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

Seymour Duncan SCR-1N Cool Rails Strat Neck Humbucker Cream

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Seymour Duncan STK-S10PGD Yngwie Malmsteen YJM Fury Loaded Singlecoil Pickguard White

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Fender Custom Shop 60's Jazz Bass Pickup Set

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Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special Bridge Humbucker Black

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Seymour Duncan Jason Becker Perpetual Burn Humbucker Bridge Pickup Trembucker Zebra

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Seymour Duncan SH-16 '59/Custom Hybrid Humbucker Gold

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Seymour Duncan SCR-1N Cool Rails Strat Neck Humbucker Cream

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Seymour Duncan alt.metal Blackouts 7-String Bridge - Passive Mount

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Seymour Duncan Black Winter Rails 7 String Black Bridge

Wilkinson WMC301BGD Mini Double Coil Pickup Gold Bridge

Seymour Duncan STK-S10PGD Yngwie Malmsteen YJM Fury Loaded Singlecoil Pickguard White

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Seymour Duncan Scooped for Stratocaster Single Coil Pickup Bridge White

Seymour Duncan Psychedelic for Stratocaster Set Black

Seymour Duncan ASB-5B Bridge 5 String Phase 1

Wilkinson WSM4 Double Coil Bass Pickup

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Mandolin Pickup

Fender Custom Shop 60's Jazz Bass Pickup Set

Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special Bridge Humbucker Black

Seymour Duncan Jason Becker Perpetual Burn Humbucker Bridge Pickup Trembucker Zebra

Seymour Duncan SH-16 '59/Custom Hybrid Humbucker Gold

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Stringmaster Singlecoil Lap Steel Bridge Pickup

DiMarzio DP178BK True Velvet T Single Coil Black

DiMarzio DP212FBC EJ Custom F Spaced Humbucker Black/Cream

DiMarzio DP318BK Super Distortion T Black Humbucker Pickup

DiMarzio Dark Matter 2 Middle Green

DiMarzio PAF'Tron Bridge Pickup F-Spaced Nickel Cover Cream Insert Humbucker Pickup

DiMarzio Mo' Joe Pickup F-Spaced Yellow

Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Telecaster Pickup Set

Fishman Fluence Classic Bridge Humbucker Open Core Reverse Zebra

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