Yo Jerberson! A basic tutorial would be good here. Traditionally, Fenders have been known for the single coil sound. The "humbucker" was introduced to use phase cancellation technology to reduce the annoying hum that single coil pickups can produce, especially if they are poorly shielded. That became the essential Gibson sound. However, folks figured out early on that these 2 types of pickups produce very different sounds, both of which are very cool, like the yin and yang of electric guitar. Gibson also makes single coil pickups, known as P-90's, which you see in
the Les Paul Junior displayed above. As you also see, hybrids involving both types have became popular, such as the hybrid Strat seen above, gernerally known as a Phat Strat.
So while a basic Telecaster has single coil pickups, a Telecaster Deluxe has double coils. Hot Rails were developed to drop double coil pickups into the narrower slots on a Strat. Finally, coil taps were developed, where the guitar uses a push-pull tone knob or a separate switch to switch back and forth at will.
All that aside, which type of pickups you use is a matter of preference. While humbuckers are sort of a standard in Metal, if you think single coil pickups can't be used for playing rock, go listen to Jimi Hendrix or Pete Townsend. The tone that you get from an electric guitar is a result of a combination of factors- most importantly is the player. Other factors include the amp, the frets, the type and condition of the strings, the resonant quality, density and mass of the guitar, and of course, the pickups, as well as the type and quality of potentiometers used (volume and tone controls), as well as the wiring.
As a player that uses a number of Epiphone guitars, among others, some of them are actually very good, but the pickups in them, especially the humbuckers, often suck. If the guitar you have plays well, has good intonation (that is- all the notes are in tune everywhere on the neck), it might be that your simplest solution is to have better pickups and pots installed in the guitar. I own an Epiphone Les Paul Custom that is quite a bit better than my former 1972 Gibson Les Paul Custom. The pickups in it sucked, so they got replaced by Classic 57 humbuckers, which cost about as much as the guitar itself, and it was worth every penny. On the other hand, that axe is a Korean made, $600 or so guitar. Most of the $200 Epiphones are made in Indonesia, and it's the exception that doesn't suck.
That said- this is my best advice- First, understand that guitars are made of wood (mostly) by humans (mostly), and no two are alike. Even in $5000+ guitars, you can play two guitars of the same model, and love one and hate the other. This is even more true as the guitars get cheaper, because quality control is something you pay for. So- Richie's rule 1- Never buy a guitar you haven't played, no matter how good a deal it is, how pretty it is, or how respected it is. Corollary of rule 1- Don't dis a guitar you haven't played, because it could be the one good one that was made right by accident. That's the one you are proud to find. Anybody can buy a $5000 guitar that doesn't suck. Just go to a guitar store and wave $5000. It might not be the right guitar for you, but it (probably) won't suck. It takes a real search to find a $100 guitar that doesn't suck, and as they say, before you find the handsome prince, you are going to have to kiss a lot of frogs.
Richie's rule #2- Don't buy a guitar because it makes somebody else happy. They are not going to play it for you. Buy the guitar that you really have trouble putting down, even when your fingers hurt.
Richie's rule #3- Before you plug the thing in, play it *unplugged*. If it sucks unplugged, it's going to suck louder through an amp. Corollary of rule #3- If the guitar sounds great and plays great unplugged, but sucks when you plug it in, don't worry too much about that. You probably will need to replace the pickups, or that's just the wrong amp. Just figure the price of the pickups into the price of the guitar.
Finally, consider that most people who record electric guitars, whether or not they play them, usually get better results by plugging them into an amp, and putting a mic in front of that amp, than they do by plugging the guitar into a recorder and processing a direct signal with software and modelers. First, try to get the sound you want in real acoustic space, and then try to capture that sound. It might be that if you drop the right pickups into that cheap Epiphone, and find the right amp, you'll get better sound than you will ever get trying to process the signal of a truly great guitar in a computer. Best of luck.-Richie
