Single coil suggestions for maple project guitar

[Guitardude93]

I'm currently in the process of building a guitar body from a piece of maple from a tree my family cut down, and am looking for good single coil style pickups to put in it. I mostly play modern rock, so I'm currently thinking of a Little 59 in the bridge, but don't know if that would be a good fit with the maple body and neck. Does anyone have experience with the Little 59? Also open to other suggestions, though I would prefer to stick with single coils just to get a different vibe from my humbucker equipped guitars.

 

[Mincer]

A Little 59 would actually do good in maple. It doesn't sound like a single coil, and might sound closer to your humbucker guitars, though. If you want it to sound like a single coil-equipped guitar, there might be other choices. Look at the Quarter Pound, or for a more vintage-y sound, an APS-1.

 

[Guitardude93]

Does it sound like a regular 59, or is it kind of its own thing?

 

[Mincer]

It has more mids than a 59, and certainly sounds closer to a humbucker than a single coil.

 

[Guitardude93]

I'll have to give it a try. What would you recommend for a neck pickup to complement it?

 

[Mincer]

Do you want the neck pickup to sound like a single coil or humbucker? Is hum-cancelling important?

 

[GuitarDoc]

If you want it to sound different than your other humbucker equipped guitars a Little 59 is NOT what you want. Mincer's suggestion of a Quarter Pound is good, but I'd really recommend a P-90 with a
p-90 in the neck also. Add a p/p pot to get out of phase for some really cool unique sounds in the middle switch position.

Or; Quarter Pound in the bridge with a P-90 in the neck.

 

[Guitardude93]

Definitely want something hum-cancelling, which was what drew me to the little 59. I'd also debated the Phat Cat set, or a Phat Cat in the neck with a single coil type pickup in the bridge.

 

[Mincer]

The Phat Cat isn't hum cancelling either, though. Still, do you want the neck pickup to sound like a single coil, then, but hum-cancelling? Look at the Classic Stack Plus.

 

[GuitarDoc]

The Classic Stack pups are great sounding and hum cancelling as Mincer said. That would make a great set.
There are also stacked P-90s available that are also hum cancelling.

 

[Guitardude93]

Do you think the Classic Stacks would sound good in a maple body, or would that be too bright? I'm not super familiar with singlecoils, so I'm pretty ignorant about how they react with different woods compared to humbuckers.

 

[jeremy]

the lil 59 is a great pup. it doesnt sound like a single coil at all, but it doesnt sound like a 59 either. its got its own thing going. the stack plus line is great if you want something more single coil voiced.

 

[Mincer]

Do you think the Classic Stacks would sound good in a maple body, or would that be too bright? I'm not super familiar with singlecoils, so I'm pretty ignorant about how they react with different woods compared to humbuckers.

I don't think it would be too bright- they are less bright than something like a 50's inspired single coil. Something built with A2 magnets is even darker. Is it a bright sounding piece of wood? I have a maple bodied guitar, but it isn't as bright as I'd thought it would be.

 

[Guitardude93]

How does the Classic Stack compare to the Custom Stack? Is the Customer just hotter?

 

[Mincer]

How does the Classic Stack compare to the Custom Stack? Is the Customer just hotter?

The Custom Stack is hotter with a lot more mids. The Classic Stack sounds like a slightly hotter vintage single coil: scooped, with a piano-like response and clear high end.

 

[zionstrat]

For traditional strat tones, you have some great recommendations going here... So I'll give you an alternate direction.

I would suggest little 59 in the bridge with a DiMarzio cruiser in the middle and a cool rail in the neck. These are all relatively warm pickups and as mentioned before... the 59 won't give you a single coil out of the box, but the cool rail and the cruiser will give you nice modern single tones.

You definitely can get some good quack in the four position, and I can't remember, but you might get some quack in the two position.

But here's where it gets fun... Add either a spin a split or parallel to self and all of these pickups get snappier, stratier... The cruiser and the cool rail can almost give you a classic strat tone.

Advantage of the spin a split is you really can spin them down to a single coil depending on the noise in the room.

Advantage of the parallel is you'll never get the complete single coil sound of a spin a split, but it will remain humbucking and you get some really good stratish tones that might even be more useful than a single coil tone.

Spin a split and parallels are very simple circuits if you've not done mods in the past, they're pretty easy.

Sounds like a fun build can't wait to hear more.

 

[Guitardude93]

Interesting. At the moment I'm now leaning towards a Custom Stack in the bridge, with Classic Stacks in the middle and neck, since I don't have a completely single coil guitar (the closest I have is a Squier Stratocaster with a humbucker and 2 singles).

I do like the idea of messing around with a spin a split or parallel, though I might hold off on this particular project (at least for the moment) since wiring beyond basic pickup installation isn't my strong suit, and even that usually takes an attempt or two before it actually works right.

 

[jeremy]

if you go stack plus models, then id skip the spin a split. if you want to split in the notch positions, thats fine, but i dont see any reason to split other than that. and parallel with stacks isnt something i find at all useful.

cs+ neck and middle with a custom stack plus bridge is a fantastic setup!

 

[zionstrat]

Yep, what Jeremy said... The cruiser, Cool rails and 59 are side by side coils so both can see the string... With stacked pups, the second coil isn't seeingi much of the string so you're not going to get a big difference with spin a split.

 

[Mincer]

You might try a switch that puts 2 of them in series, like the neck & middle for a thicker sound.