The days of using a guitar with just one pickup are long gone. You are now able to customize your guitar to look and feel completely different from any other guitar out there, thanks to the wide variety of shapes and styles that are available. To give your guitar that one-of-a-kind look and feel, you can customize it by adding pickup rings, neck rings, body rings, or body patches, all of which are called body rings. In the event that you have contemplated the possibility of installing a pickup onto your guitar in the past, there is a pickup that is available on single pickup guitars.

This selection of single pickup guitars features instruments with one humbucker (or, in some instances, a single coil) mounted in the bridge position.

If you’re looking for a guitar with just one pickup, you’ve come to the absolute best place to find one. Your search could be motivated by any number of factors. Not only do we come up with an original curated list, but the community of Guitar Chalk readers is often active and intentional about helping us keep them updated. This is something that we take advantage of.

Because it is highly likely that there are some guitars that only have one pickup that we have missed or neglected to mention.

In the event that you are aware of any single pickup guitars that we have missed, please feel free to let us know about them in the comments section below.

• Why go with a guitar that only has one pickup?
• What are the advantages of going with a guitar that only has a single pickup?

People like them because they are easier to use, and they only produce one sound (typically from a customized humbucker) that doesn’t need to be adjusted in any way. This is one reason why they are popular.

To put it another way, if you find “your sound” that you use all the time and you can get it with one pickup, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t use a guitar that only has one pickup.

Or, if you find that you never use the pickup in the neck position and instead always use the pickup in the bridge position, why not just have that one pickup permanently installed?

Which guitars with a single pickup are the most desirable and why?

When evaluating guitars with a single pickup, the criteria we use to evaluate overall guitar quality are the same criteria that we use when evaluating guitars with multiple pickups.

In most cases, we like to recommend the following brands:

Epiphone Fender ESP LTD

Gretsch

Because of how popular they are, regardless of how many times they have been picked up, the following four are our top picks in this position.

Two of the guitars that we have listed as being available are the Fender Brad Paisley Telecaster and the Gibson SG Junior. Both of these guitars are particular favorites of ours.

Can you name a Fender guitar that only has one pickup?

Both the Brad Paisley signature and the Noventa models of electric guitars manufactured by Fender feature a single bridge pickup. Additionally, they are both Telecasters.

Additionally, one pickup is included with the purchase of a Squire Classic Vibe Esquire Telecaster.

It’s possible that we missed a few of them, like maybe some older Fender guitars with just one pickup.

If this is the case, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Is it advantageous to have more pickups on a guitar?

Is it preferable for an electric guitar to have a greater number of pickups?

For my part, I’ve never been a fan of guitar setups with just one pickup. However, this does not rule out the possibility that it could work and even be preferred by some other individuals.

Additional pickups provide you with flexibility; however, if you do not find that flexibility to be beneficial, then it is not really that important.

I’d say that more pickups on a guitar are “better” from the standpoint that it gives you more tools and tones to work with; however, this is not a right or wrong question and requires context regarding the guitar player in question.

Is there such a thing as a guitar that only has a single coil pickup?

Where do we stand with guitars that only have a single coil pickup? Aside from the Telecasters that we have already brought up, we did not find any Strat-style guitars that had a single-coil pickup mounted in the bridge position. The Gibsons and the Epiphone signature model, both of which have a pickup in the style of a P-90 located in the bridge position, are probably the ones that come the closest.

Aside from that, the only options are humbuckers and Tele pickups.

Conclusion

If you are aware of any single pickup guitars that have not been included on this list, please do not hesitate to mention them in the comments section below. We pointed out earlier that you are welcome to do so.

You may also ask questions pertaining to the guitars that are already on the list. We are more than happy to respond to your questions and offer assistance in any way we can.