Going for a new sound - Any single coil experts here?

[oooo]

I have quite a few guitars... every guitar I own has double coils. *Well, I have a Melancon custom that I want to put single coils in. *Problem is I have no experience with single coils. *Any suggestions? *I don't want something that acts (or sounds) like a double coil... so I'm thinking low output here. *I"m going for pure tone here, but I want it not to feel like a dead fish... if you know what I mean. *This will not be used for high gain or soloing.
I went to the Seymour Duncan site and spent some time down loading sound bites... I like the SSL-1 Vintage Staggered, but of course I'm listening to it through my PC speakers. *
I intend to put my hands on a guitar with the pickups I choose before having Melancon change out my setup... I just need a starting point.
Tell me you favorite and why (along with what it sounds like). *That should give me some ideas as to what to listen to. *Thanks in advance for a starting point.

[Dead Roman]

try dimarzios, fender lace sensor, and emgs i presonally like lace sensors and emgs because they are really quiet


(Edited by Guitarforceone at 10:00 pm on Mar. 31, 2002)

[Kremlin]

There are some small pickup manufacturers (Lindy Fralin.. mmmmmmm) that make some awesome sounding single coils.. but they're single coils after all and are not super-quiet in terms of buzz. Tom Anderson guitars also have some sweet pups but I'm not sure if they sell them without the guitar.

[oooo]

thanks for the input so far guys. *I've been reading a lot about Bill Lawrence pickups... I'm still trying to gather as much info as possible. *Any other suggestions?

[jeffrey]

Don't go active (EMG), they sound like humbuckers (I had some EMG's in a strat and some Duncan active singles in a strat now).

Check out really any of the Duncan singles. The Quarter Pounder is an old favorite of mine. It's big, loud and nasty, but boy it sounds like a single.

Actually Yngwie's Dimarzio single sounds ok, but not real single coil-y.

I'd probably go Duncan if I were you.

[urkoman]

I´d search ebay and similars to find a 60´s or 70´s strat original. It´s difficult. Dimarzio HS series are great. HS1 is glassy, HS2 bluesly and HS3 is too hard for what you want. Maybe a class of ´55.

[RSVampire]

Lace Senors are awsome. But if you want that super duper single coil sound nothing beats the real thing

[rlintz]

The stock small MFD pickups in my G&L Legacy are to die for. *Not very quiet in comparison to say Fender Vintage Noiseless pups but so much more alive. *I'm currently on the quest to outfit a 7 string with a H-S-S config - not many out there. *I prefer singles by far for any clean to slightly-driven tones. *

I've heard great things about Bill Lawrence pups and they're relatively cheap also.