Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

A

AlexS7320

New member
Hey there,
i am utilizing H/S/S.
Is there an option for a single coil, that will give a dirty bridge sound when installed in middle?
i am majorly thinking about this song, which i guess is played with singles...
is it possible to make a pickup in middle position sound like this PU from the song?
i have no experience about singles, except for the blaze II that were installed :p

Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqcP7atgjEk

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

You can get some snap out of middle position but it will not sound like bridge position. That has to do with the location not the pickup.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

yea i know,
but there are some other parameters that might help.
like there are neckPUs that can play bridge, most middles can do the neck/vice versa,..

maybe some hot single with scooped bass and extra nasty high mids to compensate ?!
...


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Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

What I bet would work is any vintage output true single coil and then use a 500k or 1 meg volume pot for it. That lets all the highs thru from the true single coil and it sounds nasty as hell. You could then use resistors to tame the neck and bridge if you wanted.
 
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Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

well, thats the last option i had in mind...
tweaking the passive loads,
guess a bass cut cap is gonna be involved...

^^ i know its anti-intuitive to expect a middle coil to have a sharper bass response
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

I don't care for bass cut caps because it's impossible to make them no load, so they're always cutting some bass. With a vintage single and a 1 meg pot, I don't think you'd need it anyways. I once used a 1 meg volume and no load tone with my singles and they sounded like a bone saw.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

Alright, thanks for the tip! Will keep that in mind.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

Lil Screamin Demon should give you what you're looking for.

DiMarzio Pro Track is another option.

I can make other recommendations, but it really helps to know what you have in the bridge and neck, unless you're just dedicating a signal chain just for the middle pickup.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

Iam actually doing that, on that songs basis, kinda...
I am playing an 540S7, which is a 7 string Sabre type.
A blowswitch is switching to the bridge humbucker with no pots/etc..
The 5 Way Switch is toggling the remaining pickups, right now a 3/4 Humbucker as well, but as soon as i get that fillmore ill have it totally excluded from the 5 way, since its not 4 conductor but 2.

(maybe ill keep it in the 5 way switch circuit as well, depends on the single coils; if they are clear transparent, then i keep it seperated, if its some dirty punk single coil, like some vintage mentioned here, i will not isolate the humbucker)
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

500k or 1m pot won't make middle even remotely sound like bridge. It's not about the amount of highs, but the balance between highs and lows created by the twang of strings.

You can't mimic that, lowering the pickup significantly will give you some similar effect though. You need hotter pickup for that with lot of mids and highs.

Rails gregory mentioned would possibly work if you want to approximate humbucker bridge. SSL-5 with 500k or Texas special would get you closer for single coil tones.

Best option (and only one that really does it): Get H/S pickguard and load bridge with two SC sized pickups of your choice.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

I've had a Quarter Pound single in one of my Floydcasters for more that 35 years. Very very good in middle position. Holds its own next to humbuckers and still has a bit of sparkle when rolled back. It has a great solo voice and still sounds and feels like a singlecoil. Big and fat for a single yet a bit scooped. And it has real bite when you dig in. Might be ideal for this situation.

EDIT: Can't view the linked vid here in the US. But I stand by my recommendation.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

eclecticsynergy said:
I've had a Quarter Pound single in one of my Floydcasters for more that 35 years. Very very good in middle position. Holds its own next to humbuckers and still has a bit of sparkle when rolled back. It has a great solo voice and still sounds and feels like a singlecoil. Big and fat for a single yet a bit scooped. And it has real bite when you dig in. Might be ideal for this situation.

EDIT: Can't view the linked vid here in the US. But I stand by my recommendation.
Click to expand...

Haven't tried it in the middle, but it's my favorite for bridge. Dirty and crunchy but retains single coil voice. Very mid heavy. Tapped, it even has the quack and more traditional strat bridge tones.

For neck it was way too dark for me, but the guitar I had it has naturally dark tone anyway. Only worked for smooth jazzy "piano tones" (But did that really well).
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

Run the middle pickup without a tone control connected to it.

It’ll really open it up and bring it to life.

Tone control on the bridge and tone control on the neck but leave it disconnected from the middle.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

No there isn't. The sound of the middle position is determined by its position and not anything unique about the way it's built.
 
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Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

A brighter middle pickup than the one you have in there now? Or just split the bridge humbucker?
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

eclecticsynergy said:
I've had a Quarter Pound single in one of my Floydcasters for more that 35 years. Very very good in middle position. Holds its own next to humbuckers and still has a bit of sparkle when rolled back. It has a great solo voice and still sounds and feels like a singlecoil. Big and fat for a single yet a bit scooped. And it has real bite when you dig in. Might be ideal for this situation.

EDIT: Can't view the linked vid here in the US. But I stand by my recommendation.
Click to expand...

The quarter pound has lots of mids/body, especially in the middle position. Not very similar to a bridge pup like the OP is asking for.
 
Re: Single Coil - Middle; is there one to give a bridge-like sound?

Snowdog is correct. You're not going to get a bridge sound out of any pup in the middle position. Whatever you use, you'd have to lower it a lot, but then you're gonna lose a lot of output. If you put in a higher output pup to compensate for that loss you're going to introduce more mids...not what you want if you're trying to mimic a bridge pup.
Lew hit on something, but I'll take it a step further. Have a separate vol pot for the middle (500k or 1 meg) and not connected to the tone pot. Then have the other pups (bridge and neck) hooked up to master vol and tone pots (250k).
 
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