single coils, bridge ones in particuar....do you like??

siraxeman

Like say the ones in tbe bridge position on a Strat or a Tele...do you like?Dislike...Hate? Whats your take on the often considered thin/whimpy/shrill bridge position single coils? Do they rawk...or are they to gutless??

steamabacus

I like them - so long as they have a tone control attached in order to tweak the top end.

ICBM

Depends on the amp/pedals. You can get a full tone out of wither of them if you want to - even Strat bridge pickups with no tone control.

Listen to Ritchie Blackmore in the early 70s if you want to hear how fat a Strat bridge pickup can sound.

stickyfiddle

BKP have always done me well in Teles- either Boss or Brown Sugar.

In my strat the only bridge pickup I've ever loved is the Rio Grande Halfbreed, which has wider polepieces which give a bit more mids. Absolutely wonderful pickup- iirc @DrBob is also a fan.

Lixarto

I like them - the typical wisdom is that a Tele bridge pick-up will sound fatter than a Strat, and I think there's some truth in that, but I get a lot of mileage from the bridge pick-up in my Strat - with no tone control, just as Leo intended. It doesn't sound thin at all. Wiry, yes but that's good.

I second the Blackmore comment above, although I wouldn't limit it just to the early '70s material.

WezV

I like them with baseplates.

ICBM

Lixarto said:

I second the Blackmore comment above, although I wouldn't limit it just to the early '70s material.

Except that in the mid-late 70s he started experimenting with different pickups, so it's hard to be as sure that it's just a Strat bridge pickup. He had a two-humbucker Strat as early as the Burn tour - no idea if he used it in the studio though. You can at least be sure that the tones up to Made In Japan and WDWTWA are definitely plain Strat single coil.

Lixarto

I see what you're saying - there's also the synth pick-up from at least "Perfect Strangers" onwards.

He's on record somewhere as saying he didn't like the humbuckered Strat (can't remember where I read that, possibly in that unauthorised biography that came out a few years ago - my copy is in the loft, so I cannot easily check), but that probably did lead to all the Lace Sensor experiments - and the Tele with a vibrato bridge he used briefly in Rainbow.

Hmm.

impmann

Yup. Single coils on Fenders sound ace. Single coils on Gibsons sound ace. Humbuckers on Gibsons sound ace. Humbuckers on Fenders sound.... you get the idea.

Kerpunk

I really like the strat bridge single coil just add fuzz.

xSkarloey

I own a Strat and a Tele and I am a very happy man with the bridge units in both. 

My Tele is a Squier CV. The bridge pup is Fido's whatsits. 

My Strat pups are Toneriders. I believe they make or are virtually the same as the Squier CV pups. 

Either way, I'm very happy with the range of tones I can get. My Strat has a master tone control, so I do use it a lot. It's not just about taming the top end. Sometimes I find I get a grittier sound with the tone backed off with both guitars and it helps to fatten things up. One of my favourite lead tones is Jeff Beck, and I believe he backs the tone sometimes right off (sometimes by backing the top end on the amp right off, though in effect you get a similar sort of sound as if it was done on the guitar).  

siraxeman

Blackmore is definately one of the "see   how fat can you make a Strat go!" as is SRV. I believe that besides the Lace Sensor blackmore also used the Seymore Duncan Quarter Pounder which has the fat pole pieces and sounds beefier than a regular single coil...a bit P90 ish I recall Seymour saying in his websites blurb to describe this pickup. And then there's the Marshall Major amps....200w bass heads?

Lixarto

Get into an arms race with Jon Lord and that's what happens!

siraxeman

The Texas Specials in this American Special vs American Standard defintely sound fattererer........

OilCityPickups

Personal preference for me on Strats is a baseplate on the bridge pickup ... and some over winding.

timmysoft

I absolutely love the bridge single coil on a strat, the Seymour ssl5 is always my choice!

Dave_Mc

I prefer a humbucker if I'm playing heavier stuff, but they're normally fine for not too heavy stuff (for me). Probably prefer a Tele to a Strat in the bridge, but I haven't done tons of swapping experiments, I'm sure I could find a strat bridge pickup I liked, too.

p90fool

I've banged on about this before, but suffice to say, if your vintage Strat sounds thin you have an amp problem, not a pickup problem.

suspiciousminds

TheGuitarWeasel;205849" said:

Personal preference for me on Strats is a baseplate on the bridge pickup ... and some over winding.

How does the baseplate affect the sound?

Bidley

I've got Texas Specials in my Roadhouse and they sound the nuts. The bridge is definitely fat enough for me.

OilCityPickups

suspiciousminds said:

TheGuitarWeasel;205849" said:

Personal preference for me on Strats is a baseplate on the bridge pickup ... and some over winding.

How does the baseplate affect the sound?

It increases the inductance of the pickup as a whole ... adding any ferrous metal in the field does that ... and so shifts the resonant peak: boosting the bass and middle and cutting a touch of top. You get a tiny output boost too.