Big Single
Fat, Round Single Coil Tone, No Hum
$165 – $330
A Lindy Fralin original design! The Big Single is a Humbucker that has a big, round single-coil sound with no hum. It’s beefier than our Twangmaster but cleaner and more articulate than our Hum-Cancelling P-90. We offer two versions: The Big Single 42, and the Big Single 43.
Note:
To ensure proper operation of your Big Single, install the pickup with the lead exiting the treble side of the pickup, not the bass side.
Quick Links
Jump to Sound Clips and more Info:
All Single Coil Tone, No Hum.
Want to learn more about our Big Single? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features:
The Big Single is one of Lindy Fralin’s original designs. Based on his desire to improve the tone of a Mini-Humbucker, Lindy’s innovation led to the Big Single. Lindy was pleased with this new design so much, that he worked it into a standard Humbucker cover. With this design, you’ll get a dynamic, round single-coil tone – with no hum. We pack all this fat tone by hand into a great looking No-Hole Humbucker Cover.
- Hum-Cancelling Thick Single Coil Tone, in a Humbucker Cover
- Very versatile – can cover a wide array of styles, outputs, and tones
- Lindy Fralin Original Design
- 2-Coil design with a bar magnet for silent, huge tone
- A dynamic, rich, warm tone
- Hand-carved bar magnet can accommodate up to 2 1/4 string spacing
- 10 Year Warranty against manufacturing defects
Sound
The Big Single is one of our best-selling guitar pickups – for a good reason. Clean, warm and vibrant, this unique design is directly in-between the tone of our Fralin P-92 and our Fralin Twangmaster. It has a beefier, bolder tone than our Twangmaster, but cleaner and more ‘Fender-like’ than our P-92. Treble strings sound warm and fat, and wound strings sound bright and clear, like all Fender-style pickups. This design comes in two models: the Big Single 42, and the Big Single 43.
The Big Single 42 will sound cleaner and brighter, and work well with 250K Pots. The Big Single 43 will seem thicker and darker and can work well with 500K pots. In either case, each model features a bouncy, rich, and full midrange and top-end. Great for either clean playing or distortion, this pickup will break up a little earlier than our Twangmaster, and is excellent for anyone looking for beefy, rich single-coil sound, with no hum.
Sound Samples for Big Single:
Compare Outputs
We have 2 outputs of our Big Single. Compare them below.
About these Sound Clips:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Big Single:
The tonal graph below for our Big Single features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Big Single 42:
Attack: Bright & Sharp
Big Single 43:
Attack: Stiff & Percussive
Videos for Big Single:
Lead Color Codes:
See below for our Lead color codes. For help with matching to other manufacturers, check out this resource here.
Gibson Braided Lead:
Gibson-Style instruments
Phase Reversible
Coil Splitting
2-Conductor Lead:
Phase Reversible
Tech Specs:
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Big Single.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 8.7K (42) | 12.2K (43)* 1 |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 10K (42) | 15.2K (43)* 1 |
| Neck Polarity: | Hum Cancelling - Use 2-Conductor Lead when Buying a Single |
| Bridge Polarity: | Hum Cancelling - Use 2-Conductor Lead when Buying a Single |
| Magnet: | Flexible Ferrite Magnet |
| Coil: | USA-Made 42 / 43 Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 250K (42) | 500K(43) |
| Cover Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Baseplate Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Recommended Cap Value: | 0.02mfd 2 |
More Information:
1 Ohm Readings can vary due to a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature, multimeter calibration, different wire batches, and other factors. Due to this, ohm readings are approximate. Learn more about Ohm Readings here.
2 We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
Big Single Dimensions:
Big Single FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
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What Ohm Readings does your Big Single have?
Navigate to our Tech Specs Tab for complete Ohm Readings and more useful information.
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Will this pickup fit my instrument?
Check our "Sizing" tab for the size of the pickup. No Sizing tab? Check under the product image gallery for dimensions.
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Is your Lead Time of 3-4 Weeks accurate?
It really depends on the shop capacity at the moment, and the size of your order. Feel free to give us a call for an accurate lead time. We always try to underpromise and overdeliver.
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What pickup height do you recommend setting your Big Singles to?
Our recommended Pickup Height is 1/8" (3.175mm) on the Bass Side and 1/16"( 1.5875mm) on the Treble Side. Measure by holding the corresponding side down at its highest fret and measure from the bottom of the string to the top of the pole piece.
Pickup Pairing
Our Big Single pairs well with the following models:
Blues Special Tele - Bridge
Starting At: $ 110
The Big Single 42 Neck and the Blues Special Tele Bridge are a great combination
View Product
Blues Special Strat - Neck & Middle
Starting At: $ 99
Put the Big Single 42 in the Bridge of a HSS Strat, and the Blues Specials will pair nicely
View Product
Sunbucker Blues® - Bridge
Starting At: $ 160
Put a Big Single 43 in the Neck and a Sunbucker Blues in the Bridge - you'll thank us later
View ProductFeatured Reviews
Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of
Customer Reviews
41 Genuine Reviews for Big Single
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I love this pickup. I put a “42” in the neck position of my korina and ebony telecaster that has a barely overwound bridge pickup (10k resistance also with 42AWG wire and an AlNiCo V). This Big Single makes the perfect companion to that pickup and since I do play some blues in bars, the humbucking neck alone should prove helpful for electrically noisy places.
The tone of this pickup is so amazing and the response is so instant and lively. Well worth it. -
Fantastic pickups. Great big single coil sound. (There’s a clue in the name, after all).
Meaty, bold, but not stupid hot. Full of tone.
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Well I just got back my Tele build from my guitar guy ( Richard from RSM guitars in Winnipeg,Mb ) and both of us were more than surprised and completely amazed. I decided to go with the split steel pole in the bridge and big single 43 in the neck . This is my new go to as well as Richard was so impressed with the tonal quality of these pickups he is going to be ordering a set for himself. You still can get that Tele twang but you also get so much more. A very versatile set up for any Tele.
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I put two of the 42s in a prs standard after years of countless pickups changes that never resulting in a satisfying tone. Finally this guitar has come alive with a clarity and balance both clean and with dirt that has exceeded all expectations. It is a joy to listen to. Lindy is a genius!
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Put a big single in a telecaster, now I’m “playing guitar like ringing a bell” bought a lot of pickups over the years: Fender, Lollar, Dimarzio, virgil arlo, Benedetto, Fralin is better than all of them.
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These pickups are great. I put them in an HH telecaster I’ve had for a while and absolutely brought it to life! Unique sound- definitely in between single coil and humbucker and I’m absolutely loving them.
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Simply the best….. put these in an HH jaguar about 6 years ago now.
I’ve never heard anything quite like it! The clean tone is other worldly, full, rich, sparkly.
With a little more oomph than most singles to really help bring out the character in your amp without pushing into the drive territory of a P90.Extremely versatile but also incredibly comfortable generating massive ethereal clean tones (I’m yet another shameless ambient worship guitarist)
If you’re also into cathedral reverbs, cavernous delays, subtle modulation, through warm tube amps….. this pickup is the dream. -
I put them in my Cabronita. They sound fantastic thru my ‘64 Princeton. I’m putting both in one of my Tele projects. My client is really excited after hearing them thru the Cab.
You guys are the best -
I don’t usually send a message like this but I recently ordered a Big Single for my strat and I am completely blown away. This is my first experience with a Fralin, my lead player has used the Modern PAF set for the past year and recommended I try something. This is the tone I have been looking for and I cannot explain how cool it is to feel like my main guitar (that has had probably 12 different bridge pickups) finally sounds how I’ve imagined. Nothing but positive feedback here, cannot thank you enough. I will be back for another pickup of some sort!
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Not really fair…. I can’t afford to put Fralin pickups in all my guitars.lol love the big singles. I’ve installed em in my custom built flying V inspired by Albert King walnut Lucy.
Amazing pickups. I thought sd were good but this is a whole other level. -
Big Single 43 with 500k volume and 500k no load tone. Tremendous clarity when overdriven, lot’s of dynamics, and very responsive to what you do with your fingers and how soft or hard you pick. Couldn’t be more happy.
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For me this is the money!!!! Some pickups you love from the minute you play them, some pickups grow on you once you play them live. From the moment I installed it, I knew this was my perfect neck pickup. Sounds great live and loud, sounds great thanks on recording.
https://youtu.be/TQLbmuaS7cE -
My swamp ash T-style partscaster is routed for two humbuckers. I had been using a pair of P-92s. I decided I wanted more of a true Tele sound. So, I installed a pair of Twangmasters. The helped the neck sound. But the bridge pickup was too Strat-like. So I installed a Big Single. Yes! The Big Single in the bridge and the Twangmaster for the neck. What keeps me from giving 5 stars is the string-to-string balance. Neither the Big Single or the Twangmaster have adjustable pole pieces. My strings are D’Addario 10’s. I can handle the 3rd string being too strong. It’s the 1st string: it just doesn’t have the balls of the 2nd and 3rd strings. For chords this isn’t too bad. But for singing leads this is a problem.
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I absolutely love this pickup, one of the best sounding humbuckers I’ve had. I’m looking forward to ordering the mini version for another project soon! I made a little video showing how it sounds with a slide… Keep up the great work guys! https://youtu.be/5Ya885ePwz8
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You just made me the big single pickup and I am soooo happy with it. I got a luxxtone tele style with a humbucker in the neck that I love, but Jerry’s choice of pickups is not my style.
I tried sooo many pickups for the neck position and this one is an ultimate winner. Thank you very much!
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Beautiful Pickup
The Big Single solves a perennial problem with single-coil pickups: if you go for high output you typically loose the sparkly high-end that we love about single coils. The Big Single has medium-high output but retains the sparkle. To my ear, the sound falls somewhere on a spectrum that includes Strat pickups, Firebird pickups, Filtertrons, and P-90s, depending on your amp, pedals, and touch. It’s a unique palette of sounds. Isn’t finding your own sound what it’s all about?
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I don’t think you can get better than fralin pickups
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Awesome
I love the sound of the bridge pickup for solos and the neck for rhythms. everything as it should be, neither excessive, bass, middle or treble. Punchy sound but clear, and the best hum-canceling!
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My favorite Strat pickups – Once again, Lindy and his team came through with a fantastic set of pickups. I did an HSS set up with a Big Single in the bridge.
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Les Paul w/Big Single 42 Pair
I wanted to do something totally different with a Les Paul so I fitted it with these Big Singles along with 300K pots and .22f caps. The result is AMAZING. These pickups are quiet and have the chime of a single coil with the big warm tone of a hum bucker. I feel like this is a zero compromise sound and leaves nothing on the table. Truly amazing, outstanding product.
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