Tone difference between single coil and humbucker?

Lewis Goldsmith · Post by **Lewis Goldsmith** » 18 May 2011 7:05 pm

Just got a new Fessy SD10 with a Bill Lawrence LRX16 humbucker. It sounds great, but I hear alot of raves about Truetones, which I guess is a single coil? Can y'all give me your opinions and hopefully some facts, like which one would be darker sounding, or brighter, warmer, more sustain, etc. I'm playing it thru a Fender Steel King. Also, what do Truetones cost? Opinions on other brands welcome too, I might like to experiment.

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 19 May 2011 3:21 pm

Lewis,I would say it depends on the sound you want.Humbuckers are usualy not as clear as singles but have fat warm tone.Singles usualy have high treble out put with a realy clean sound.Each pick has tone control.I have steels with both pick ups and I like both of them.Its like a Les Paul,humbuckers warm and fuzzy.or a Telecaster that you can cut thru the smoke on a lead ride and pierce you ear drums.If thats how you set it.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 19 May 2011 5:50 pm

Heres a pic of my Fessy U12 TruTone. Its wound to 20.9 and a really a great sounding pickup. Its got all the brilliance from the single coil, but its also very well insulated so the output is extremely quiet with regard to hum. The 12 pole is around $96 new.

Single coils may have a bit more bite in the dynamics department, but also a bit more noise. Humbuckers kill the noise but also a bit of the dynamic edge, so its kind of a compromise either way IMO. I love the sound of the George L E66 in my Mullen S10. Its a fairly bright sounding humbucker that replaced the original single coil.

I have X16s in my Carter D10 (E9 is wound to 28.1, C6 to 23.7) which sound great in that guitar. They are a little warmer and hotter also since they are set pretty high (about a quarters height), whereas the TruTone sounds better set lower (around 2+ quarters) IMO.

Lewis Goldsmith wrote:...I might like to experiment.

Before getting a new pickup, note the original height of the X16 and try different heights. Pickup height can make subtle to drastic changes in the tone. You may find that the tone youre looking for is just a quarter or less away. You can always set it back to where it was, and it cant hurt to experiment with what you have before getting something else.

The overall tone of any pickup also relies on the amp settings, so experiment with those as well. Even the cords used to connect it can make a bit of a difference in pickup tone.

Clete

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 19 May 2011 6:34 pm

Clete is correct.The distance of the pick up from the strings is one of the best tone control you have.A tone knob on an instrument is just a treble cut.

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 24 May 2011 4:59 pm

If you have a guitar with a tone knob,Fender makes one called a tbx.It is two pots linked togather.When you roll treble off you add bass and vise versa.It has a detent in the center where you run straight to the pickup with no interferance from the pot

Stephen Cordingley · Post by **Stephen Cordingley** » 24 May 2011 6:27 pm

my subjective experience:
I got a steel with single coil pickups (a True tone and maybe an Emmons)and immediately noticed more hum than with George L's humbuckers (logical enough)

I'm still experimenting with volume pedals (passive versus active), power supplies, hum reducers, and amp placement to try to minimize the hum

Maybe I haven't got it right yet (others may have), but I still haven't got used to the noise I hear when I open up the volume pedal

the George L humbuckers (EL-66?) seem to be right for me, and may be right for you, too ... your call

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 24 May 2011 6:34 pm

The tone difference between single coil and humbucker results from phase cancellation and reinforcement of the high harmonics when there are two coils.

You can defeat that and still retain all the power and most of the hum cancellation if you can put a small capacitor across just one of the coils. That bleeds off those high harmonics so they don't interfere with the harmonics of the other coil.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 25 May 2011 1:51 am

The Alumitone pickup has the single coil sound without the 60 cycle hum.

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 25 May 2011 7:25 am

Let's not forget about Tonealingers, they are buckers that have the bite of single coils.

Larry Behm

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 26 May 2011 2:57 pm

Being as I make the Tonealigner pickups I feel that my opinions about tone may be self serving so I will leave that part alone.

One of the big differences I find between single coil pickups and humbuckers is that you can use a heavier guage copper wire with single coils and still get up to a reasonable resistance. This changes the inductance and makes it so a Bigsby pickup wound to 7K can sound more deep and full than a 705 wound to 18K. Also quite a bit of the sound of a pickup is how it relates to the particular guitar that it is in. Everything resonates in its own way. I have heard single coil pickups that sounded woofy and humbuckers that sounded clear and cutting. A blade style pickup is a very different beast that a magnet pole piece pickup which is different that a bar magnet/pole piece pickup. The basic shape makes a difference also.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 26 May 2011 3:54 pm

My ShoBud single coil is most definitely dirtier, much "growlier" if you will, than the George L humbuckers in my Emmons, which are very clean, almost sterile-sounding in comparison. Just the opposite of what most folks seem to expect. Go figure, the story of my life...

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 May 2011 6:13 pm

Dave, do you mean in the same guitar-the Emmons? or shobud pickups in your shobud? My shobud "growls" even acousticly--no amp.