Soapbar or single coil?

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capnkid

capnkid

Optimus Prime
I have an open humbucker slot in my guitar, (neck position) and I want to put a single coil in it.

The reason being is that my Humbucker doesn't sound "clear" and "bell like" on the clean amp channel.

I thought a soapbar might look better in the slot. Do they sound like single coils?

If not, how is that 'holy grail' single coil?
 
OK, a humbucker is a dual coil pickup, basically two single coils next to each other wound in opposite polarity. This setup cancels hum, and picks up a wider area of the string's vibration as well, thus accounting for it's different sound.
Soapbars predate the humbucker, they're just a powerful single coil.
You will find that humbuckers excel at fat distorted tones, while singles are more suited to clean and edgy sounds. Hope this helps.
 
Actually, some of the really nice "PAF" replica pickups are low output and do the "bell tone" thing very well, even in a Les Paul.
 
A soap bar P90 won't fit, but there are P90 pickups made to fit into a humbucker routing, such as Gibson's P94.

Lindy Fralin Pickups makes two split single models - P92 and Twangmaster

Seymour Duncan makes a humbucker sized P90 called the Phat Cat.

Hope this helps you out.

Matt
 
foo said:
Who's 'clear and bell-like' tone are you looking for?
Click to expand...

My own I guess, I just know the humbucker doesn't cut it for that.
I ordered a 62' fender replica pickup.

I'm just experimenting. I have this theory that fenders have many attributes that make them sound like they do. One of them being that the single coils float on the pickguard.

I have taken out the EMG's in my old kramer, and put in a Dimarzio at the bridge mounted directly to the wood, because I feel that's how a humbcker sounds best.
The kramer has an empty humbucker cavity at the neck, and I intend to put a sinle coil there, but to try my theory it has to be floating. So I have an old pickguard that I'm going to cut a hole in for the single coil so it floats. the pickguard will cover the neck area and the bottom horn only.
 
The original P-90 mounts a third way. It is mounted directly to the wood with a foam pad acting as the "spring". I don't have an opinion about the way that affects it's tone.

If I had to guess, The mounting of the pickup would have far less effect than it's design and exact location along the length if the string. SGs and Les Pauls both came in P-90 and Humbucker models. You could compare the two directly (as close as possible). Perhaps someone who has a Tele Deluxe has some thoughts on humbuckers mounted as you describe.

I love P-90s but they are high gain for a single coil. You may find they get dirty faster than some other single coils. They may not give you as much clean tone as you describe. On the other hand they match up well with humbuckers in output.
 
I'd at least try a humbucker with a coil tap. It would give you more options, and if you are ever playing in a place with neon lights the single coils (or the tapped humbucker) will be basically useless.

If that doesn't work, then if you really want clean and bell like, you are going to need to get a strat sized single coil in there, because the additional string pickup from a P-90 sized pickup will pull that back somewhat.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Go with the p-90's. Bell like tone for sure. I have them and would not use anything else for the classic rock and blues songs my band plays.

I would describe them as jingle jangley, and extremely punchy and clear sounding. Open chords roar, and lead notes jump right out.

They do have a buzz to them, but i just turn my pick up switch to the middle position to cancell that buzz between songs.

I love them and think they give you way more tone options with your volume knob than a reg single coil.

good luck.
 
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