I started with 3-single coil Strat. I've tried many mods, even getting 7 possible pickup combinations. What I found is my tone, versatility, and enjoyment was inversely proportional to the number of knobs and switches on the guitar. My Strat now has a single humbucker in the Bridge location, one tone and one volume knob. I do run it through an HX Stomp, to get different sounding guitars. But, the tone variations, timbre, dynamics, and excitement comes through one pickup. It's worth noting that Acoustic Guitars have the equivalent of single pickup (the wooden Bridge), and you can get a huge variation in tones and dynamic from that.
That’s so true, that proportionality in enjoyment vs hardware/functions is something that is so important and something I think a lot new guitarists should bare in mind - more functionality doesn’t necessarily lead to a better experience playing the guitar! It sounds like you’ve found a great sweet spot with your rig, I’m sure it sounds awesome! 👌🏻 Yeah, I totally agree! Playing acoustic really shows you how much you can get out of a guitar! Thanks for commenting and for taking the time to watch the video and share your experience! Really appreciate it man! 🙏🏻
I picked up an LP copy several years ago that had been completely stripped, all the holes and routes filled with something resembling bondo, a trapeze tailpiece, and a mid 60s Harmony goldfoil screwed right into the bondo at the bridge position, more or less. I bought it for the pickup and the fairly nice hardshell case for 70 bucks and had no thoughts about using it. I messed around plying it a few times, it played great and the frets had definitely been dressed up by someone competent. It sat for quite a while and by chance ended up in a gig bag I usually carry a Tele in and got taken to rehearsal inadvertently. That was the first time I played it through a legit rig at real stage volume and Holy S%&t. That pickup came alive and was a completely different experience with tones and especially feel and response. Incredibly articulate, dynamic, touch sensitive and very responsive to volume knob. Yes it is extremely bright but it has a surprisingly rich low end with amazing clarity. I do a couple little things to help roll off some of the particular high frequencies that can be harsh without cutting out the clarity. This PUPs can be so bright you can kind of hear the actual metal the string is made of, not always a bad thing. I put in a 250k pot which had a small effect barely. That runs through a 3 way switch that selects between the normal path and 2 different tone circuits. One is a fixed resistor for now and the other is just a small tone pot I have mounted in the control cavity so I have some options for different situations. It has worked very well and is easy to tweak. My whole point before the edible kicked in was that experimenting with pickup placement is super easy in this guitar so I've had the opportunity to do a lot of it and will be filling in some bondo soon as a result lol. Subtle changes can make a drastic difference in performance due to some physics and such. So if possible do some experimenting. After using this as my main instrument for probably 300 gigs over the last 4 years or so I recently started using a 335 again and I couldn't believe how much I felt my playing had improved from having to get everything I needed from that 1 pickup and be constantly using different techniques to achieve those tones. It was the first time I felt a big leap forward had happened in a long time so yeah, single pickup guitars are cool. Ive restarted this video probably 25 times while typing this so I hope the extra views are helpful. Have a good day.
If you really want the single pup magic, try to commission or construct a custom stacked Filtertron made with a rail pole piece, neodymium magnets, 40awg or thicker (smaller number) wire, a wide P90 style bobbin so it can still reach about 6k ohms, and then put it in the true middle position of a 24 fret guitar AKA the 36th fret position. Then 1-meg pots (I don't remember if an audio-taper was better for a tone pot or not, do your own research real quick) all around with a treble bleed, and get that passive mid control tone knob thing, so now you'd have two tones (mid and high) and one volume for one pickup. The thicker wire gives you more highs, the neodymium magnet gives you more bass, the wide bobbin smooths it out, and the stacked construction makes the tone clearer and more focused. Plus being in the middle position makes it pick up progressively more of a fundamental tone as you work your way down the fretboard, shortening the strings and reducing their potential energy, ergo making it "louder" to compensate for the virtually shorter strings. Suppose you want to go even a bit further with a slight sacrifice to where you can pick. In that case, you can add a steel horseshoe that comes up from the opposite magnet pole and wrap around the top of the strings like a Rickenbacker bass, that should focus the magnetic field even more, especially if you keep it kinda narrow like 2-3cm wide and 3-5mm thick.
Thanks for sharing this Chris, very interesting article. I didnt realise there was such a big influence in single pick up guitars. It sounded great, especially with the P90.
Hi Colin, thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the video and the tones/playing! These single pickup, les paul jr inspired guitars are real hidden gems, there's something really unique about the sound - sometimes it's hard to portray that in videos but if you ever get the chance to play one you'll know what I mean!
They are awesome. I built a hybrid guitar with a single mini humbucker in the bridge. It can rock hard or run smooth and steady. The orange paint with the black stripes is a really cool look!
Thanks for watching man and thanks for taking the time to comment! Great work on that guitar, sounds like a killer instrument, a bridge humbucker is always a great tone! Yeah this guitar is definitely a looker! 👌🏻 Orange is my favourite colour so naturally it was already off to a good start before I even plugged it in!
Yes!!! I pulled the neck pickup out of my Les Paul and I will never go back! Immediately,the tone changed. More body,more sustain,truer clearer notes. And the switch effectively became a cool cutoff switch!!! Sweet!!!
Thanks for watching and commenting man! That sounds like a really cool mod, awesome that you're enjoying the tones you're getting out of the guitar too! That's the key to staying inspired! Hope you have a great holiday season!
Thanks so much, Chris 👍 I fully agree, single pickup guitars are super versatile , especially when fitted with a P90, which, in my opinion, has the most dynamic range of all pickups. They make you think about how you play the guitar instead of how you play your pedals or amp
Thanks for watching Karl, really glad you enjoyed the video mate! That's definitely the case for me with this car, absolutely makes me play differently and makes me work the guitar more which is never a bad thing! It's great feeling like you're really getting the most out of the guitar
Out of the 8 guitars i own 5 have a single pickup.. 2 tom delonge style strats with an invader pickup.. an epiphone coronet with a new yorker single pickup.. a double cut les paul junior with one p90 and a tele style with a single hunbucker.. i dont know why but they just sound better.. its basic and pure rock/punk.. i mainky play rhythm with few solos.. so suits my needs perfectly.. nice video..
I have only one pickup on my am. Strat and on my ibanez artcore....both are humbuckers (strat=invader ibanez=i forget) but i have them both set up with coil split w. a Push/pull knob. I set them both up years ago and still are my favorites.
Those sound like really great options! Great tonal options without too much fuss! 👌🏻🎸 nicely done! Thanks for watching and for leaving a comment, I really appreciate it!
@@ChrisHarveyGuitarI'm an electrical engineer and I design and build custom guitar pedals... so if anyone is interested in the nerdy specifics on coil split/tap/phase inversion or tone control caps etc, just let me know.
@@ChrisHarveyGuitar the king tone switch is a good start. a series/parallel push pull pot is something you can mod, or use that push/pull for a series 150 uf cap. it will cut bass for a quasi 'bright switch', or in conjunction with a standard tone when fully on, will allow only mids to pass for that honky money for nothing riff. of course most of this could be done with a 10 band eq pedal or a wah!
Thanks for watching guys! Anyone had any experience with single pickup guitars? What do you think of them? 🎸
I started with 3-single coil Strat. I've tried many mods, even getting 7 possible pickup combinations. What I found is my tone, versatility, and enjoyment was inversely proportional to the number of knobs and switches on the guitar.
My Strat now has a single humbucker in the Bridge location, one tone and one volume knob. I do run it through an HX Stomp, to get different sounding guitars. But, the tone variations, timbre, dynamics, and excitement comes through one pickup.
It's worth noting that Acoustic Guitars have the equivalent of single pickup (the wooden Bridge), and you can get a huge variation in tones and dynamic from that.
That’s so true, that proportionality in enjoyment vs hardware/functions is something that is so important and something I think a lot new guitarists should bare in mind - more functionality doesn’t necessarily lead to a better experience playing the guitar!
It sounds like you’ve found a great sweet spot with your rig, I’m sure it sounds awesome! 👌🏻
Yeah, I totally agree! Playing acoustic really shows you how much you can get out of a guitar!
Thanks for commenting and for taking the time to watch the video and share your experience! Really appreciate it man! 🙏🏻
I picked up an LP copy several years ago that had been completely stripped, all the holes and routes filled with something resembling bondo, a trapeze tailpiece, and a mid 60s Harmony goldfoil screwed right into the bondo at the bridge position, more or less. I bought it for the pickup and the fairly nice hardshell case for 70 bucks and had no thoughts about using it. I messed around plying it a few times, it played great and the frets had definitely been dressed up by someone competent. It sat for quite a while and by chance ended up in a gig bag I usually carry a Tele in and got taken to rehearsal inadvertently. That was the first time I played it through a legit rig at real stage volume and Holy S%&t. That pickup came alive and was a completely different experience with tones and especially feel and response. Incredibly articulate, dynamic, touch sensitive and very responsive to volume knob. Yes it is extremely bright but it has a surprisingly rich low end with amazing clarity. I do a couple little things to help roll off some of the particular high frequencies that can be harsh without cutting out the clarity. This PUPs can be so bright you can kind of hear the actual metal the string is made of, not always a bad thing. I put in a 250k pot which had a small effect barely. That runs through a 3 way switch that selects between the normal path and 2 different tone circuits. One is a fixed resistor for now and the other is just a small tone pot I have mounted in the control cavity so I have some options for different situations. It has worked very well and is easy to tweak. My whole point before the edible kicked in was that experimenting with pickup placement is super easy in this guitar so I've had the opportunity to do a lot of it and will be filling in some bondo soon as a result lol. Subtle changes can make a drastic difference in performance due to some physics and such. So if possible do some experimenting. After using this as my main instrument for probably 300 gigs over the last 4 years or so I recently started using a 335 again and I couldn't believe how much I felt my playing had improved from having to get everything I needed from that 1 pickup and be constantly using different techniques to achieve those tones. It was the first time I felt a big leap forward had happened in a long time so yeah, single pickup guitars are cool. Ive restarted this video probably 25 times while typing this so I hope the extra views are helpful. Have a good day.
I brand new to a Junior, so I have much to learn. Thank you for this! Beautiful playing!
Thanks for watching and commenting Brian! Junior's are so undervalued so they're well worth considering! 🎸👌🏻 Merry Christmas buddy!
If you really want the single pup magic, try to commission or construct a custom stacked Filtertron made with a rail pole piece, neodymium magnets, 40awg or thicker (smaller number) wire, a wide P90 style bobbin so it can still reach about 6k ohms, and then put it in the true middle position of a 24 fret guitar AKA the 36th fret position. Then 1-meg pots (I don't remember if an audio-taper was better for a tone pot or not, do your own research real quick) all around with a treble bleed, and get that passive mid control tone knob thing, so now you'd have two tones (mid and high) and one volume for one pickup.
The thicker wire gives you more highs, the neodymium magnet gives you more bass, the wide bobbin smooths it out, and the stacked construction makes the tone clearer and more focused. Plus being in the middle position makes it pick up progressively more of a fundamental tone as you work your way down the fretboard, shortening the strings and reducing their potential energy, ergo making it "louder" to compensate for the virtually shorter strings. Suppose you want to go even a bit further with a slight sacrifice to where you can pick. In that case, you can add a steel horseshoe that comes up from the opposite magnet pole and wrap around the top of the strings like a Rickenbacker bass, that should focus the magnetic field even more, especially if you keep it kinda narrow like 2-3cm wide and 3-5mm thick.
Thanks for sharing this Chris, very interesting article. I didnt realise there was such a big influence in single pick up guitars. It sounded great, especially with the P90.
Hi Colin, thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the video and the tones/playing! These single pickup, les paul jr inspired guitars are real hidden gems, there's something really unique about the sound - sometimes it's hard to portray that in videos but if you ever get the chance to play one you'll know what I mean!
They are awesome. I built a hybrid guitar with a single mini humbucker in the bridge. It can rock hard or run smooth and steady.
The orange paint with the black stripes is a really cool look!
Thanks for watching man and thanks for taking the time to comment! Great work on that guitar, sounds like a killer instrument, a bridge humbucker is always a great tone!
Yeah this guitar is definitely a looker! 👌🏻 Orange is my favourite colour so naturally it was already off to a good start before I even plugged it in!
Yes!!! I pulled the neck pickup out of my Les Paul and I will never go back! Immediately,the tone changed. More body,more sustain,truer clearer notes. And the switch effectively became a cool cutoff switch!!! Sweet!!!
Thanks for watching and commenting man! That sounds like a really cool mod, awesome that you're enjoying the tones you're getting out of the guitar too! That's the key to staying inspired! Hope you have a great holiday season!
Thanks so much, Chris 👍
I fully agree, single pickup guitars are super versatile , especially when fitted with a P90, which, in my opinion, has the most dynamic range of all pickups. They make you think about how you play the guitar instead of how you play your pedals or amp
Thanks for watching Karl, really glad you enjoyed the video mate! That's definitely the case for me with this car, absolutely makes me play differently and makes me work the guitar more which is never a bad thing! It's great feeling like you're really getting the most out of the guitar
Out of the 8 guitars i own 5 have a single pickup.. 2 tom delonge style strats with an invader pickup.. an epiphone coronet with a new yorker single pickup.. a double cut les paul junior with one p90 and a tele style with a single hunbucker.. i dont know why but they just sound better.. its basic and pure rock/punk.. i mainky play rhythm with few solos.. so suits my needs perfectly.. nice video..
I have only one pickup on my am. Strat and on my ibanez artcore....both are humbuckers (strat=invader ibanez=i forget) but i have them both set up with coil split w. a Push/pull knob. I set them both up years ago and still are my favorites.
Those sound like really great options! Great tonal options without too much fuss! 👌🏻🎸 nicely done! Thanks for watching and for leaving a comment, I really appreciate it!
@@ChrisHarveyGuitarI'm an electrical engineer and I design and build custom guitar pedals... so if anyone is interested in the nerdy specifics on coil split/tap/phase inversion or tone control caps etc, just let me know.
series capacitor or inductor on a switch, parallel capacitors on a rotary switch (varitone) can help with new tones
Yeah, A series resistor and cap (treble bleed) is what it must have... he said the volume knob doesn't make it lose treble.
I haven’t experimented with these but sounds really interesting! 👌🏻
treble bleed is normally parallel across the volume pot terminals.@@Blinkerd00d
@@ChrisHarveyGuitar the king tone switch is a good start. a series/parallel push pull pot is something you can mod, or use that push/pull for a series 150 uf cap. it will cut bass for a quasi 'bright switch', or in conjunction with a standard tone when fully on, will allow only mids to pass for that honky money for nothing riff. of course most of this could be done with a 10 band eq pedal or a wah!
could you repeat the name of the guitars these are? You talk so fast, I couldn't understand you. Sorry