Single Coils

[Lister]

Anyone ever grown tired of the single coil sound?
Lately I've really grown to dislike the quack of a single coil. I don't really understand where this came from, as most of my favorite players all played single coils, SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour, and Beck among others, and I still enjoy their music? But lately it bugs me to the point of contemplating selling my Strat that I've owned for over 20 years because of the quack. I've also realized that out of the last 6 guitars that I'd bought, I've kept the 3 humbucker guitars and moved the SSS and SSH's on. Maybe I need to up the dosage on my meds...

 

[Rider1260]

Depends on the single coil, I do go thru periods where I like hum buckers more, even then I like buckers that tap well.
At present most of my group is PRS only pickups ( 408s , 513 or 305s , 58/15mt ) and the others are Mira pickups

 

[veinbuster]

I'm not sure how to answer. I always preferred humbuckers by far.
I liked a lot of songs that were recorded with single coil, but at the time that was meaningless to me. When I plugged in, I felt that the humbuckers were what the song in my head sounded like.
But I have a place for single coils. When I pull one of them out of the case, I play for what they sound like, or perhaps more correctly, what I think should be played with that sound. So I do something different, which I like from time to time.

so...I'm not tired of them, but if they were all that existed I would be much less happy. And I'd probably have more pedals to try to get the sound I wanted to hear out of the guitar.

 

[garrett]

It varies for me. Sometimes I prefer the snappy clarity of singles, other times I prefer the warmth and extra push of humbuckers.

One wonderful thing about PRS pickups these days is they sound great in either mode! I do insist on keeping a Strat, though. Nothing else will truly do that sound for me.

 

[CVS]

I think the sound of single coil guitars is quite different than the sound that you get from Humbuckers & I like them both, therefore I have both types of guitars. It's as simple as that.

 

[Huggy Love]

I did, a long time ago and never went back to it. Granted, for me doing mostly jazz it isn't that applicable when you want a fatter, rounder sound for comping and solos. The only time I miss it is for an R&B rhythm part and I can dig out my 408 to record it and just do it humbucker live cause neither of my HBs have coil split and I play those 99% of the time. But if I'm rockin' or farting around with some fusion noodling, I'm comfortable with the humbucker tone.

 

[Mozzi]

Grown 'tired' of is not quite accurate for me but I would say that if I add to pick between a humbucker or Single Coil sound, I would have to go Humbucker. I can find a Single coil to 'ice-picky' for my liking but there are some fantastic guitar solos that I absolutely love that were recorded and played live with 'single coils'. I could never or would never want those to disappear....

 

[dcm_guitar]

I associate the quack with strats, but not necessarily single coils. I have a strat and it definitely quacks, and that's what it's supposed to do. Of course this is in either the second or forth switch position. I have a Tele and it doesn't quack at all.

I don't know if I could ever get tired of the single coil sound. It provides a different tone that I want to hear at times.

I tend to prefer single coil tones on clean sounds and humbuckers on dirty sounds. I think this is why I like my Vela and my Tele so much. The neck pickup on the Vela is FANTASTIC, the neck in my Tele is almost as nice. It's a little darker and "mushier" than the Vela. The Vela neck pickup is really something special. I love the sound of a Tele bridge pickup in overdrive and the Vela bridge pickup sounds in overdrive (to my ear) like a juicier version of a Tele bridge pickup.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a PRS core model with the Vela single coil in it.

 

[Tone-y]

Same sentiments here as a lot of you have already said. I haven't grown tired per se, more that the single coils (and my experience is only really with Strats here) seem to require more effort. Some days they seem to sound good, next day it just doesn't seem to work and I can't get them dialed in. I'm constantly changing the pickup heights as the optimal position seems to be different depending on a whether you're playing clean or dirty. Some amps/pedals like them, some don't etc etc...Whereas humbuckers are easy. They seem to be consistent day to day and I can dial them in quick and easily.
But there are so many good recorded single coil tones out there that I know it's possible to get amazing sounds - so I persevere. But sometimes I really wish they were easier!

 

[Tone-y]

...And confession time... after 20 years of playing a Strat I still have no idea what this quack sound is people are hearing in positions 2 and 4!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I love the sound of them when others play them.

I do not love playing them though. To the point, I'm almost convinced to give up forever and just use the NF3 for anything S-like. I guess it's because I play humbuckers so much, and can switch from guitar, to guitar, to guitar and hardly touch the amp. Then switch to a strat and have to reset every knob on the amp.

 

[dmatthews]

I go round and round.
It's fun, but I'm dizzy sometimes.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I go round and round.
It's fun, but I'm dizzy sometimes.

Some kids go.... when they sit and spin

 

[Deleted member 5962]

(I didn't figure many would remember those stupid commercials. )

Some friends of mine scored some cheap red wine in 8th grade, and when the first guy got loaded, they pulled out one of these and spun him til he puked all over the living room. By the time I showed up, this had already happened so I left immediately.

But, some of you might want to remember that for Experience 2020. Who could we get on the wheel? hmmm

 

[Lister]

(I didn't figure many would remember those stupid commercials. )

Some friends of mine scored some cheap red wine in 8th grade, and when the first guy got loaded, they pulled out one of these and spun him til he puked all over the living room. By the time I showed up, this had already happened so I left immediately.

Ah yes, the immortal sit n' spin. I wonder who thought it would be a great idea to have kids spin themselves sick then bounce off of walls when they tried to walk? The good ol' days...amirite?

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Ah yes, the immortal sit n' spin. I wonder who thought it would be a great idea to have kids spin themselves sick then bounce off of walls when they tried to walk? The good ol' days...amirite?

Exactly! A toy made to make kids dizzy. Can you imagine the disclosures in the commercials if that was still available today? It would be worse than some of these medicines for which the side effects are worse than the disease.

'Do not operate this device while under the influence of... well, pretty much anything."

 

[sergiodeblanc]

(I didn't figure many would remember those stupid commercials. )

Some friends of mine scored some cheap red wine in 8th grade, and when the first guy got loaded, they pulled out one of these and spun him til he puked all over the living room. By the time I showed up, this had already happened so I left immediately.

But, some of you might want to remember that for Experience 2020. Who could we get on the wheel? hmmm

I’ll drink the bottle of wine if someone else wants to tackle the sit-n-spin.

 

[Lister]

Exactly! A toy made to make kids dizzy. Can you imagine the disclosures in the commercials if that was still available today? It would be worse than some of these medicines for which the side effects are worse than the disease.

'Do not operate this device while under the influence of... well, pretty much anything."

I'm still thinking of all that sweet 1970's shag carpet that was ruined by the blood and vomit from a sit 'n spin! Ever stop and think how many more custom vans could've had the shag treatment if not for the sit 'n spin? I know, right? Simply tragic...

 

[Lee B.]

...And confession time... after 20 years of playing a Strat I still have no idea what this quack sound is people are hearing in positions 2 and 4!

 

[CVS]

I love the sound of them when others play them.

I do not love playing them though. To the point, I'm almost convinced to give up forever and just use the NF3 for anything S-like. I guess it's because I play humbuckers so much, and can switch from guitar, to guitar, to guitar and hardly touch the amp. Then switch to a strat and have to reset every knob on the amp.

Boy can I relate to this having both an NF3 and a Strat - I would also mention that in addition to amp settings, I have also had to mess with pedal settings as well