Basically - a "traditional" single coil, but slightly hotter then the norm (6.5K in the neck and middle, 7.3K in the bridge) but still built around 42 AWG Plain enamel wire - so they retain alot of that "stratty" character you really want from a single coil, but they're just that bit more capable - they've got that little bit more in the guy to give you a shade more confidence.

Without a doubt, my absolute favourite single coil! (I actually sound like i know what I can play a bit with them for a start, which is a rarity )

They're actually built around Alnico 4 magnets, rather then the traditional Alnico 5s - and this is something thats often overlooked with single coils - so? How about a bit of a natter about magnets in single coils?

Now, this is half "hard science" and half "he says/she says" - so, you know? Take it with a pinch of salt, dont let me colour your opinions, all the usual disclaimers!

When we speak about magnets, we all generally work to the understanding that the weaker they are, the less top end they produce, and as top end is decreased, we “see” an increase in mid range and bass (so weaker magnets aren’t as “shrill”, but as long as they’re paired with relatively “clean” (low wind/inductance) coils, they’ll retail all their headroom – just feels a bit warmed, a bit less clinical.

Now, thats sort of true - but not really – whats actually happening is that, yes, we “hear” less top end coming through, and the pickup feels warmer, but theres no increase in mid range of bass weirdly (pickups are almost incapable of altering bass and mid range) – what we hear is the “difference” between the bass and mids in relation to the top end – if a pickups resonant peak is sky high, say 9kHz at 27dBV (all unloaded – that’d be pretty normal for a 50s spec Strat pickup), then its going to sound very bright, very clinical, very biting, and our brains will translate that into “hey, wheres the mid range?!” – its clean, its crisp, its brilliant and brass – its what we all expect.

If we get the same pickup, and we swap the magnets, say from an alnico 5 to an alnico 3 – you don’t see a shift in the resonant peak (it’ll stay around about 9kHz) but you see a drop in the dBV (for arguments sake, lets say it drops to 24dBV) – so whilst the “busy” part of the signal is still there, its just a little bit quieter – and as a result, we don’t hear the guitar get quiter – because its only one part of the whole signal – but we start to perceive the mid range and bass more and more – so when we say “weak magnets make pickups warmer” – they don’t! They make pickups “less bright” – and its our brains that cobble all these frequencies together and serve up their interpretation of whats going on “as a whole”

And I always liked that, because it makes thinking about pickups pretty simple – the higher the wind, the lower the resonant peak (so a lower frequency is where its busiest – lower the number, the “darker” a pickup sounds (and that’s why high output pickups sometimes feel “honky” – their peaks sit right in goldilocks zone of our hearing – its pleasant, but it’s a little exhausting in the long term – think of listing to someone humming a tune? Similar frequencies – similar feeling!) – the higher the peak, the more brightness (or, more accurately, the more “space” between mids and highs) and that makes them very cutting, very lively.

Worth remembering too, that whilst a lot of people will say “resistance of a pickup is meaningless” – that’s a bit of a half truth – it is in isolation (you wont know what a pickup sounds like by that alone)… but it’ll give you a decent idea of how a pickups going to behave – rule of thumb – higher the resistance, the more prone a pickup is to natural break up (so even though a 17K humbuckers uses different wire compared to an 8K one, and you cant really compare them in terms of tone based on resistance – you can bet your bottom dollar that the 18K humbuckers is going to be much hotter (or, more accurately, you’ll perceive it to be much hotter! Its actively trying to distort itself!)

And then magnets – weaker the magnet, the quieter the peak, stronger the magnet, louder the peak! (remember that mids and bass don’t really move around)

And at that point, you can pretty much fill in the blanks right? If you like it bright and biting and clear? You go for low winds, strong magnets – you like it warm and lovely and smooth, but without a great deal of heat? Low winds, weak magnets!

Problem is, you get weird stuff – where we as guitarists “think” we want one thing, and actually want something very different – a common one is metal players saying “I want the heaviest, darkest pickup you have – I want it like a black cup of coffee on a moonless night! No brightness!!” – and then they kick off because the pickups far too dark (peaks too low, volume at peak is too low) – so theres a certain amount of interpreting our language as players in this too (we always, ALWAYS, talk in extremes too – nothings ever medium is it? Its either terrible or great, hot or cold, sterile or spicy (I’d love to know another industry where sterile and spicy are opposites!... rubbish dentist?)

But yeah – when buying pickups – it’s a nice little guide line.

Take into account the tone you like (bright and breezy or warm and woolly), and the “style” you like (Is it clean? Is it dirty? Is it spicy dentist dirty?!) – and that’s pretty much going to tell you exactly what you need to know when it comes to 90% of pickups! Lower resistance is giving you your clean, higher is going to give you the dirty – stronger magnets are giving you brightness, weaker ones are going to give you warmth.

And its about as simple as that really – in very broad strokes, without getting bogged down in graphs (I’ve got em if you want em ) – that’s pickups 101!