What sort of pickups should I get?

The two most popular types are single coil and humbucker pickups. Single coil pickups are more 'twangy' and can be susceptible to noise, and often used in rock, blues, pop, country and funk. Humbucker pickups have a darker tone and are less susceptible to noise and often used in metal, rock, punk and blues. You can play any genre on any pickups!

What is a hum cancelling single coil pickup?

Hum cancelling single coil pickups are pickups which retain the sound and look of single coil pickups but remove the associated hum of a 'true' single coil pickup.

What is the most popular bridge position replacement humbucker of all time?

The most popular bridge position humbucker is unquestionably the Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB. There is a good reason for this: for any style requiring any amount of overdrive, the Seymour Duncan JB sounds simply exceptional.

What is all the fuss about 'PAF' pickups? What even are they?

PAF pickups refer to late-fifties and early sixties humbuckers designed by Seth Lover and made by Gibson. PAF stands for Patent Applied For (it was later granted but habits persist and so the name remains). They are seen as some of the sweetest sounding pickups ever made. Tone is a subjective thing of course. Not everyone loves a PAF sound but in truth, most guitar players agree to the inherent quality of a vintage PAF sound. As such, many companies seek to emulate it, not least Gibson themselves. A good PAF sound has lots of bite and sustain with what we call note bloom where a picked note behaves in a certain way that is very pleasing to the ear. PAF pickups are known for having low levels of copper coil windings, as opposed to modern high output pickups which have significantly more output (volume.gain, it's the same thing in this context) due to the much higher number of coil windings. There is more to it, but the root of it is a sweet, sustaining pickup that sings and crunches with equal levels of authority. Actual PAF pickups cost more than cars these days so we recommend going for modern recreations, Check out the Gibson 57 Classic, the DiMarzio DP223F PAF, The Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday set and the Seymour Duncan Joe Bonamassa set & '59 set.

Can I still play Hard Rock and heavier stuff with PAF-style pickups?

Yes. Kirk Hammett plays Metallica songs on tour using Peter Green's priceless '59 Les Paul Standard. The pickups in that guitar are the very definition of PAF pickups. He sounds monstrously heavy therefore yes you can!

What's the difference between active and passive pickups?

Active pickups use a power source (usually a 9v PP3 battery) in conjunction with special circuits and controls to provide specifically different tonal characteristics. Regular pickups are known as 'passive' pickups as they don't need additional power.

Guitar Pickups | guitarguitar

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Fishman Matrix Infinity VT / Narrow

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Seymour Duncan SA-3HC Hum Cancelling Woody Acoustic Soundhole Pickup Black

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Seymour Duncan Hot Rails Strat SHR-1B Bridge Black

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Fender Pre-Wired Stratocaster Pickguard Tex-Mex SSS Black 11 Hole

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DiMarzio DP172C Twang King Tele Neck Chrome Single Coil Pickup

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Guitar Pickups

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Ebow Plus

LR Baggs Anthem Microphone/Under Saddle Pick Up System

Seymour Duncan STK-S9B Hot Stack Plus Stratocaster White

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered Black 7-String Singlecoil

Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special Bridge Gold

Fender Custom Shop 51 Nocaster Telecaster Pickups

LR Baggs M1 Active Soundhole Pickup

Fender Pre-Wired Stratocaster Pickguard Tex-Mex SSS Parchment 11 Hole

DiMarzio DP384BK The Chopper T Bridge Pickup

Fishman Rare Earth Single Coil

LR Baggs HIFI Pickup

Seymour Duncan TB-14 Custom 5 Trembucker Bridge Black

LR Baggs M1 Soundhole Pickup

Seymour Duncan SJBJ-1B JB Jr Stratocaster Bridge Pickup Parchment

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered for Strat

Seymour Duncan Pro Active Jazz Bass Pickup Set

Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails For Stratocaster Neck Pickup Parchment Cover

Fishman Rare Earth Blend

Roland GK-3 Pickup

Seymour Duncan SHR-1B Hot Rails Stratocaster Bridge Humbucker White

Seymour Duncan 7 String Sentient Neck PMT Black

Seymour Duncan APH-2S Slash Alnico II Pro Set R.Zebra

Seymour Duncan Invader Set Black

Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Set Zebra

Seymour Duncan SH-2n Jazz Model Black Neck

Fishman Matrix Infinity VT / Narrow

Seymour Duncan SA-3HC Hum Cancelling Woody Acoustic Soundhole Pickup Black

LR Baggs Anthem SL SS Microphone/Under Saddle Split Pickup System

Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Stratocaster Pickups

Fender Tex Mex Telecaster Pickup Set

Seymour Duncan SMB-4D 4 String Music Man Ceramic Bass Humbucker Pickup

Seymour Duncan Hot Rails Strat SHR-1B Bridge Black

Seymour Duncan SH-4/SH-2N (JB/Jazz Set) Hot Rodded Humbucker Set Black

Fender Pre-Wired Stratocaster Pickguard Tex-Mex SSS Black 11 Hole

Fender Tex Mex Stratocaster Pickups

DiMarzio DP172C Twang King Tele Neck Chrome Single Coil Pickup

Taylor ES-GO Magnetic Pickup for GS Mini Guitar

Fishman Neo-D Humbucker Acoustic Guitar Pickup

Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker Acoustic Guitar Pickup

LR Baggs LYRIC Acoustic Tru-Mic Microphone with Pre Amp

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