Favourite singlecoil pickups?

[Disturber]

Pickup discussions, on this board and others,

are mostly about which humbucker that sounds

the best.

But what's your favourite singlecoil pickup?

Neck position ?

Bridge position ?

And why, tonereport?

Im curious about what would be a good singlecoil

to try in the neck position of a mahogany bodied

guitar.

[bruce919]

I can't say I have tried a huge amount of Single coils pickups but out of the ones I have tried are the Fender Tex-Mex pickups. They have that Strat Bell like tone & break up nice then you kick in the overdrive. There not too harsh sounding & they do not cost a mint.

[StylesBitchley]

This is such a subjective subject, but I'm a Barden man. I've got Barden's in several guitars....Strat, Tele, and this:

This is a Strat bridge pu which works very well in combination with the humbucker which is a Barden two-tone. The volume pot has a push/pull which splits the humbucker but not exactly into a single coil. Since this has a mahogany body, the pu is not too glassy or trebly sounding and it balances well with the humbucker.

It's definitely one of my favorite guitars. It's hard to see but this guitar has been beat up pretty bad but it plays like buttah! I don't have to worry much about getting a new ding. This is one that I saved from a pawn shop

Over the years some have hated the Bardens and some have loved them while others tolerate them.

[Nuclear Wessel]

I like the Duncan SSL-1 or Alnico 2 Pro singles for neck and middle position. I wish Duncan made something like a Texas Special - like a vintage single coil but with a fatter midrange.

For bridge position, I really like the Duncan Custom single (SSL-5 & SSL-6). It doesn't give you the ice pick high end that most single coils would. It gives you a strong midrange so power chords crunch instead of sounding clanky. It's an absolutely great rock bridge pickup for single coil fans. While it sounds fatter and warmer than vintage singles, it doesn't sound like a humbucker. That telltale single coil ping is still there.

I'm interested in trying out a Duncan Twangbanger bridge pickup sometime.

An often overlooked favorite single coil of mine is the old Hamer Slammer single coil. Hamer put these in there guitars when the most popular clean guitar tone was a real glassy, ultra-clean single coil tone, usually with the bridge/middle or middle/neck pickups on together to add 2 & 4 position cluck. Slammer singles are perfect for that tone.

[sw686blue]

I'm still looking. I've just about completed a Tele parts-o-caster with Rio Grande Strat Vintage Tallboys. It's a Tele configured like a Strat. I'll post some pix soon. It's a wicked cool looking Tele!

[formula73]

I just put some type of Duncan P90 in the neck position of this thing:

and it rocks!!!!!! Smooth as buttah. Newer pics forthcoming...

[KH Guitar Freak]

My Webpage

Some of the single coils you would need...

[MrGuitarguy]

Frailins. I like vintage tones personally. Low output, clean and chimey.

[Nuclear Wessel]

I just put some type of Duncan P90 in the neck position of this thing:

Oh yes! Can't forget P90's! A completely different vibe than chimey F#nder style singles, but very cool.

[JES1680]

Strat / Tele Singles - Frailn

P90's - Lollar

my .02

[BLuesBuster]

Fender Texas Specials, Rio Grande (expecially the Muy Grande for the bridge position, matches the other 2 Tex Spec. to perfection).

[Disturber]

Fender Texas Specials, Rio Grande (expecially the Muy Grande for the bridge position, matches the other 2 Tex Spec. to perfection).

Personally I like the Slammer Singlecoil in

one of my Hamer's. But I also really liked

the Seymour Duncan Vintage pickups in

the Centaura. Heard a lot of good about the

Texas Special but never tried them out.

P90's in singlecoil format? Didn't know they

where available?

[Punkavenger]

Has anyone tried the "Apache" from bare knuckles?

Supposed to be the "bees knees"

[sonja]

I just put some type of Duncan P90 in the neck position of this thing:

and it rocks!!!!!! Smooth as buttah. Newer pics forthcoming...

So you cut some wood to put a P90 at the single coil position?

And BTW: pls snd pix!

[mudshark]

The Duncan Broadcaster/54 that come stock in the t-51 sound great to me. I love Bardens but I think they're actually humbuckers

[NewAKowner]

I do not have the extensive experience with single coils that many of you members have, but the Seymour Duncan standard P-90's in my Artist Korina provide a good blend of power, versatility, and clarity for the styles I need, & I have no plans to replace them.

[Guest Mike Lee]

Strat - Fralin for true singles - the Tele-style bassplate on the bridge pickup helps a lot.

Kinman for noiseless.

P90's - Harmonic Design VP-90's.

[tombo]

Duncan and DiMarzio. Yeah, that's not much help, but there's something there for everyone in all price ranges.

Handmade? Duncan Antiquities, Fralin, Lollar, and Van Zandt.

Check out Guitar Heaven in Nashville for some great prices and service, ymmv.

[ac15]

Harmonic Designs Vintage Plus for Tele-especially the neck pickup, which is fantastic.

For P-90's I agree with Mike Lee--Harmonic Design VP-90's

For me so far, it appears that the buck stops with HD pickups. After trying a few different P-90's and Tele single coils and liking them to various degrees, once I dropped the HD's into my guitars I stopped searching.

[tomteriffic]

I'm hardly a single-coil connoiseur, I just know when they're right in a Strat or Tele. I'll second what Mushark said about the Broadcaster/'54 combination in a T-51 being the bee's pajamas AND the cat's knees for getting the old original Broadcaster tones.

I just picked up a slightly used Deluxe Player's Strat with the Vintage noiseless pickups. They're mostly OK but the modern magnet stagger throws the neck pickup out of whack with regards to the 'Wind Cries Mary" tone, and the "Sultans of Swing" setting isn't quite right either.

Before I go throwing big bucks at a relatively inexpensive guitar that I otherwise like, I'm going to follow HHB's path and try some of the bargain-basement GFS pickups. I've been pleased with their Tele stuff (going more after a late '50's tone, full but no icepick in the ear a-la 1966) and their version of a Hot Rails set when going after a fatter, Rick-ish tone in a Yamaha Pacifica 12.

[hamersandstrats]

The only single coils that i truly love are the Suhr Fat-T tele pickups. I think they go by a different name now, but wow do they sound good. I like the lollar P-90s, but i wasn't blown away by them.

For strat pickups, I like the stock pickups in the fender 50th anniversary strats, and the stock pickups in my Esp 400 Series.