It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I just think it suits my inner Luddite.
Oh, yes...those simple, no-frills instruments...
HarrySeven - Intangible Asset Appraiser & Wrecker of Civilisation. Searching for weird guitars - so you don't have to.
Forum feedback thread. | G&B interview #1 & #2 | https://www.instagram.com/_harry_seven_/
For just over three weeks, I have been the custodian of a 1965 Gibson Melody Maker. It has one single coil pickup that, on paper, does not seem very promising. The guitar body has little substance to it. Thankfully, that substance is Brazilian mahogany. The fingerboard is Brazilian rosewood. The whole thing is resonant as ****. Through a cranked valve amplifier, all the tonal variety that anyone could ask for is available via volume and tone pot adjustments and the right touch.
Actually thinking about it, I think his was an old (very old) Antoria. Superb guitar.
All of this! Extra pickups reduce the energy of the strings, especially as you get closer to the neck.
My old BC rich gunslinger may have been a Korean made guitar, but it was very resonant and the angled dimarzio super distortion was far more versatile than you'd think.
They look mega cool too. Even taxi cab yellow superstrats.
I get frustrated by one pickup guitars - they are great, but limiting. I agree that they force you to be more dynamic with your picking, and learn how to use the volume and tone controls... but if you do this anyway with a two pickup (or three on a Strat) then its a little moot. Its a bit like the argument against using effects by those that ride the volume and tone controls on their guitars... yes, but if you do that *AND* use effects and a neck pickup, then you are going to make a lot more different noises.
I have an Esquire at home that I use for writing. Its an inspirational guitar but I find myself wondering if it would be even better with a neck pickup to inspire me still further.
Each to their own and there isn't one 'correct' way to approach playing guitar. But to answer the OP's original thread - no you aren't alone.
Doesn't an Esquire have routing under the guard anyway? I thought some did.
Regardless, I do actually agree with your viewpoint. I guess ultimately to me it's a case of "I don't need this, so why is it here?" My one pickup guitars are single HB Strats where it is of no consequence to switch back to a multi pickup config if I so choose. With something like a Les Paul Jr you're tied in to visible routing. As of yet I've never bought a single pickup guitar where adding a neck pickup would require carving.
Regardless of volume, there are just some things that I can do on my Strat that won't fly as well on my LP. And vice versa. You can play anything on any guitar, but funk rhythm work shines with a single coil pickup and the 2 and 4 positions on a 5 way switch tend to sound better with singles than when you're combining with a humbucker (even when the humbucker is split).
As far as leads go; single coils generally have a transparency (or translucency) while humbuckers are thicker and chunkier. Neither is "better" in my world. I love both.
One nice thing about singles is that you can pretty effectively thicken the sound with the right pedal combination, volume control, and/or amp. It's not as easy to thin out the sound of a humbucker.
I think it's mainly about the styles that you want to play. And also how picky you are. When I was totally broke I played everything on my classical guitar. Because that was the only guitar I had and I couldn't afford an electric or amp. It limited my gigs, for sure, but with the right adjustment of technique, I learned how to bend the strings and effectively use a pick/finger combination.