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Single Pickup Electrics


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My favorite is the original Silvertone Danelectro Dolphin Nose U-1.

A bright neck pickup is more versatile in my mind than any bridge pickup.

 

As to the "brighter" thang, I believe that got started when comparing a vintage Les Paul Special to a Les Paul Junior.

The guitar itself is different for one thing, the Junior has more surface area contact between body and neck and more mass at the neck joint. Both of those could make a tonal difference.

Then you have the huge variation in tone from vintage P-90 pickups, they are all over the map. Some of them scream and some don't.

 

Last but not least, in a parallel circuit like a Gibson with the difference being an added switch, volume and tone pot and more wire in total (Special) over the simpler Junior circuit, that could make a difference too. The switch only if it has mild corrosion on contact surfaces. The pots are resistors and shielded wire has capacitance if I am not mistaken.

 

Try hooking your single pickup straight to the output jack if you want to hear something brighter!!! I did that once a long time ago with a Tele bridge pickup. It was too bright for my tastes.

 

Now I use active pickups so probably not much difference there.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I have a Strat clone with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups in it. That guitar does sound a bit brighter than the hum-bucking guitars I own. (all of my guitars have the same scale 25-1/2")

 

What I meant dbm are guitars with just one pickup.

"Let me stand next to your fire!", Jimi Hendrix
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My Esquire white guard. Is bright. It"s fricken brutal especially in the blower position. A lot of it is that 49 Broadcaster clone pickup it had. My junior is amazing also. Not as bright as the Esquire but tons of Rock 'n" Roll punch. The junior is a mahogany slab with a long tenon neck joint. Unplugged it just rocks. I like single pickup guitars. I have a bad tendency to twiddle with switches and controls. Single pickup guitar makes me plays different.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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[

Just curious. What are y'all's thoughts about single pickup electric guitars? Some say they sound brighter, some say hogwash.

 

What I meant dbm are guitars with just one pickup.

 

I"ve seen a lot of players who are LIGHT YEARS beyond me in skill- mostly jazz, rock and metal guys- do wondrous things with singleton pickup electrics.

 

Me? I need the crutch/safety net of those extra options. :laugh:

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

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I prefer a two pickup guitar. If I had to choose between a one pickup at the bridge or a one pickup at the neck...wait for it...you guessed it...I would go with the one pickup at the neck. I prefer the mellow jazz sound over the treble rock sound. I think the reason for one pickup guitars (besides the low end save a buck starters) is that some players only need one or the other for their genre/sound. I run mostly on my front pickup on all my guitars and would therefore choose it over a bridge only pickup model. But, I like having more diversity and like to get that Tele twang out of the bridge when playing country or country rock leads. Then switch back to the neck pup for chords and rhythms to back up my vocals. I also like using the middle position on a 3way selector switch and run the neck on full volume and back off the bridge volume a little to find a sweet spot using both pups. So, one pickup models do not interest me.

 

With regard to the OP question on whether or not one pickup guitars (assuming a bridge model) sounds brighter than just switching to the bridge pickup on a two pickup model...I'm in the hogwash camp. They all sound bright to me on the bridge pickup whether or not you have one up front. However, in the event you omit the tone pot (like the Delong Strat) and use only a volume pot, I would say yes, they will sound brighter. Leo Fender figured this out long ago by having no tone pot on the bridge pup. He said "why would anyone want to roll off that jangly treble sound?" he worked so hard to achieve. The Delta Tone Strat setups have a detent on the tone knobs to lock them on full treble which is similar in concept. But omitting the tone pot all together can make things a little brighter. For me, the bridge pups are bright enough as is and I like to be able to roll them back a little if I want to. However, I find myself leaving them all the way up LOL!

 

My latest guitar purchase is a model made by a jazz professional and his two models usually come using a neck only pickup. The two pickup model like mine, is optional. Since I don't really play jazz and need those other sounds for rock and roll, country, blues, country rock, jazz/pop standards, etc., I went with the 2 pickup option... :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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A Gibson Les Paul Junior, Fender Esquire, or PRS One, for a few examples, can be a Rock 'n' Roll machine!

 

You're forced to rely on your "touch" and your ears and the volume and tone controls, rather than a pickup-selector switch, And, in a away, it's liberating, and invigorating.

 

I could do Rock and Blues gigs with a guitar with one pickup at the bridge. Especially with a good, cranked tube-amp, rolling the guitar's volume-knob up and down to "play the amp".

 

I just don't own any such single-pickup axes! But, I'd like to...

 

My favorite is the original Silvertone Danelectro Dolphin Nose U-1.

A bright neck pickup is more versatile in my mind than any bridge pickup.

 

As to the "brighter" thang, I believe that got started when comparing a vintage Les Paul Special to a Les Paul Junior.

The guitar itself is different for one thing, the Junior has more surface area contact between body and neck and more mass at the neck joint. Both of those could make a tonal difference.

Then you have the huge variation in tone from vintage P-90 pickups, they are all over the map. Some of them scream and some don't.

 

Last but not least, in a parallel circuit like a Gibson with the difference being an added switch, volume and tone pot and more wire in total (Special) over the simpler Junior circuit, that could make a difference too. The switch only if it has mild corrosion on contact surfaces. The pots are resistors and shielded wire has capacitance if I am not mistaken.

 

Try hooking your single pickup straight to the output jack if you want to hear something brighter!!! I did that once a long time ago with a Tele bridge pickup. It was too bright for my tastes.

 

Now I use active pickups so probably not much difference there.

 

 

Another factor is not having the magnetic-pull of a neck-pickup on the strings. That also makes a difference.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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[
Just curious. What are y'all's thoughts about single pickup electric guitars? Some say they sound brighter, some say hogwash.

 

What I meant dbm are guitars with just one pickup.

 

I"ve seen a lot of players who are LIGHT YEARS beyond me in skill- mostly jazz, rock and metal guys- do wondrous things with singleton pickup electrics.

 

Me? I need the crutch/safety net of those extra options. :laugh:

 

Never hurt a certain Edward Van Halen

 

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I played some Gibson and Epiphone P-90-equipped Juniors for a while (who would've guessed, eh?)... and I took the neck pickup out of my '65 SG Special when it stopped working, and ran a Strat with just a humbucker and then just a single coil by the bridge for a while... honestly, the absence of another pickup's magnetic pull on the strings DOES make quite a difference and they are more lively, especially if the remaining pickup is a single-coil.

 

If you've ever played a proper Fender Esquire, the 3 way switch uses tone capacitors to simulate the other 2 positions pretty well...

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I played some Gibson and Epiphone P-90-equipped Juniors for a while (who would've guessed, eh?)... and I took the neck pickup out of my '65 SG Special when it stopped working, and ran a Strat with just a humbucker and then just a single coil by the bridge for a while... honestly, the absence of another pickup's magnetic pull on the strings DOES make quite a difference and they are more lively, especially if the remaining pickup is a single-coil.

 

If you've ever played a proper Fender Esquire, the 3 way switch uses tone capacitors to simulate the other 2 positions pretty well...

 

I think the most common Fender Esquire neck setting is the low pass circuit that is supposed to let you double as a bass player. There is not much good happening there. I"m using the Mike Eldred setup. I think it"s a .33 cap, the cocked wah sound. It works well with my Drive Train OD. My 'bridge" setting is volume pot but bypassing the tone. The 'middle is normal volume and tone. I roll off the tone by about 20% usually.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I played some Gibson and Epiphone P-90-equipped Juniors for a while (who would've guessed, eh?)... and I took the neck pickup out of my '65 SG Special when it stopped working, and ran a Strat with just a humbucker and then just a single coil by the bridge for a while... honestly, the absence of another pickup's magnetic pull on the strings DOES make quite a difference and they are more lively, especially if the remaining pickup is a single-coil.

 

If you've ever played a proper Fender Esquire, the 3 way switch uses tone capacitors to simulate the other 2 positions pretty well...

 

I think the most common Fender Esquire neck setting is the low pass circuit that is supposed to let you double as a bass player. There is not much good happening there. I"m using the Mike Eldred setup. I think it"s a .33 cap, the cocked way sound. It works well with my Drive Train OD. My 'bridge" setting is volume pot but bypassing the tone. The 'middle is normal volume and tone. I roll off the tone by about 20% usually.

 

My Taylor T3B is a two pickup guitar. The pups can pop in and out so you can choose different pups if you wish. On the volume push/pull it changes both pups from single coil to humbucker, on the tone push/pull it changes tone caps for two different tone circuits. I'm not a fan of push/pull switching and this discussion gave me an idea for a single pickup guitar using a 3 way selector for the tone: 1st position bypass, 2nd position cap and 3rd position different cap. Then add a toggle switch for single vs humbucker coils using a 5wire pickup if you wish. Thus no magnetic pull from a second pickup issue and lots of selections for the single bridge pickup. Then if you prefer the jazz version, you can move the bridge pickup location to the neck location. The same pickup can work in either location and sound completely different. So perhaps put in two (or even a 3rd middle location) pop in pop out pickup set ups so you can choose. You could change pickups at will and/or use one two or three pups. :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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My son's Gibson LP Jr. is a fun guitar to play, but not what I'd want for my main axe. Compared to my other guitars, yes, I do think it is brighter. But I think that's just part of it's design - a single coil pickup at the bridge - that's pretty raucous.

While I love my Guild Starfire 1, with a humbucker in the neck, it too is not one I would want as my one and only; but I'd prefer it over the LP Jr. It can be bright, but can be tamed more.

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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A Gibson Les Paul Junior, Fender Esquire, or PRS One, for a few examples, can be a Rock 'n' Roll machine!

 

You're forced to rely on your "touch" and your ears and the volume and tone controls, rather than a pickup-selector switch, And, in a away, it's liberating, and invigorating.

 

I could do Rock and Blues gigs with a guitar with one pickup at the bridge. Especially with a good, cranked tube-amp, rolling the guitar's volume-knob up and down to "play the amp".

 

I just don't own any such single-pickup axes! But, I'd like to...

 

My favorite is the original Silvertone Danelectro Dolphin Nose U-1.

A bright neck pickup is more versatile in my mind than any bridge pickup.

 

As to the "brighter" thang, I believe that got started when comparing a vintage Les Paul Special to a Les Paul Junior.

The guitar itself is different for one thing, the Junior has more surface area contact between body and neck and more mass at the neck joint. Both of those could make a tonal difference.

Then you have the huge variation in tone from vintage P-90 pickups, they are all over the map. Some of them scream and some don't.

 

Last but not least, in a parallel circuit like a Gibson with the difference being an added switch, volume and tone pot and more wire in total (Special) over the simpler Junior circuit, that could make a difference too. The switch only if it has mild corrosion on contact surfaces. The pots are resistors and shielded wire has capacitance if I am not mistaken.

 

Try hooking your single pickup straight to the output jack if you want to hear something brighter!!! I did that once a long time ago with a Tele bridge pickup. It was too bright for my tastes.

 

Now I use active pickups so probably not much difference there.

 

 

Another factor is not having the magnetic-pull of a neck-pickup on the strings. That also makes a difference.

Fully agree on the magnetic pull of pickups affecting the tone. I've had many customers with Strats complaining about intonation problems.

They want more output from their single coils and raise all three of them close to the strings. As you fret higher up the neck, the part of the string that is over the pickups gets closer still. This part of the string cannot vibrate freely, the magnetic drag slows it down - effectively changing the pitch of that part of the string. Now you have more than one note coming from one string. "Wolf tones" abide. Lower the pickups back down and the problem is reduced to a level we can bear but it still affects pitch and tone.

 

Since I use EMG pickups almost always, I dont have that problem as the magnetic pull is minimal and I lower the pickups a bit because they just sound better to me that way.

Honestly, I'd be completely happy gigging with a guitar with two pickups straight to the output jack. No switch, no pots. I never touch them anyway. I control my volume by adjusting my pick attack and I control my tone by moving my strike location.

 

A neck pickup with a strong magnet could change the tone a bit. The vintage Dano lipsticks don't have a strong magnetic pull and the adjustment range for height does not allow close proximity to the strings. So I don't think the pickup is causing a tone issue in that sense. It is a single coil, even though it's got better shielding than most there is some hum. And the bridge and body construction engender a very different tone than a solid body with a wraparound bridge. Still, it's a sweet tone - my "comfort food guitar" because I always wanted one when I was a kid!!!

 

I will note that a recent setup on a Strat with the Vintage Noiseless pickups caused me to cross them off my list. Some of the strongest magnets I've ever encountered on a guitar pickup. They do sound great but I am wary of intense magnetic fields and strings.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Of all the gear demos on YouTube I"ve never heard anyone do a blind demo of say .... Les Paul Special bridge pickup with neck pickup installed then removed. They could even run the guitar through a spectrum analyzer to see what differences shake out. I think next time I talk to Brian Wampler I run it by him. He likes to do this kind of stuff.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Doesn't Jeff beck often play a single-pickup Tele? Some say he played an Esquire but I read that he preferred the build and other factors (and variety of choices) in the Tele line and simply removes the other pickup so that it is configured more like an Esquire.

 

It's sort of in line with early electric archtops. I prefer single-pickup (neck-only) in my own deep-body archtops. When that doesn't cut it for the style I'm playing, I simply switch to a thinline like my excellent Eastman 335-clone with Lollar pickups.

 

I sometimes like Danelectro single-pickup lipsticks. They aren't necessarily bright like you'd assume. Often flatwound strings tame this aspect anyway.

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Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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Aaaah... Interesting timing for this news bulletin:

 

[font:Book Antiqua]PRS to Reissue the SE One Guitar[/font]

 

n64mGCnBizvuNmdzJQmVH6-650-80.jpg

 

I like those!!! Unlike a vintage Gibson, you can customize without losing value. Currently working on a Yamaha Les Paul-ish thing with wrap around bridge, love that tone.

It's a great guitar with zero collectors value and very low street value. 2 pickups, so shoot me!!!! :- D

 

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I like those!!! Unlike a vintage Gibson, you can customize without losing value.

 

I played a couple of PRS SE One models years ago, and they were really nice. Very crisp, responsive to my "touch", and well-defined. One through my Fuchs Lucky 7 and/or an Orange Tiny Terror head and 2x12 cab with Celestion V30's would truly be a Rock and Roll MACHINE, and fairly cost-effectively, to boot.

A little judicious modding could make it even more betterer. :rawk:

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I like those!!! Unlike a vintage Gibson, you can customize without losing value.

 

I played a couple of PRS SE One models years ago, and they were really nice. Very crisp, responsive to my "touch", and well-defined. One through my Fuchs Lucky 7 and/or an Orange Tiny Terror head and 2x12 cab with Celestion V30's would truly be a Rock and Roll MACHINE, and fairly cost-effectively, to boot.

A little judicious modding could make it even more betterer. :rawk:

 

At the very least, ALL guitars should have locking tuners!!!

I love the tone of P-90s but not the hum. So I would swap that out. Maybe super-jumbo frets, maybe scalloped fretboard.

No stickers!!!!

 

Everybody else can do whatever they like. I just want my guitars how I want them.

 

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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At the very least, ALL guitars should have locking tuners!!!

I agree, though I still have the stock Kluson Deluxe tuners that came on my Les Paul. I might eventually upgrade to locking-tuners sometime- especially if they had a higher tuning-ratio, I like a LOT of smooth, gradual fine-tuning range in a tuner. I've even considered drilling and tapping for little Allen-wrench set-screws to make high-quality, high-ratio non-locking tuners into locking-tuners... Bonus points if they can be nickel-plated instead of chrome.

 

I love the tone of P-90s but not the hum. So I would swap that out.

Swap 'em out for... ? Various 'hum-canceling/noiseless' soap-bar stylees? Maybe something like the highly rated but pricey and hard to test-drive Kinman P-90 Hx pickups from Australia? (A very good, very discriminating friend with impeccable taste loved his Kinman "Zero-Hum" Broadcaster/Telecaster and Strat type pickups; I'd imagine that the Kinman P-90 Hx pickups are of similarly excellent quality... )

 

I loved the stock P-90 "soap-bars" on a Gibson Les Paul Studio "Gem"/"Ruby" that I once had (MISS THAT AXE!!), that had extra large pole-pieces and a fatter, fuller, hotter tone than many a P-90. The ONLY drawback was- THE LOUD BUZZING NOISE that ripped out in some locations... !! :freak::eek::facepalm::idk:

 

Between those pickups and the heavier-mass "Nashville" Tune-o-Matic bridge, with a little adjustment of the guitar's volume-kobs and my "touch", I could elicit a very convincing Tele shootin' sparks kinda tone, then back up again for full-on Les Paul fat goodness... ! :love::cool:

 

Maybe super-jumbo frets, maybe scalloped fretboard.

I like those things, myself... :rawk:

 

No stickers!!!!

Stickers? In general, or... ?

 

Everybody else can do whatever they like. I just want my guitars how I want them.

>PHEWE< Good! ;):D:thu:

 

 

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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