Are SINGLE PICKUP Guitars BETTER? | GUITAR MYTH-BUSTING

#singlepickup #singlepickupguitar

We've heard it so many times: single pickup guitars sound better and have a longer sustain.
I love single pickup guitars, I really do. I'm not sure if it's more about limiting yourself to one pickup that appeals to me, or if they really sound better.
Let's find it out! :)

As part of my Guitar Tweakz series I started making these Guitar Myth-busting videos. This is the second one, I hope you like it!

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro Playing
00:41 Introduction
01:50 "the guitar of the day"
02:08 the pickups in the guitar
02:39 time to remove the neck pickup
03:04 first impressions without neck pickup
04:03 THE COMPARISON - clean
04:31 crunch
05:07 medium gain - rock rhythm
05:44 lead playing
06:33 let's check the sustain
06:55 sustain test E1
07:37 sustain test E6
08:41 some clean playing with tape delay (Source Audio Nemesis)
09:07 what did I hear? And you?
10:20 good-bye playing :)

Gear used in this video:

-Fender Telecaster Custom Shop '53 reissue

Other gear I use in my videos:

-Gibson Les Paul CM 2015 - heavily modified (thin nitro refin; Lollar Dog Ear P90; Emerson electronics)
-Barocsi Troublecaster - Custom built T-style guitar with Gretsch Filtertrons
-Gibson ES-335 Traditional
-Barocsi "Frankenstrat" (2000 Fender American Standard body + Warmoth neck)
(this is the current version; same sound, smaller housing)

The speech mic:

These links are affiliate links; use them to support my channel. Thank you!

Check out the Thomann Music channel for some wicked guitar videos:

Follow me on instagram:

Cheers,
Kris Barocsi

[littvay]

The biggest difference is that if you have one pickup (and one guitar) you really learn the instrument and you really learn how to play to get whatever you need out of that guitar. A test like this will never reveal this.

[jeffreyeagen]

I couldn't really hear much of a difference, but I'd still prefer both pickups. I love that middle position on the Tele.

[empireentertainmentevents]

so many people commented here by how many of them use proper studio monitor speakers like me? Yes, there is a big difference in both comparison. I prefer the tone with the neck PUP in the Tele. It has more high frequencies and a bolder attack.

[deltafour]

I have the original 84 Kramer Baretta with the one SD Humbucker and one volume knob and I LOVE it. Simple, clean and great sound. I never never understood why you would ever need more than one pickup on your guitar

[congerscott]

I like simplicity so single pickup guitars are for me, i love them, one pickup one volume knob, i'll dial in the tone on the amp. Great video, thanks 🎸👍.

[shredgd]

There is a difference in the high frequencies. If we can hear it through YouTube compression, probably it is even more evident in a live listening. Not a reason why I could do without the wonderful tone of neck pickups, but the difference is real. I also saw another video in the past where they had cut a side slot of the body wood, so they could slide in or out the neck pickup while playing: same results! If I find it I will post it down here.

[PooNinja]

Variation is the spice of life. Still there is something about just sweet bridge humbucker and a volume knob. It just makes you play the hell out of it 🤘🏽

[robertol.]

without pickup : less compressed, more open, bark and sparkly

[m.loughlin]

I am obsessed with single pickup guitars. It helps to form a special connection to the instrument for me because I can effectively control the volume and timbre of the guitar by picking in different locations, and picking harder or softer, using thinner picks vs. heavy picks, pick vs. fingers, and other things.

[dragonsquare]

Deine Tele klingt einfach soo gut! Ob nur 1 PU oder 2.. das intro hat gereicht um das unwiderlegbar zu beweisen 🥰

[guitarocd]

I have one pickup in the bridge because that's all I use. I have no use for neck pickup. I haven't used a neck pickup since 1982. Ever since I did the Van Halen thing to my Stratocaster I never looked back. For the past 15 years I've had two Esquires. I love them.

[beancurd]

i thought this was gonna be single coils better than humbuckers lol

[valueofnothing]

You can also get an app and measure the magnetic strength directly. It's hard to test without a picking machine etc...

I took off my bridge pickup and didn't notice any difference. You could always just lower the pickup more.

[KevinSmithdc]

I've watched a lot of videos regarding the one pickup Esquires from Fender. There are people who've done a great job coaxing a lot of different tones out of their single pickup guitars through their touch (Allen Hinds comes to mind). Still, I prefer the sonic flexibility you get with the neck pickup. You can always add more gain at the amp or with a boost pedal. Even Van Halen added a neck pickup later on in his career.

[mariosjosephidou]

What I learned, my neck pickup is staying put ! Great video once again Kris :)

[HowardCharlesUK]

With my old SG, I only ever used the bridge pickup - so in that sense it was a single pickup guitar 😂

[rkoz]

Since you mentioned that it sounded louder unplugged, maybe because of the new sound hole, try stuffing some cotton balls in with tape covering it. I've seen others analyze the sound before and after with DAW software to get more scientific data, and you need a robot to hit the strings exactly the same every time, but to my ear, over YouTube, not a significant difference. And I still wouldn't mind having a single P90 SG. Thanks for doing things like this so we don't have to!

[emptypromises]

The difference wasn't huge, but I at least could hear that it was ringin' a bit more and had more sustain without the neck pickup installed.

I'm thinking of building a mongrel of a guitar with a strat body and a 24.75" neck and put a tele bridge with a single tele bridge pickup in it. The idea of having just have one pickup appeals to me greatly. Then it's only your plaing that matters. Plus I have smallish hands that doesn't really work on a 25.5" neck.

[frmcf]

I can't think of a single pickup that I could do without on any of my guitars. Maaaaybe the bridge pickup on my strat, but even if there is something in the idea of reducing unnecessary forces on the strings, the bridge pickup probably has less effect, since it's near the anchor point.

[jimmythefish]

Seemed like less compression and more fundamental without the neck pickup, but very subtle. Having the other pickup is much better. I love the Tele neck pickup.