Talk:Single coil guitar pickup

Untitled thread I
I don't think the link to Tom Watson's page is at all authorative, in fact I am of opinion that the physics, as presented in link, is very flawed. E.G. passive pickups don't depend on electromagnets (as stated) but permanent magnets; Flux is a measure of a property of a magnetic field, not something physically produced etc (as is inferred) etc Richard 13:16, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Untitled thread II
This article doesn't seem very good. It's too Fender focused (and don't get me wrong, I love Fenders, I own a few). The history needs work. Wasn't the first single coil pickup the Charlie Christian, outfitted in Gibson Archtops? I'm going to try and do a little work on this. Buster 23:00, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

From the History section...
"The first mass produced and generally successful instrument pickup was a humbucker pickup designed by George Beauchamp in the late twenties/early thirties. Using a washing machine motor to wind the coils and two horseshoe magnets to provide magnetism, it was integrated into the design for the first electric guitar, which was produced by Adolph Rickenbacker in the thirties."

Where's the cite for this?

"The fact that it was used as a pickup on Rickenbacker Basses and steels up until the late sixties and is still highly sought after proves the design and sound were ahead of the time."

And this conclusion is reached by who? You, the writer of this article? Buster 00:28, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

The Physical description section...
This section- "The Gibson company made an economical single coil for many years that was even simpler than the Fender type. It consisted of a single coil wound around a single Alnico bar magnet. It had several shortcomings:

it was microphonic and suffered from hi-gain feedback because of flimsy construction there was no way to compensate the output from different strings.

It was only available on Gibson's budget models."

Again no experts cited to confirm this data. The writer seems to have a pro-Fender bias. He neglects to mention that the Telecaster had the same microphonic feedback problems that plagued the P90s for awhile.

The line- "It was only available on Gibson's budget models" is completely inaccurate. Before the invention of the humbucking pickup, the Gibson Les Paul was outfitted with P90s. The Les Paul guitar is not a budget model. Buster 00:45, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Reference sources added
I added four books to the Reference section for the current changes I made and for the coming changes that will be made. I find it amazing that in the nearly three years since this article was started that there was only one citation to back up any of the material that was added AND that was to elaborate on the "sonic effect of positions 2 and 4" of a strat switch! Adding data without citations is guitar fan-boyism that is fine for a posting forum like Harmony-Central but isn't fit for an encyclopedia. Buster 00:12, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Rolling Stones "Brown Sugar" line
"Examples of single-coil 'twang' include 'Brown Sugar' by The Rolling Stones" ...ummm... yeah. That got eliminated. A strat? Really? Are you sure that's not Keith's Les Paul playing those chunky fat horn-like chords to open the song? Even those plucked single notes in the intro and then in the chorus are more than likely a Les Paul, the guitarist playing them starts playing chords after them which come out fat and chunky. But here's the bottom line... you have no source or citation for that line so it's pure guesswork as is mine.

Single Coil vs. Humbucker
I wondered whether anyone had found audio clips that would provide an example of the difference in tone/sound of single coil pickups compared to humbuckers? If anyone does I would like to know. Nowiky (talk) 00:34, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Bridge pickup on Fender Telecaster
The article currently states that the bridge pickup provides "sharp tone with exaggerated treble response, because the bridge pickup is mounted on a steel plate", which does not seem entirely accurate to me. In my experience, mounting the pickup next to the bridge, where the string experiences a reduced range of motion compared to neck postion, is what provides this sharp tone. The warmest tone occurs at the midpoint of the string length, with the sharpest sound near the end of the string. Mentioning the steel plate mounting (the pickup actually passes through the plate, rather than sitting on top) is irrelevant, and only confusing the issue.

82.6.109.101 (talk) 06:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Stacked single coils
This page talks about the Billy Joe Armstrong Gibson, and notes that it has a stacked single coil. While these are single coils in name, aren't they technically humbuckers? My thinking is, they can't be single coils if there are two coils, and they are humbuckers because they reduce hum. Also, his is most definitely not the first guitar to use the technology, and I'd wager not the most popular. For all these reasons I'm going to remove it for now. Gopherbassist (talk) 19:47, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Recent edit
There is way to much un-sourced information in this article. This defeats the purpose of an encyclopedia which has to be sourced to something. This recent edit is not helpful. The entire article needs footnotes, references, citations. Large amount of the article now need to be removed. I am asking the editor to either revert themselves or source information. Earl King Jr. (talk) 04:31, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Article title is not specific enough
The article title here should be something like "Single coil guitar pickup", because that's all it's about. There are a great many other things in the world that could be described as "single coil". Jeh (talk) 21:01, 19 September 2015 (UTC)


 * I agree. The title is not so hot. Needs to change into the suggested above. Earl King Jr. (talk) 04:20, 20 September 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm going to give it a few more days for comments. Jeh (talk) 08:18, 20 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Good job Jeh The article title really need to be changed. Earl King Jr. (talk) 05:04, 26 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks, but it wasn't that tough a job :) Jeh (talk) 06:28, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

back to basics
Firstly, if referring to "a single coil" — as in one coil by itself — there is of course no hyphen. However, just as "double-coil pickup" is hyphenated, so too should be all instances of "single-coil pickup."

An article such as this ought be expected to do a MUCH better job of explaining single-coil pickups to people who may know little or nothing about electronics. The physical descriptions are wildly unhelpful to anyone who has never seen the inner workings. Either say it better or provide visuals; maybe both.

Description of the Valco pickups is poor, and possibly misleading.

As far as DeArmond pickups, there are errors. There never was a "Model 200" pickup; much DeArmond literature can be found, and while the Model 2000 (marketed by Gretsch as the Dynasonic) is widely known, there has yet to be even one mention of a 200, despite persistent myth.

As well, the modern "DeArmond" pickups have nothing like the originals' construction, merely aping the look.

For anyone interested, an overlooked source is The Guitar Pickup Handbook, Dave Hunter (2008: Backbeat Books). Spends too much time being chatty and folksy, but does contain some decent info. Weeb Dingle (talk) 07:00, 19 September 2017 (UTC)