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which pickup?

Starting a new build. Will be a 3 string 25,5'' scale. Now the question is which wil be the best for playing slow blues?

I have to choose between:

1. doubble rail cheapo asian pickup

2.humbucker

3. single coil asian pick-up

4. imitation p90

Any advise given wil be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on January 12, 2021 at 11:06am

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on January 12, 2021 at 11:06am

YES! Though I tend to avoid single coils due to noise and a lack of a shieldable pickup cavity...

I really like the cheapo dual rail humbuckers, and the Gibson style humbuckers, too... it all depends on the tone you're looking for...

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Permalink Reply by Hans Baartman on January 12, 2021 at 11:45am

Tone will be blues deltastyle. So warm and a lot 12 bar music.

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Permalink Reply by ILL GREEN on January 12, 2021 at 4:17pm

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Permalink Reply by Southern Ray on January 12, 2021 at 7:52pm

Build your own?

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 12, 2021 at 8:12pm

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 12, 2021 at 8:12pm

Warm and 12 bar ? humbucker in the neck position .

PS ... no matter what you choose , a pickup closer to the neck will give you a warmer sound .

a pickup closer to the bridge will be more bright and .. tangy .

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on January 23, 2021 at 1:02am

I think I've tried just about every pickup (within reasonable cost) out there. They do all sound different and when you add in pickup location and a tone control you have a very wide range of "tones" available. Oh, yea, when you add in string clearance variations you have another thing to consider. Then, there are the amps impact on sound. And so it goes on and on...

You may go through a number of pickup types and configurations until you find "your sound", but that's part of the learning curve.

I agree with John, single coils are warmer, but something of a pain with respect to noise. I've found some dual rail humbuckers in a single coil package that see to work well for a blues sound. With a good tone circuit and the pickup placement around 20% of scale (from bridge) you have a lot of tone control.

Pickup selection is an art form, but a great learning experience.

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Permalink Reply by ILL GREEN on January 26, 2021 at 6:04pm

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 26, 2021 at 7:09pm

WOW, eight failed posts in the same short thread. What a quality site this is.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 26, 2021 at 7:09pm

Hmmmm.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on January 27, 2021 at 6:16am

Lots of people that aren’t regulars forget or don’t know about the glitches, but it’s really not the site’s fault, but the developers for leaving us with no solution? The Facebook page is always running with way more activity & it’s glitch free...