Even though the current consensus online is that humbucking
electric guitar pickups sound louder than their single coil counterparts, is it
really true that single coil pickups generate a much higher voltage output than
humbuckers?
By: Ringo Bones
During the latter half of the 1980s working as a luthier’s apprentice,
I often connected a voltmeter on the electric guitar’s output jack to measure
how much signal it generates. If connected right in its hum-bucking mode, humbucking
electric guitar pickups output about half as much voltage than that of a single
coil pickup. Single coil electric guitar pickups typically output a little over
one volt peak-to-peak unloaded and yet when connected to a vacuum tube guitar
amp with a distortion pedal in tow, humbuckers tend to sound – probably to mine
and everyone’s ears – louder and with a more complex tone than its single-coil
counterparts. But why do online forums discussing the merits between the two
most popular electric guitar pickup configurations often fail to mention the
voltage output issue?
Back in the late 1980s – where hair metal glam rock reigned
supreme on MTV and on mainstream FM radio – electric guitars with built in DSP
and or effects that can only be powered by a single PP3 / 9-volt battery and
sounds acceptably good to most working musicians - like the Gibson Firebird X - is still the stuff of science
fiction. Much later on, most electric guitars with internal built in battery powered preamplification
and DSP effects I’ve serviced recently tend to output around 100-millivolts or
so, much, much “quieter” than their “vintage” counterparts equipped only with a
potentiometer based volume control and passive low-high tone control. And to my
ears and everyone at the repair shop often swear that the electric guitar with
the built in battery powered DSP and preamplification sounds much louder than
their vintage counterparts.
