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In some cases, you'll see single coils and humbuckers in the same guitar. Bare Knuckle, Fishman, EMG, Seymour Duncan and more all make humbuckers ranging from vintage-style, to high-gain metal monsters. Gibson guitars are closely associated with the humbucker as their iconic models, such as the Les Paul, SG, and ES-335, all use them. And the softer, smoother tone of humbuckers makes them great for jazz as well, especially if you use a humbucker in the neck position on a big hollow-body guitar.
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Humbuckers are great for heavier styles like classic rock, hard rock and metal, and they can add some toughness and raunch to blues too. The hum is cancelled out by the two different coil directions (hence the name 'hum-bucker'), and the overall tone is generally thicker, louder, warmer and fuller than single coils. The idea behind humbuckers is to use two separate pickup coils, each wound in a different direction, over a central magnet. Single coils are great for country, blues, indie and alternative styles. Various noiseless single coils are available from companies like Fender, DiMarzio, and Seymour Duncan. Others want to get rid of it, and simply enjoy the pristine single coil sound minus the hum. Some players swear by this excess noise, as it evokes a vintage sound. But single coils have a drawback: you’ll notice a bit of background buzz which is just part and parcel of the single coil experience. A cover is usually placed over the pickup to protect the wire. This type of single coil pickup is made by wrapping wire around six ‘slug’ pole pieces (which are held in place by flatwork to create a bobbin). Single coils (like you might find on a Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster) have a clear, twangy sound, and they tend to sound really great through a clean, un-distorted amp setting.