Ok at some point in time I realized every guitar I have with 1 pick up just sounds good. I have no scientific basis for this theory so if someone who knows more than me could please tell me if I am full of shit. Do guitars with one pick up sound better than those with 2 or more? is this possible? Discus.

My thought is that if you only have 1 PU you plug it in and accept that THAT is how that guitar sounds and you just play. More options means more fucking around and less a concrete consensus on if it is "good" or not. It's why I prefer any 2 pu gtr over any 3 pu guitar anyway.

No I think there’s something to this. I’ve owned and played other vintage Epiphone Coronets with a single P90 at the bridge, a 50s cowboy Carvin with a single pickup at the neck that sounded like a damn piano, and this Chris Jury tulip guitar with a cheap humbucker at the bridge with a jazzmaster tremolo that made me think I like jazzmaster tremolos, and they all had something kinda special about them.

I imagine a case could be made that something happens when there’s not as many magnets pulling on the strings, but who knows really.

I actually switch pickups a lot when i’m playing, but I like guitars that kinda force you into this or that anyways… like the flatwound guitar, the guitar with super clean pickups, the humbucker guitar that does a rock grind with any gain whatsoever, etc.

I always think about how badass it would be to own a single guitar, sort of like going back to a flip phone in 2025. How about instead you have one Malcolm Young guitar Gretsch and one neck pickup Gretsch and that’s it. I probably sound like Marie Antoinette so I am going to shut up now

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 6:18 pm

I imagine a case could be made that something happens when there’s not as many magnets pulling on the strings, but who knows really.

That's at least a scientific explanation.

Yaledelay wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 4:57 pm Ok at some point in time I realized every guitar I have with 1 pick up just sounds good. I have no scientific basis for this theory so if someone who knows more than me could please tell me if I am full of shit. Do guitars with one pick up sound better than those with 2 or more? is this possible? Discus.

Regarding electric guitars I think this is probably true.

However, in regards to bass guitars it is 100% fact.

Kniferide wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 8:52 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 6:18 pm

I imagine a case could be made that something happens when there’s not as many magnets pulling on the strings, but who knows really.

That's at least a scientific explanation.

Yes this was my idea too. But I have no knowledge of "How magnets work"

Yaledelay wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:57 pm

Kniferide wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 8:52 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 6:18 pm

I imagine a case could be made that something happens when there’s not as many magnets pulling on the strings, but who knows really.

That's at least a scientific explanation.

Yes this was my idea too. But I have no knowledge of "How magnets work"

No one does, it’s a good question

TylerDeadPine wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 10:29 pm

Yaledelay wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:57 pm

Kniferide wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 8:52 pm

That's at least a scientific explanation.

Yes this was my idea too. But I have no knowledge of "How magnets work"

No one does, it’s a good question

This is definitely the canonical explanation out there in guitar-nerd-dome. Single pickups have free strings, unaffected by other magnets.

Man...

You guys had best call somebody.

(This clip is about thirteen years old...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0VZzNXiXO8

4:48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ8I4ESWM0I

(Obviously, it is Leslie West but it's not just in his hands...)