Big Single®
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.
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All Single Coil Tone, No Hum.
Want to learn more about our Big Single®? Here's all the information you'll need:
Big Single® 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.
Big Single 42
Big Single 43
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)* |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 10K (42) | 15.2K (43)* |
| 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 |
**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.
Sizing
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:
2-Conductor Lead:
Big Single® Questions And Answers:
Notice:
Have a question about our Big Single®? Ask it here. Your Question will be publically visible. If you want to ask a Private Question, please contact us through our Contact Us Form.
If you have multiple questions, please call us at (804) 358-2699.
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#1) If I combine a Big Single 42 neck pup with a humbucker bridge pup and keep the 500k v pot, what kind of tones will I get out of the Big Single? #2) If I go with the aforementioned setup and change the v pot to a 250k, what will happen to the cool tones of humbucker bridge pup and how can I form a perfect marriage of these two pups? Thank you.
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Q #1) If I combine a Big Single 42 neck pup with a humbucker bridge pup and keep the 500k v pot, wh...... Read moreA
Hey Craigorio, thanks for your question and patience while we get back to you! The Big Single 42 will have a touch more "air" to it on 500K and will have a bit more of the "breathiness" that's expected on Fender Pickups. On 250K, the Humbucker might sound a bit wooly and dark, lacking some top-end.
Hey! I have 500k pots in my guitar so by your instructions i’d get the 43 gauge pickups but when answering other questions you’ve said that the 43 gauge causes more of a p90 sound but i’d much rather get a more fender sound. My question is do i still get the 42 gauge pickups even though i have 500k pots for a strat/tele sound? I’m planning on changing the pots too so i can get 250k pots and go with the 42 gauge, but i may also change this...
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Q Hey! I have 500k pots in my guitar so by your instructions i’d get the 43 gauge pickups but when ...... Read moreA
Hey Eray, if you're looking for the Fender Strat / Tele tone, select the Big Single 42 and change your volume pots to 250K.
Hello! I have a PRS SE semi hollow 22 (hum-p90-hum) but i would like to do something like single-single-hum. I already have the the humbucker bit i dont know what to choose for the single-single sound. The bridge pickup is the prs 57/08 what would the best option for me? The single-single are humbucker size. I would like to try the p90 alnico but what would be the recommendation?
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Q Hello! I have a PRS SE semi hollow 22 (hum-p90-hum) but i would like to do something like single-...... Read moreA
Hey Elias, this is a good question. Can you please send some photos of your guitar to [email protected] so we can make some recommendations?
Are these tapped, or can they be tapped, for coil splitting?
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Q Are these tapped, or can they be tapped, for coil splitting?A
Hey Brian, we can do it...but we don't recommend it. The Big Single already sounds like a single coil.
Will the 43 still work ok with a 250k pot? I have a single neck pickup archtop guitar
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Q Will the 43 still work ok with a 250k pot? I have a single neck pickup archtop guitarA
Hey Nic, yes - it will be warm and a touch dark. If you're looking for a jazz tone, I believe you'll be happy with the result.
Note:
Asking a question here will be public to all users of this siteHey!
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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.
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.
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
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!
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?
I don’t think you can get better than fralin pickups
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!
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.
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.