Originally posted by Hammurabi
I've asked that before but didn't really get a response, hopefully someone sees this who has played with both...

The thing is, you can't get a really definitive comparison unless you've tried both pickup types [u]in the same guitar[/u].

The SCHB in the neck position of my first SGB1000 is a humbucker made of two of DiMarzio's VS-1 Vintage Strat single coil pickups. If I was really curious, I could butcher the lovely wiring job I did almost 20 years ago to find out, but to me, it's not an issue. I like the parrallel-coil sound. I don't like hum. And I get a rich, warm, full sound with the coils in series.

If I believed that the single-coil sound was [u]The Sound[/u] for me, back in '91 when I needed rent money, I would have kept my '62 Re-issue Jap Strat, and sold my SBG1000 instead.

If you love the single coil sound enough to put up with noise problems, Rock On! Though I suspect you would have trouble telling them apart unless you play clean, with very little XF.