Epiphone Casino Coupe single coil recommendation

[Crane]

Hey Folks,

Recently, I learned a few jazz songs and play out of a Mesa 5:25 - clean channel, no pedals, just a touch of reverb. I am looking to experiment on my hollow body Epiphone Casino Coupe by dropping a single coil in the neck, so I have a dogear to single coil pickup ring on the way.

What single coil pickup would you recommend for a clean fat sound? (in that order of importance)
By 'clean' I mean no growl or breakup obviously, but also string separation. And by 'fat' I mean, the high strings (b and e) sound like I'm using really heavy strings that do not have a metallic sound, while the low strings (a and e) are warm and woody.

[Blille]

First: a vote to go P90
My recommendation to play jazz in a casino would be a vintage voiced (low output) P90 with alnico 2/3 I'm very happy with my Gibson MHS P90 in my ES330 for that.
My guess is that your dog ear is high output but that doesn't mean it's the wrong kind of pickup. I am not that familiar with the coupe but the standard casino is not the easiest to find a P90 for. Here is an article from Lollar on it. You could also find a small shop to rewind your neck dogear to be lower output.

Second: answering your actual question
Whatever the format, I would go for low output with alnico 2/3. Any should do it.

Have fun!

[RayBarbeeMusic]

I put Fralin hum cancelling alnico rods in mine and love it!

[Mincer]

I'd say if you want a true single coil, look at the APS-2. A2 magnets make it fat, while the output level keeps it clean.

[Aceman]

Just get a regular old P90, Fat and cutting. Call it done!

[eclecticsynergy]

I agree with the others that for warm/fat/woody, switching from your dogear P90 to a Strat-type singlecoil is sort of going in the opposite direction.

My first recommendation would be changing to a higher value tone cap for the neck pickup, depending on what's in there.
A higher value cap rolls off treble at a lower shelf frequency, giving a darker sound when you back off the tone control.

In the 1950s, guitars had tone caps with values as as high as .1uF.
Modern guitars use lower values, typically .022uF or 047uF, allowing the low treble to remain when the knob is turned down.

~

A nice low wind P90, A2 or A4, would be far cleaner that the stock Epi P90 especially in the midrange where that growl lives.
Much closer to what you're looking for than a Fender type single IMO.

I have a set of D Allen Cool Cats that are wonderful. Still, most makers offer a lighter wind P90.

For clean dark tone, the subtle complex interactions with a driven tube amp are less relevant.
Overtones become less important than definition and dynamic response.
A low wind pickup will improve those greatly, while reducing the characteristic growl & bark of a P90.
And while the reduced mids of a light wind lean towards brighter perceived sound, a darker tone cap will help take care of that.

~

If you're still sold on the idea of a Strat-sized pickup, the noise-reducing stacked coil ones tend to be darker.
I wouldn't recommend a side-by-side type since they tend to have more prominent mids, more like a humbucker.
Although the Cool Rails is clean and pretty scooped.

Finally, a lot of it is in the amp, too - plenty of great jazz has been played on humbuckers.