Best Cheap Guitar Pickups for Strat, Tele and Les Paul

Things to Consider When Buying the Best Budget Guitar Pickups

Single Coil vs Humbucker Pickups

When shopping for electric guitar pickups, understanding the basics is essential. A key difference between single-coil and humbucker pickups is their size and shape, with single coils being smaller than humbuckers. This size difference means you can’t easily swap between the two without modifying your guitar.

The two types also differ in tone and noise resistance, as explained below:

Single Coil Pickups

Single coils offer a brighter tone, highlighting treble and mid-range frequencies, and typically have lower output. This lower volume, especially in pickups with low ceramic DC resistance, means they don’t distort as easily. They are ideal for genres that use less distortion or benefit from a bright tone, such as blues, country, and surf.

The best single-coil pickups for Stratocasters usually have a crisp, clear sound without being harsh. This clarity often comes from vintage-style pickups with mellowed magnets.

However, the downside is that single coils are prone to hum, though modern tools and workarounds can help minimize this. To resolve this issue, some manufacturers have opted to produce single coil sized humbuckers, which are real humbuckers that can fit into single-coil slots. Some purists aren’t pleased though, because of the variance in tone.

Humbucker Pickups

Humbuckers are made to eliminate hum (60-cycle), which single coils suffer from. They have a warmer tone, emphasizing bass and lower mid-range frequencies. They also generally offer higher output, which leads to more natural distortion.

Many consider vintage PAF pickups the gold standard for humbuckers, but they often come with a hefty price tag. Fortunately, there are affordable alternatives that come close to that classic tone.

Humbuckers are also available in single-coil sizes, such as the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. Likewise, single coils can also come in humbucker sizes, like P 90-style pickups.

These options let you get a different sound without major guitar modifications. However, they won’t perfectly replicate their counterparts intended for that specific purpose.

If you want the best of both worlds, consider a guitar with HSS or HS pickup configurations. These pickup setups combine a single-coil neck pickup with a humbucker in the bridge. Eddie Van Halen helped popularize this setup with his Frankenstrat.

Active vs. Passive Pickups

Passive Pickups

Most pickups are passive, meaning they don’t require a power source to boost their signal before reaching the amp. Without batteries or extra electronics, they’re easier to maintain. Passive pickups deliver a rich, pleasant tone and can produce impressive distortion with some adjustments.

Active Pickups

Active pickups use batteries to boost their signal, making them great for heavy distortion. However, they often lack the versatility of passive pickups, offering a smaller frequency range that’s tailored mainly to accommodate the extra harmonics added by distortion. As a result, clean tones from active pickups can sound sterile, though their distorted tones are sharp and dynamic.

The Active vs Passive Pickups trend since the 2010s saw many metal players switch back to passive pickups. This is due to modern amp modelers no longer requiring the high output that active pickups provide. In recent years, active pickups have either been too expensive or haven’t been rated high enough for recommendation. Also, switching from passive to active pickups can, at times, require modifying your guitar to fit the extra electronics and battery. So, it’s generally not recommended unless you’re confident in doing DIY and have a trusty guitar tech or luthier.

Compatibility: Size and String Spacing

String spacing refers to the distance between the first and sixth magnetic pole pieces on a pickup. There are three common spacings for six-string guitars: standard (48 mm), f-spaced (51 mm), and Fender/single-coil (52-53 mm). These spacings may be referred to by different names depending on the manufacturer.

Standard spacing is used for Gibson-style guitars with fixed bridges. F-spacing is common for guitars equipped with a Floyd Rose tremolo. Traditional single-coil guitars have their own spacing. But some cheaper imported single coils may have slightly smaller spacing.

When in doubt, always measure your guitar’s string spacing before buying a pickup. And make sure you choose the right pickup for the position, like getting a bridge pickup for the bridge position.

Buying Guitar Pickup Sets vs. Combining Different Pickups

When browsing for pickups, you’ll often see them sold in sets. The advantage of buying a set is that they’re balanced in both volume and tone, giving you a consistent sound across all positions.

However, some guitarists prefer mixing different pickups to access a broader range of tones. While many guitars come from the factory with mixed pickups, combining them yourself can be tricky. Different pickups may not sound great together, especially if they have different output levels. This could require volume adjustments when switching between them.

Despite the potential challenges, mixing pickups can make your guitar more versatile. It will allow you to cover a variety of genres without switching instruments. Combining pickups can also give you a unique tone, especially in positions like the middle on a Les Paul, where both pickups are active.

Coil Tapping & Coil Splitting

Coil Tap vs Coil Split are techniques that add versatility to your pickups, though the terms are often confused. Coil splitting disables one of the coils in a humbucker, making it act like a single coil with a brighter tone. To do this, the humbucker needs four-conductor wiring, which is a feature in many of the humbuckers in this guide.

Coil tapping, on the other hand, is less common. It involves adding an extra wire to a single coil pickup to lower its output for a more vintage sound. For example, the Quarter Pound Tele Set offers a tapped version, though at a higher price.