Humbucker vs Single Coil

You know that moment at a live show—lights go dark, the crowd starts screaming, and then the lead guitar hits that first iconic riff… and suddenly the whole place explodes because it sounds just like the record!? That’s the power of guitar tone. No other instrument captures energy quite like it. I’ve got The Band Camino’s “Daphne Blue” playing while I write this, and honestly, it’s the perfect example. Go ahead and queue it up. Actually, don’t press play yet or you’ll get completely sidetracked. Trust me.

Electric guitar parts move people. They light up a room, start movements, and make songs unforgettable. And for decades now, there’s been a tone debate about what kind of electric guitar pickups reign supreme. Are single coil pickups the secret sauce? Or do humbuckers deliver the ultimate sound? In this post, we’re digging into the history of pickups, how they shape your tone, and what really sets single coils and humbuckers apart.

Humbucker vs Single Coil

Before we start a comparison of humbuckers vs single coils, lets take a brief look into the history of electric guitar pickups, what they are, how they work, and how understanding some of these points can help inform your choices when choosing a guitar that comes with humbuckers or single coils, or when upgrading your guitar pickups and considering a change to a different kind of tone.

History of Guitar Tone

The electric guitar was first developed in the 1930s as a response to the limitations of the acoustic guitar, which struggled to be heard in big band and jazz ensemble settings. The first commercially available electric guitar was the Rickenbacker "Frying Pan" of 1932, followed by the Gibson ES-150 in 1936. By the 1950s, the electric guitar had become a cornerstone of popular music genres such as rock & roll and blues, and has continued to be an integral part of our favorite music today. 

While Les Paul was known for his iconic guitar designs that made Gibson the identity it is today, Seth Lover was an engineer at Gibson Guitar Corporation in the 1950s. He is best known for his work in the field of guitar pickups where he developed the "PAF" (Patent Applied For) humbucking pickup, which became one of the most popular and influential pickups in the guitar industry to date. 

What Are Guitar Pickups

Guitar pickups work by converting the vibration of a guitar string into a tiiiiiiny electrical signal, which then travels through the guitar control circuit, through the instrument cable, split/buffered/modified through your pedalboard rig, and then finally amplified and heard through a speaker.

The design and construction of the pickup, including the type and number of coils, the strength of the magnet, the coating of the winding wire, the tension of the wire, the # of turns/layer, the # of total winds, whether there's a ferrous cover added or not, not to mention the electronic controls or location on the guitar the pickup is mounted, directly determine its tonal qualities.

What's The Difference Between Humbucker And Single Coil

Single coils and humbuckers are two different types of electric guitar pickups. Both producing that tiny electrical signal that gets amplified into the guitar tones we hear on all of our favorite albums. Single coils typically have a brighter, twangier, punchy sound with more defined treble and less bass, while humbuckers have a warmer, thicker, and compressed sound, usually associated with more bass and less treble.

Humbuckers are also known for reducing electromagnetic interference (hum), hence the name "humbucker." The choice between the two is often a matter of personal preference and the desired sound for the specific musical genre or playing style which we'll discuss in more detail below.

What Is A Single Coil Pickup

A single coil pickup produces one of the most classic and recognized electric guitar sounds on the planet. It uses a single wire coil wrapped around magnets to capture the vibrations of the guitar strings and turn them into an electrical signal. This design gives it a bright, crisp, and punchy tone that cuts through a mix really well; think of that iconic Stratocaster sound from John Mayer or Eric Johnson; or that classic Telecaster tone from Bruce Springsteen or James Gang.

The downside is that single coils are more produce unwanted "60-cycle" electrical noise or hum, accentuated under fluorescent lights, dirty-powered venues, or high-gain amplifier settings. Still, many players love them for their clarity, dynamic response, and vintage vibe. They're especially popular in genres like funk, blues, country, and indie rock.

What Is A Humbucker Pickup

A humbucker pickup is a type of electric guitar pickup that was originally created by Seth Lover to eliminate the annoying electrical hum that single coil pickups produce. Instead of using just one coil of wire, a humbucker uses two; each coil is reverse wound to the other and with an opposite magnetic polarity (known in the industry as RWRP). This setup cancels out the noise but still maintains phase, keeping a strong signal.

The humbucker pickups tone result is a thicker, warmer, and often a more powerful tone compared to traditional single coils. They are often referenced as a superior tone source for guitar playing styles including rock, metal, blues, and jazz.

 Humbuckers are especially good at handling higher gain and distortion without getting noisy. However, humbuckers do lose some high end sonic information when canceling out the hum. The result of this means that most humbuckers start steeply rolling off high end between 5-6 kHz, where single coils retain usable information in the 6-8 kHz range. These ranges are directly dependent on the pickup coil manufacturing process, and some boutique pickup manufacturers like Lambertones Pickups specialize in a low-output humbucker design, that helps your humbucker tone sound clearer and more dynamic - similar to single coils. You can check out our Crema humbucker set here!

Are Humbuckers Better Than Single Coils

In the right context, humbuckers can be superior to single coils. BUT! Not all the time. In the Daphne Blue guitar intro by The Band Camino I mentioned earlier, that tone is classic humbucker. Thick, warm, compressed, tons of mids, and with a splash of chorus it sounds huge! But if you tried playing Cliffs of Dover (Eric Johnson) or Funk #49 (James Gang) with humbuckers... yeaaaah right! You wouldn't get that spanky, scooped, punchy and crisp tones those songs are legendary for. 

At the end of the day, our goal as a guitar player is to be heard and to share our music with the world. There are so many different types of pickups to choose from within the humbucker and single coil categories. As a beginner, humbuckers make a lot of sense and make it so much easier than learning how to deal with the single coil hum at our churches or local pub gigs. But to all of you tone bros ready to leave a fun comment on this, please know there's a time and place for everything. The better you get to know your instrument and the more proficient you are at guitar, the more equipped you can be to use single coils in situations where humbuckers would generally be the first choice. 

Bonus Tip: Guitar Tech Tools

If you’re swapping from single coils to humbuckers, or simply upgrading your existing style of electric guitar pickups to a better quality pickup; help yourself by making those changes as easy as possible. Check out our post about our Guitar Tech Tools to make setup and maintenance easy.

Love Your Tone

Whether you're chasing crystal clear single coil sparkle for the purest electric guitar tone or are fighting the hum with a killer set of humbuckers - one thing is for sure: you can have incredible and impactful electric guitar tones from both sources. At Lambertones Pickups, our mission is to give players the purest source signal possible, unlocking rich, detailed frequencies you might have never even heard from your guitar before.

If you're curious about if you could love your tone with Lambertones Pickups installed, you can check out our best selling single coils pickups and our best selling humbucker pickups here, we are excited to welcome you to the family!