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 Vintage Rails Strat SVR-1B White Hum Cancelling Bridge

Seymour Duncan APH-1N Alnico II Pro Neck Humbucker Black

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

Seymour Duncan SH-6B Duncan Distortion Bridge Humbucker Nickel Cover

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jaguar Neck Single Coil Pickup

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jaguar Bridge Single Coil Pickup

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazzmaster Bridge Pickup

Seymour Duncan Black Winter Bridge Humbucker Pickup Black 1611102-91B

Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59 2 Conductor Nickel Covered Neck Humbucker

Seymour Duncan SCR-1N Cool Rails for Stratocaster Neck Humbucker Black

Seymour Duncan SJAG-2 Hot for Jaguar Bridge Single Coil Pickup

Seymour Duncan High Voltage Bridge Humbucker Nickel Cover

Seymour Duncan JB Jr. Stratocaster SJBJ-1B Bridge Singlecoil Pickup Cream

Seymour Duncan Slsd-1N Lil Screamin Demon Neck Humbucker For Stratocaster Cream

Seymour Duncan SSL-4 Stratocaster Single Coil Calibrated Set

Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Humbucker Set Nickel

Seymour Duncan Sh-8N Invader Neck Humbucker White

Seymour Duncan SLSD-1N Lil Screamin Demon Neck Humbucker For Stratocaster Black

Seymour Duncan APH-1N Alnico II Pro Humbucker Pickup Nickel

Seymour Duncan SM-1N Vintage Neck Mini Humbucker Nickel

Seymour Duncan Antiquity II for Telecaster Single Coil Pickup Set

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Telecaster Singlecoil Pickup Set

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Retrospec'd Stratocaster Texas Hot Single Coil

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Retrospec'd For Telecaster Bridge Single Coil

Seymour Duncan APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue Tele Lead Singlecoil

Seymour Duncan SH-1N 59 Neck Humbucker Black

Seymour Duncan STR-2 Hot Rhythm for Tele Single Coil

Seymour Duncan SSL-1 VINTAGE S/COIL STAGGERED STRAT

Seymour Duncan STK-S4M Stack Plus Strat White

Seymour Duncan TB-16 59 Custom Hybrid Trembucker Bridge Zebra

Seymour Duncan Slash 2.0 Humbucker Set Black

Seymour Duncan SSL-6 Custom Flat Stratocaster Singlecoil Pickup White

Seymour Duncan STHR-1N Hot Rails Telecaster Neck Humbucker Black

Seymour Duncan SCR-1B Cool Rails Stratocaster Humbucker White

Seymour Duncan SSL-2 Vintage Flat Stratocaster Singlecoil Neck Pickup White

Seymour Duncan JJN P90 Silencer Bridge Black Soapbar

Seymour Duncan Slash 2.0 Neck Zebra

Seymour Duncan SH-15 Alternative 8 Humbucker Zebra

Seymour Duncan Hot Jazzmaster SJM-2N Neck Singlecoil Black

Seymour Duncan Psychedelic for Stratocaster RWRP Single Coil Pickup Middle White

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