Are you confused by all the different types of single-coil pickups? You’re not alone. So we thought we’d do a deep dive into some of the most popular ’60s Fender-style single-coil pickup designs. We find these 60-year-old designs fascinating and hope you will too. We’ll discuss each of these pickups’ history and their unique sounds. We’ll also take a look at how their construction differentiates them from the others.
Traits every single-coil pickup has in common
There are seemingly infinite types of single-coil pickups. And each seems to have a million offshoots. From Gibson’s original P90s to modern, active pickups, it never ends. Understanding them all gets more complex with the boatloads of myths and inaccuracies floating around the internet. But you may be surprised to find how similar most of them are.
Every true single-coil pickup is just that, an electric guitar pickup made with a single coil of wire. But it’s how that coil interacts with the other pickup components that gives them their signature tone.
Those components include:
- A bobbin
- A magnet or magnets
- A coil of copper wire
- Pole pieces (magnets, screws, or slugs)
Bobbin
A bobbin is a structural piece that holds the pickup together. Often made of plastic, wire is coiled around it like a spool of thread.
Magnets
A pickup’s magnet(s) are either in bar or pole-piece form (more on that in a minute). They create the magnetic field around your guitar’s strings. When your strings vibrate within this field, it’s turned into an electric signal by the pickup coil.
Alnico magnets and ceramic magnets are the two most common magnet types used. Each offers unique tonal qualities and output characteristics.
Copper Coil
Inside of nearly all pickups is a coil of copper wire that is wound thousands of times around the bobbin. The wire is responsible for taking the magnetic vibrations of your strings and translating them into an electric signal. Everything from the wire material to the wire gauge impacts the pickup’s tone.
Pole pieces, screws, slugs
Pickups feature either pole pieces, screws, or slugs, or a combination of them. They are the string’s direct link to the rest of the pickup. They’re either magnetized by an additional bar magnet or made from magnets themselves.
Dissecting 6 Famous Fender-style Single-Coil Pickups
All of the following pickups use the above components. But that’s where their similarities end. Even though many look similar, they combine these elements in different ways to achieve unique sounds that have remained favorites through the decades.
So without further ado, let’s jump into six of the most popular Fender single-coil pickups from the 1960s.
- Telecaster Bridge
- Telecaster Neck
- Stratocaster
- Jazzmaster
- Jaguar
- Mustang / DuoSonic
Telecaster
From their legendary country twang to smokey blues, jazz to straight-up rock, Fender Telecaster single-coil pickups do it all. Maybe that’s why players as diverse as Prince, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, and Brad Paisley swear by them.
Though many pickups come from these original designs, Teles are very different from other single coils. Not only that, but a Telecaster bridge and neck pickup are also very different from each other.
Bridge
The Telecaster Bridge pickup’s snap, snarl, and twang are the soul of all T-style electric guitars. They look a lot like a Stratocaster bridge pickup, but boast a sound all their own. And it all comes down to construction.
Traditionally, a Telecaster bridge pickup mounts to a metal bridge plate with three mounting screws. The screws then thread through a steel plate at the base of the pickup. While the tonal nuance of pickup mounting is up for debate, attaching a magnetic pickup to two metal plates and the guitar’s bridge makes a big difference.
Also, the bobbin of a Tele bridge pickup is relatively large compared with the other types of single-coil pickups. This allows for more windings of thicker-gauge wire around the bobbin. As a general rule, this results in a punchy sound with increased output.
Tech Tips:
Discussing pickup output can be relative. In this article, we’re talking about vintage pickup designs. So what qualifies as higher or lower output is relative to each pickup.
Tele bridge pickups feature magnetic pole pieces. They are inserted vertically down the middle of the pickup and are placed one under each string. This is all very similar to the next pickup on the list. But Tele bridge pickups are hiding a secret.
When designing a pickup for the Telecaster’s bridge position, Leo Fender added a steel plate to the bottom of the pickup. He did this for two main reasons: It plays a role in shielding the pickup and keeping noise down, and it interacts with and focuses the pickup’s magnetic field. This can increase the magnets’ overall output and is the secret to that incredible twang.
Neck
Many T-style players never venture off the Tele’s bridge pickup. But those who do flip to the neck are greeted with a classic, single-coil tone all its own.
Initially designed for jazz tones, Telecaster neck pickups are warmer and rounder than many other types of single-coil pickups. Flip to the neck, roll off your tone a bit, and you’ll discover some smokey blues and jazz tones that no other single-coil can touch.
A great example of this is Brad Paisley’s tune “Les is More” from his instrumental album, Play. Without knowing any better, you’d think he was playing a big ‘ole jazz box. But nope! That’s Paisley’s trusty Tele.
So how does such a small single-coil create these sounds?
It’s all thanks to the pickup’s size. Though constructed similarly to the bridge pickup (sans the steel base plate), Tele neck pickups are much narrower and taller. Traditionally, this necessitated the use of smaller, 43-gauge, plain-enamel copper wire. The pickup’s pole pieces are then flat-mounted and covered with the pickup’s trademark chrome pickup cover.
Each one of these details culminates in a midrange-forward pickup with plenty of its own character and clarity.
Stratocaster
When guitar players mention single-coil electric guitar pickups, Fender Stratocaster pickups are generally what come to mind. That’s what happens when a design from the 1950s remains essentially unchanged today. In fact, Stratocaster pickups’ bell-like tone, clear top end, and incredible flexibility define the single-coil sound and are among the bestselling pickups ever.
You’ll find them used by everyone, from heavy metal and hard rock greats like Iron Maiden to blues legends like Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan. They were the go-to pickups for rock originators like Buddy Holly, and of course, we have to mention Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour. Today Stratocaster pickups are still pushing boundaries with bands like Biffy Clyro. And H.E.R. even used them to kick off Super Bowl LV.
So what’s the magic behind these pickups’ notoriety? There’s no magic. It still comes down to the same elements mentioned above, just tweaked a bit.
Based around the Telecaster pickups that came before, Strat single-coils part ways with them in a few ways. Their bobbin is slightly larger than a Tele neck pickup, allowing more windings of thicker-gauge wire. And the Strat pickups’ magnetic pole pieces aren’t influenced by a steel bridge plate. This results in a wider magnetic field and a mellower sound.
These Fender single-coil pickups are also the only ones on the list to come as a trio, adding a middle pickup. This gives Strat single-coils a palette of different tones that are among the most recorded guitar tones in history. And because they pair wonderfully with other styles of pickups—especially in a classic HSS setup with a humbucker in the bridge position—there’s no end to what this style of Fender single-coil pickup can do.
Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster single-coil is the most unique in terms of look and construction. Like many Fender single-coils, they were designed for jazz but still excel at everything else. Their sound is big and warm while also retaining Fender’s trademark clarity. And they often feature a lower output and all of the accompanying traits. That is why they’re often paired with 1 Meg potentiometers, which allow their wide frequency range to hit your amp in all its glory.
While many confuse Fender Jazzmaster single-coils with Gibson’s P90 pickups, they couldn’t be more different. While still a true single-coil, P90s actually share more in common with humbucker pickups. They have steel screws or pole pieces that meet a bar magnet at the bottom of a larger bobbin. This bobbin allows for a lot of windings and the use of thicker copper wire. It’s how P90s get their higher output and gorgeous midrange bark.
With Jazzmaster pickups, Fender’s goal was much different. They wanted to give their top-of-the-line Jazzmaster pickup a warmer tone, more flexibility, and more detailed highs than their Teles or Stratocasters before.
They accomplished this with very wide and shallow bobbins and magnetic pole pieces. This “pancaked” bobbin necessitates spreading the copper windings out over a wider area and restricting the number of windings. As you can imagine, the spread coil throws the Jazzmaster single-coil’s magnetic field over a wide string area, capturing a wider array of frequencies.
As mentioned above, to articulate these new frequencies, Fender paired Jazzmaster single-coil pickups with 1 Meg pots. These highly rated potentiometers allow the maximum amount of frequency response and electrical signal to pass through your guitar. So if you want vintage Jazzmaster tone with all of the chime, snap, and warmth, 1 Meg pots are the way to go.
Jaguar
The unsung hero of Fender’s 1960s electric guitar lineup is probably the Jaguar. Today it’s often relegated to surf and alternative rock bands. But that doesn’t mean that traditional Jaguars are without their modern devotees. Players like Johnny Marr have proudly slung Jaguars across their shoulders for decades.
Upon its release, the Jaguar was to be Fender’s top-tier, bold-sounding electric guitar. It featured a more aggressive tone than the Jazzmaster and was perfect for rock ‘n’ roll and country twang.
Fender utilized many ground-breaking designs to arrive at this sound, including complex electronics, a shorter scale length, and two unique pickups.
Well, kind of unique.
Jaguar and Stratocaster pickups are actually very similar. While there’s a bit of difference in their covers and dimensions, their internal structure is pretty much identical. But Leo Fender wanted more. He wanted something with attitude. And he found his answer in the Jaguar pickup’s trademark metal claw.
These bold-looking pickup surrounds give Jaguar single-coils their immediately identifiable appearance. But they’re much more than a visual cue. Fender discovered that, by dropping the pickup into these notched metal pieces, he manipulated their magnetic field. It became more focused and delivered more midrange growl than a Strat. While the output didn’t actually change, Jaguar single-coils seemed to hit harder than his other designs.
Today, the Jaguar pickup is largely unchanged. Like other types of single-coil pickups, you can find models with varying output levels and voices. But when it comes down to it, you’re still playing a tough-sounding Strat pickup in a metal claw.
Mustang / Duo-Sonic
Who would have ever thought that two bottom-dollar, student-level electric guitars would go on to the notoriety of the Fender Mustang and Duo-Sonic? How in the heck did these starter instruments rise to the level of bonafide classics?
A lot of it has to do with their unique single-coil pickups.
As soon as you grab one of these guitars, you notice that everything seems a bit different. The body is more petite, the scale length is shorter, and even the plastic-covered pickups sound stringier and weaker. That’s precisely why people love them.
Though they were less expensive to produce in the 1960s, the Mustang and Duo-Sonic single-coil pickups were still very carefully designed. Their basic structure is similar to Fender’s other 1960s single-coils: You have a bobbin, copper wire, and magnetic pole pieces. But utilizing such a small bobbin also means using fewer windings of thinner wire. And fewer windings of thinner wire means less output and that trademark stringy sound.
Tech Tips:
When first designed, Fender found the pickups’ magnets made a terrible racket when touched. Hence the protective plastic covers that give them their legendary look.
The pickups are just one of these guitars’ unique traits. Their 24″ scale length, switching, and bridge designs also play a significant role in why swaths of offset-loving guitarists worldwide still clamor for these “budget” electric guitars.
There are so many different types of single-coil pickups that it’s hard to keep them all straight. But many can be traced back to these Fender single-coil pickups of the 1960s. Hopefully, this article answers your questions about their differences and guides you toward the best single-coil pickups for your guitar.
If you have any other questions about swapping your stock pickups for other types of single-coil pickups, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Also, don’t forget to dig into the rest of the Seymour Duncan blog. There’s a ton of in-depth information on all of our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a whole lot more.
