does anyone else have a love hate relationship with single coils?

siraxeman

Mostly a strats bridge position? Often when i hear other folks with their strats n teles, they sound really good...me I'm often  like "it's too wimpy n thin" not always but often. I love strats for their really comfortable play n feel and guess I'd have to call myself a strat player if i was to pigeon hole myself but i have 2 hss strats and the one sss has lace red/silver/blue in so a lot more phat than your typical strat.

TimmyO

Helps to put the tone control on that pickup, and to play around with the volume on less than max too imho.

That said, I'm another for whom others seem to nail that sound far better than I do, but those things made a significant improvement for me 

stickyfiddle

I've had no trouble with Strats but I have a love/hate thing with P90s. I love them in other people's hands but never quite got the hang of them with my own guitars. Possibly because I've never had a really good P90 guitar.

siraxeman

I sometimes wonder if its just a self perception of your own sound especially when you've been playing beefy humbuckers a lot....my band mates never say oh that sounds thin or wimpy...my  co guitarist/bassist (*we share guitar n bass duties) usually says my strat sounds great....its just me and then only sometimes. I guess different day/room/mood i even perceive sound differently on my prs or LP. Just more often it when i got my SSS strat out that it happens. 

As for the tone control trick - yeah used to do that a lot, though you'd never really wanna do that with a lace red...its very micdy and darker than a typical plinky strat pup. 

Love Eric Johnson strat were he goes from lovely sparlky cleans to a dark fat tone for solos....guess he does the bridge tone control down trick....but then we open another can o worms.....fuzz pedals same story again i hate me with them... but love Gilmour, Johnson etc with them.  There's probably no  cure for my condition is there short of persisting with strats to the abandonment of buckers.....then I'll come back n eventuality start a thread saying humbuckers sound too thick n muddy. There's just no winz here.

stimpsonslostson

I think singles are slightly harder to "dial in" & that they are less forgiving than humbuckers. 

Having predominantly played an SG jr & Esquire for the last few years I now struggle with HBs- I find (even "good" ones) muffled. 

StormshadowGuitars

Just a hate one, never used them at all personally, That's not to say i don't like the sound others get from them, just not for me.

richardhomer

 No - I love single coils. A 'good' Strat can sound surprisingly fat - even on the bridge pick-up.

I struggle more with humbuckers actually....

siraxeman

Richardhomer ya weirdo!!!! ;-)

TTBZ

The only singlecoils where I don't hate the way I make them sound are P90s. Normal strat or tele ones are too hollow sounding for me.

richardhomer

siraxeman said:

Richardhomer ya weirdo!!!! ;-)

I'll take that as a compliment!

guitarfishbay

Yes but it's all about noise.

I love single coils but mostly play high gain. Any noiseless pickup ends up being some kind of compromise in the end.

Sassafras

Love single coils.
Hate humbuckers.

Sassafras

Can't stand people whining on about how thin and weedy a Strat bridge pickup sounds. Reminds me of the the nasal whining sound of a high output humbucker.

HAL9000

I prefer single coils but know what you mean about the Strat bridge pickup sounding a bit wimpy. I had a hotter bridge pickup with a baseplate installed in my Strat and it makes all the difference.

Bridgehouse

Sassafras said:

Can't stand people whining on about how thin and weedy a Strat bridge pickup sounds. Reminds me of the the nasal whining sound of a high output humbucker.

Yet people don't whinge about a Tele sounding weedy.

I have had some properly weedy humbuckers in the past

usedtobe

Yeah, sort of.. I like how other people sound through single coils, but I hate how I sound through them. I always think it doesn't sound right, doesn't sound like me, somehow..

mike_l

Sassafras said:

Love single coils.
Hate humbuckers.

Pervert....
I prefer 'buckers for general playing, but I am a gain slut.
As a general rule singles are best (for me) in the neck and middle positions and are a bit shrill in the bridge.

Adamski

I find single coils and P-90's waaaaay easier to dial in than humbuckers......

ICBM

A stock Strat bridge pickup is wimpy and shrill, like Blackmore's tone on Made In Japan?

Bridgehouse

I hate weedy tone.

CasperCaster

I played Tele's for a long time but often missed not having a trem, so in recent years I've increasingly got into Strat's. I've found I have to have a fairly hot bridge pickup and/or one with a baseplate fitted, as vintage Strat bridge pickups just sound thin, where a Tele bridge pickup can be really raunchy.