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Are they much different?

when u say quot;hot single coilquot; do u mean the quot;SC sized humbuckerquot; or just SCs that are really hot wound?

Really hot wound, bro.

ok bee,

SC's will not sound like humbuckers cos they dun have the hum-cancelling effect provided by the 2 coils in the humbuckers. maybe you can get the same output but never the same sound.

then again, i'm a newbie to pups. so someone pls correct me if i'm wrong.

Yep, gotcha about the hum, Paccers.

But I was wondering about dynamics, compression, etc.

Just generalizations will be fine. No need to get into specifics.

Hummers will be fatter, etc. Stuff like that..

I put this in the wrong room, too, oops!

I'm not very technical, so some of the others are bound to be able to explain the threory behind this thinking- But in general SCs seem to bite more (I beleive faster attack is what it is attributed to), they are brighter and I find them more dynamic (less compressed) than a hum, while the hum has more sustain-

This may be purley perception because I have never replaced an sc with a full hum or visa versa-But the hum clearly has a broder tonal pallet and this seems to come form the braoder harmonics from the wider range of string that it sees.

The best example I can give would be my hss nitefly- The single coils were very bright and somewhat weak- Considering it is a maple, it was too brite for my pouposes-

When I replaced the singles with SC hums the sound immediately fattened up- Some if it was my plan to pick warmer pups-

But I also use a coil roll off pot, so you can really hear the differnce is full hum and all single- The single is definately thinner, and as soon as you add the least amount of the 2nd coil it sounds like you have boosted low mids- It gets thicker and fatter- So in this example the 2nd coil is seeign a bit more string than 1 alone, but it seems that there is more to it than this one variable-

Another example is a p90sg vs a hum sg- I've played both over the years and the p90 is a bit waeker, but made up for the differnce due to it's ability to cut- I think this is simpy the single coil focus on a narrow section of the bandwidth- Like having a varabile Q that increases the amplitude as you narrow the band-

So to sum it up, I would say that yes they are considerably different and much has to do with the sound you are going for- But there are enough variables with both that you have some incredible wiggle room in between-

For example that same NF has a JB in the bridge and a crusier in the middle- The 2 position is a mixture of the north coil of the JB and however much of the crusier is not rolled off- That position is one of the best quacky 2nd positions I've every heard, yet I'm using 1 coil of a humbucker and a perecntage of another-

So my eadvice- Expereiment with everything you can get your hands on!

It depends a bit on which single-coil also. If I were to play you my Quarter Pounds, full-on, and the environment wasn't a noise problem, you'ld probably guess them to be a low-output 'bucker before you guessed single-coil.

They have that mellow, rolled-off high end that a humbucker has.


Originally Posted by ArtieTooIt depends a bit on which single-coil also. If I were to play you my Quarter Pounds, full-on, and the environment wasn't a noise problem, you'ld probably guess them to be a low-output 'bucker before you guessed single-coil.

They have that mellow, rolled-off high end that a humbucker has.Maybe it's the larger poles making that difference.
In my experience, hot singles still sound like singles, i.e. they won't be as fat sounding as a humbucker. I have a STL-2 in my Tele (around 16.6K) and a Phat Cat in my Epi Sheraton (around 9.4K). They both cut through better than my LP with a Pearly Gates at the bridge (8.3K), but, neither one fo them has the low mid wallop that the PG has. Even the PC in the LP still didn't have as much richness in the lows and low mids that the PG has.

I honestly don't know what it is, but that's what I hear.

It may be my bad memory too. I haven't picked that guitar up in about a week. As soon as I get home, I'll compare it side-by-side with some 'buckers.