you like the tone!
 

Zhysick

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But its not a singlecoil :lol: so it shouldnt be hot. It will be hot compared to a singlecoil like 90% of humbuckers in existence. Apples to apples and all that.

Regardless, I hope you like the tone!

That's the thing: the pickup will coexist in a guitar with two more single coils (real ones) so if the output is too much can be overkill but ...

Just stopped playing it and no! Because the stock Player pickups are actually hot (7.5Kohms for the neck) they pair very well (close to the strings, that's how I like all pups I have ever played actually and are a metric ton of them).

Tone wise is thick, very thick, and kind of dark... I bet it wasn't really designed to be used with 250K volume pot as said in some places (and some Duncan diagrams). It's not muddy but far less bright than the full sized 59 (with, by the way, is too bright with 500K vol pot for my taste). It actually works really well with distortion and clean ... Wrll, I never play clean with the bridge pickup and here I have two more than are much more appropriate for that so... Didn't even try it clean. Nice dynamics and mixed with the middle pup it gets a nice "half way wha wha" kind of sound (specially with the tone rolled back that I have wired only to the bridge pup) and thatst an interesting sound that can be useful for non metal playing (in series in that middle position, I didn't wired it for auto split, maybe another year if I don't find this sound useful at the end).

Today I enjoyed it pretty much. I would like something a bit brighter and as hot as this one (so the JB Jr is not an option), maybe Cool Rails could be better suited for me ... I have to work a bit more with my amp and check for a 500K vol pot.

I will report back someday...

If you have any questions about this pup you know, I am here.
 


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