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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Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Staggered Stratocaster Singlecoil APS-1

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Seymour Duncan SJB-2B Hot Pickup for Jazz Bass Bridge Position

Schecter Super Rock Neck

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Schecter Pasadena Bridge Humbucker Black Metal (TRAD)

Gibson Dirty Fingers SM Onyx Double Black 4-conductor Potted Ceramic 15k

Gibson 57 Classic Underwound Double Classic White Humbucker

Lollar P-90 Dogear Tall Neck Pickup (Ex-Demo)

Schecter Pasadena Plus Bridge ZEBRA(TRAD)

Schecter Pasadena Plus Bridge ZEBRA(TREM)

Schecter Apocalypse-VI Bridge Humbucker CLR(TRAD)

Schecter Synyster Gates Signature Trem (SET)

Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surfer Stratocaster Neck Singlecoil Cream

Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surfer Stratocaster RWRP Middle Singlecoil

Seymour Duncan Antiquities JB/Jazz Humbucker Set Black

Seymour Duncan SHPR-1B P-Rails Bridge Black

Seymour Duncan STK-P1B P90 Stack Bridge Cream

Seymour Duncan SH-PG1B Pearly Gates Bridge Humbucker Nickel Cover

Seymour Duncan APH-1N Alnico II Pro Neck Humbucker Pickup Zebra

Seymour Duncan SJM-1B Vintage For Jazzmaster Bridge Single Coil

Seymour Duncan SJM-1N Vintage For Jazzmaster Neck Single Coil

Seymour Duncan STK-P1N P90 Soapbar Stack Neck Cream

Seymour Duncan TB-PG1B Pearly Gates Trembucker Bridge Gold

Seymour Duncan TB-12 Screamin Demon Trembucker Bridge Black

Seymour Duncan APH-2N Slash Alnico II Pro Humbucker Pickups Black

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Stringmaster Singlecoil Lap Steel Bridge Pickup

Seymour Duncan SDBR-1B Duckbuckers Stratocaster Bridge Humbucker Black

Seymour Duncan SP90-2N Hot Neck P90 Soapbar Cream

Seymour Duncan 7 String AHB-1S Blackouts Phase 1 Passive Mount Humbucker Set

Seymour Duncan SH-1B 59 Bridge Humbucker White 4 Conductor

Seymour Duncan STK-P1N P90 Soapbar Stack Neck Black

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered Stratocaster Calibrated Singlecoil Set Left Handed

Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90 Neck Pickup Black

Seymour Duncan Black Winter 7 String Bridge Humbucker Pickup

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