What is your favorite pickup type and why?

[Sauerkraut]

I thought I loved P90s, and I do like them, but I like Firebird pickups quite a lot more. More bite, less bark. I found the P90 growl gets old quick. Firebird pickups are nice and quiet too. I like PAFs too.

Also, obviously, Jazzmaster pickups are fantastic. Incredibly versatile and they sound especially great in the middle, parallel position.
And Tele bridge pickups. Snappy, twangy, aggressive, but not ice-picky and painful. Love them. I’m not a fan of Tele neck pickups though, they’re so dull by comparison. The combination, in the middle position, works quite well though.

Still loads of pickups I’ve never tried. I’m curious about stacked P90s.

[higgsblossom]

For some strange reason, because my first electric guitar was a Danelectro, the lipstick pickups are „the sound of an electric guitar“ to my ears. Sounds like I‘m a teenager again. It’s an emotional thing I guess.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

To my ear, the P-90 captures the perfect balance of clear highs and thick lows.
...I just wish they weren't so noisy...

Jack

Ever try reverse wound P90s in the middle position? Or are you more into the single pickup p90 sound?

I tend to prefer them individually, though they do sound good paired as well.
I'm actually putting a Jag together right now that I'm gonna try P-Rails in... we'll see what happens!
(If I don't love them, I'll just keep cycling through various iterations of P-90s until I find ones with a good "tone-to-noise" ratio)

I found the rail of the P-Rail to be too weak to be used properly - there is this „trick“ - when splitting a pickup to put a cap between pickup and ground so that not all of it goes to ground...
I was using the P90 position at all times. But I thought there might be a better PAF sized P90 out there (that‘s not trying to be so many things)...

I love my JMs neck PU but the bridge position just misses all the spark and bite that my Jags offer... can‘t really use it for my band because of that.

I finally had a Jag with real Jag pickups and I love them very much. But I also love P90s.

And let‘s see how I feel about the PAF sized Firebirds I recently received - in theory these should totally be my thing! I’m just waiting for the pickguard to arrive!

[del]

Tight races...

For single coil:
P-90
Goldfoil or "hershey bar" or other "wire wrapped haphazardly around a magnet" style
Lipstick

For humbucker:
Firebird
Hofner staple top 511

[marqueemoon]

I love the Lindy Fralin Big Single...big, meaty single-coil tone in a hum-canceling format. That's me and my buddy Joe in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1AACPahDkg

Probably my favorite neck pickup sound ever. Just not sure what category it belongs in.

[stevejamsecono]

Telecaster pickups. Right amount of everything for me. I have noiseless Dimarzios in my Highway 1 right now and the sound awesome.

[Maggieo]

The pickups in my '83 Fullerton '62RI. Just those. No other Strat pickups.

Then, vintage or vintage-style Tele pickups.

[Dok]

I absolutely love the Rickenbacker Hi-Gains. But I can't get along with the necks on those guitars so I put some in my Jazzmaster.

[JackFawkes]

I tend to prefer them individually, though they do sound good paired as well.
I'm actually putting a Jag together right now that I'm gonna try P-Rails in... we'll see what happens!
(If I don't love them, I'll just keep cycling through various iterations of P-90s until I find ones with a good "tone-to-noise" ratio)

I found the rail of the P-Rail to be too weak to be used properly - there is this „trick“ - when splitting a pickup to put a cap between pickup and ground so that not all of it goes to ground...
I was using the P90 position at all times. But I thought there might be a better PAF sized P90 out there (that‘s not trying to be so many things)...

Interesting! Is there a thread or any more details about that trick?

Jack

[GreenKnee]

I love the sound of gold foils; rich, articulate, bright but not shrill. They have that round and clear Yo La Tengo sound, but to my surprise they also pair very well with my higher gain sounds.

This video got me to buy a set of Mojo gold foils for my Jag, I went Firebird size just for more chrome

https://youtu.be/l2E_HCaW1Js

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

I tend to prefer them individually, though they do sound good paired as well.
I'm actually putting a Jag together right now that I'm gonna try P-Rails in... we'll see what happens!
(If I don't love them, I'll just keep cycling through various iterations of P-90s until I find ones with a good "tone-to-noise" ratio)

I found the rail of the P-Rail to be too weak to be used properly - there is this „trick“ - when splitting a pickup to put a cap between pickup and ground so that not all of it goes to ground...
I was using the P90 position at all times. But I thought there might be a better PAF sized P90 out there (that‘s not trying to be so many things)...

Interesting! Is there a thread or any more details about that trick?

Jack

Hey Jack! Yeah, there is: #3 partial split:
https://www.fralinpickups.com/2021/01/2 ... humbucker/

It uses a resistor, not a cap... but the rest is like I remembered it!

[JackFawkes]

Interesting! Is there a thread or any more details about that trick?

Jack

Hey Jack! Yeah, there is: #3 partial split:
https://www.fralinpickups.com/2021/01/2 ... humbucker/

It uses a resistor, not a cap... but the rest is like I remembered it!

Thanks, I'll check it out!

[CorporateDisguise]

If I had to choose a single style of pickup to use for everything, it would be Firebird pickups. They sound great in every position, and are a happy medium between to very different pickup styles.

That said, if I could choose different pickups for different positions, a tele is perfect in the bridge position, and a Jazzmaster is perfect in the neck. I can be perfectly happy with either of these setups, and not feel like I’m missing out on anything.

[jthomas]

Vintage Dearmond silverfoils are my favorites. Much like a few others posting here, this most certainly reflects the guitar tone in my head from the Silvertone 1480 Silhouette that I played back in high school.

[Fiddy]

No favourites, too many great sounding pickups to choose from.