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 SH-PG1N Pearly Gates Humbucker Gold Cover

Seymour Duncan STK-S10N Yngwie Malmsteen Neck Single Coil Pickup White

Seymour Duncan SCR-1B Cool Rails Stratocaster Black Hum Cancelling

Seymour Duncan SLS-1 Lipstick Tube for Stratocaster Neck Single Coil

Seymour Duncan Lipstick Tube Strat SLS-1 RW/RP Middle Single Coil

Seymour Duncan SH-1B 59 Humbucker Zebra

Fishman Matrix Infinity VT / Wide

Seymour Duncan Active Mag Acoustic Pickup

DiMarzio DP389BK Tone Zone T Telecaster Bridge

Fender Tex Mex Telecaster Pickup Set

Fender Custom Shop Fat 60's Stratocaster Single Coil Pickups

DiMarzio DP175SW True Velvet Middle Single Coil White

DiMarzio DP223FCR PAF 36th Anniversary F Spaced Bridge Humbucker Cream

DiMarzio The Chopper Pickup Black

DiMarzio DP110BK FS-1 Singlecoil Black

DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary Cream DP223CR

DiMarzio Injector Neck Black

DiMarzio DP425BK Satch Track Black

DiMarzio DP100BC Super Distortion Black/Cream Bridge Humbucker

DiMarzio DP159FPK Evolution Bridge F Shaped Pink

DiMarzio DP102BK X2N High Power Bridge Humbucker Pickup

DiMarzio DP151FBK PAF Pro F-Spaced Humbucker Pickup

Seymour Duncan Billy Gibbons Signature Red Devil for Tele Bridge - Black

Seymour Duncan JB Jr Tele Bridge Pickup

Seymour Duncan Black Winter Rails Black Bridge

BOSS GK5-KIT-G6 Self Installation Kit for 6 String Electric Guitars

DiMarzio DP159W F Spaced Evolution White Bridge Humbucker

DiMarzio DP187W Cruiser White

DiMarzio DP175S True Velvet Black

DiMarzio The Chopper Cream

DiMarzio DP193FGN Air Norton F-Spaced Green Humbucker Pickup

DiMarzio DP223FBK PAF 36th Anniversary F Spaced Bridge Humbucker Black

DiMarzio The Tone Zone F spaced Green

DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion Humbucker F Spaced Pink

Fender Joe Strummer Signature Telecaster Single Coil Pickup Set

Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Telecaster Pickup Set

DiMarzio The Cruiser Neck Pickup White + Nickel

Fishman Fluence Classic Humbucker Open Core Black Single Bridge

DiMarzio DP409W Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 Singlecoil White

DiMarzio DP416AW Area 61 Singlecoil Aged White

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