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Last updated: 28 Aug 2021
Reviewing the Best Mini Humbucker
It’s only when you’ve bought your guitar, tested it out in multiple scenarios - mixing-wise, having played it with your effects’ pedal, and tried it out for executing that specific mellow vibe when playing live – that you realize the true ins and outs of the sound it’s able to produce. That’s exactly why most musicians rely on feedback from other peers before investing in a product. Talking about sound, mini humbuckers are bright-sounding guitar pickups that relatively tend to retain their clarity. They’re designed to provide the guitarists with a warm, loud sound instead of a snappier one. In this article, we’ll be throwing a list of the best mini-humbuckers in 2021 your way as well as a detailed buying guide where we’ll get geeky about this cool gadget.
Without any further ado, we’d like to hook you up with these top-grade sound wizards right away!
The Best Mini Humbucker in 2021
1
YMC Humbucker Pickup
– Best Overall
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THE SCOOP
This humbucker pickup fits most guitars and offers a full-ranged, rich tone. It’s made with chrome-plated steel and sports a black frame. The YMC humbucker guitar pickup comes with height adjusting screws and springs. Each pickup is triple wax dipped and vacuum sealed, eliminating all kinds of unwanted feedback and noise.
If you’ve got a Les Paul and it has been problematic, you can go for this replacement with your eyes closed and we’re certain you’ll have a better sound in no time. The suggested pole spacing is 52mm on the bridge pickup and 50mm on the neck pickup.
Pros
- They’re designed to mimic the original classic, warm sound of Gibson Les Paul yet they’ve got a higher sound output
- Each pickup comes with springs and height adjusting screws
Cons
Pickups may not be exactly around the resistances mentioned (9K and 16K)
2
Musiclily Hot Rails Mini Humbucker
– Runner-Up
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THE SCOOP
This humbucker has four wires, making it splittable, 4 conductors, a white body, and chrome dual rails. It’s a quiet pickup with good sound and 10K OHM resistance high output. This mini humbucker is available in four colors, is a standard, single-coil sized, and you can install it in your Fender Squier/Strat.
It’s a great pickup for the price, buy three of these to use in a combo or just throw one of these between your existing pickups and you’ll see a ton of difference in your sound!
Pros
- This rail-style pickup is pretty high output and will do wonders in the rock genre
- You can install it in a Tele guitar with some modification
Cons
- The wiring info in the product description is incorrect – the white and green will always stick together with a switch between the two and ground
3
FLEOR Dual Hot Rail Humbucker
– Honorable Mention
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THE SCOOP
This humbucker has a dual hot rail design that allows it to be fully shielded for low noise and wired for hum-canceling. The ceramic magnets are wax potted and eliminate any unwanted feedback and noise. The pickup comes with screws and springs, so you don’t have to worry about buying the right parts. It is also easy to install thanks to its 77mm mounting hole spacing.
Total resistance is 9-10K Ohms with single-coil pickup being 4-5K Omhms.
Pros
- Comes with 2 screws and 2 springs; Easy to install
- Perfect for the price point if you want a humbucker in the bridge position
Cons
- They don’t have the right output for heavy rock, metal, or thrash
4
FLEOR Double Coil Humbucker Pickup
– Also Consider
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THE SCOOP
This is a ceramic humbucker pickup with 6 non-adjustable slug pole pieces, and 6 adjustable screws pole pieces. It’s fully wax potted and sealed to eliminate any unwanted noise and feedback!
It’s a breeze to install and you can choose to buy both neck and bridge pieces or just one of them. They’re made up of anodized gold aluminum but made to look like they’re made up of brass. Overall, they’re a good bang for the buck!
Pros
- It comes in three finishes; white, black, and cream ft. black.
- They’re very bright in tone and have a great overall sound and dynamics
Cons
- Aluminum is not a good base material for pickups – brass is
Best Mini Humbuckers Buying Guide
We researched, did the nit-picking, scoured through the lot stating their pros and cons to end your quest with only the best! Now, in this section, we’ll hook you up with everything you need to know about mini humbuckers.
Why Do You Need A Mini Humbucker In Your Guitar?
Sure, they’re small – but as we mentioned earlier, a mini humbucker will also give you a brighter, warmer, and louder sound no matter how much crap you’re throwing on it. If you’ve got a guitar already, it’ll probably already have a pickup installed – in that case, you’ll either have to learn installing a guitar pickup (which is not difficult at all but will need you to be cautious since it requires soldering).
We aren’t really advising you to abandon your current pickup and go for one of these good boys but since you’re here, you’re probably already thinking of it. If you don’t know this already, these guitar pickups were first designed and put to use by Epiphone – and this was back in the 1950s. Of course, this is before Gibson acquired the company, and the official rights for these cool, widely-chosen pickups were transferred to them.
Nowadays, you’ll find mini humbuckers being used by a bunch of jazz guitarists – particularly because of the need to create mellow, brighter tones in jazz. So, the bottom line is, if you’ve been lately inspired to bring about some clearer tunes without going through much hassle, it’s important that you have a mini-humbucker-ed guitar on your side.
How Do I Choose The Right Mini Humbucker For My Guitar?
So, when zeroing in on one of the humbuckers above, what exact specifications should you be looking for? Let’s find out.
Material
The lower iron content in mini humbuckers accounts for their clarity and ability to retain good sound quality even when there’s distortion – as compared to their larger counterparts. While you cannot always check the materials’ percentage in a mini humbucker, it doesn’t hurt to be educated about it.
It’s also important to note that mini humbuckers are constructed the same way as regular humbuckers, only at a smaller scale.
Size
Thanks to their small size, a mini humbucker is able to pick up shorter wavelengths from the strings. This results in a brighter, more contained sound with a relatively lower output. The dimensions of a mini humbucker are normally 2-⅝” x 1-⅛”.
Magnets
The magnets in a pickup are directly responsible for the output/sound of a guitar. The material of the magnet is highly important too and the most common one out there is Alnico. It’s an alloy of aluminum, nickel, and cobalt – lasts a long time!
Another common material for magnets is ceramic – it’s the hottest of all and is particularly used for hard rock and metal – thanks to the trebly sound created with it.
Moreover, the mini humbuckers usually have the following magnet layouts:
Blade Style Layouts
This magnet layout uses a single metal bar and provides higher consistency with bending strings!
Steel Poles
In this layout, you get steel poles extending from the magnetic bar, resulting in a fatter, darker sound. This layout is usually implemented on Gibson guitars.
Individual Magnetic Poles
This type of layout produces thinner and brighter sounds. This is what most fenders guitars use.
Active/Passive
The passive humbuckers use magnets and the active ones use magnets boosted by a preamp. The active pickups have a greater sound clarity and consistency. They provide extra sustain and more headroom. Since active pickups have weaker magnets, they make up for the gap using a preamp.
The passive ones, on the other hand, have a stronger pull, inflicting a negative impact on the tone and sustain.
Wiring
When it comes to mini humbuckers, the standard usually is parallel wiring that results in a brighter sound with lower output.
The series wiring, on the other hand, helps you achieve a warmer yet high-output sound.
Pickup Position
The position with mini humbuckers is important and the guitarists – they generally prefer to place one around the neck and one at the bridge. The former one serves for better sustain and fuller sound. The latter gives off a shorter sustain and brighter sound.
We suggest you throw a third one between the two of them and you’ll have a sound that bridges the gap between the two!
How Much Do Mini Humbuckers Usually Cost?
Most mini humbuckers will usually cost anywhere between $50 and $200. More often than not, they’ll be more than enough to last you long and serve you well!
Best Mini Humbucker FAQ
Q: What is a mini humbucker?
A: A mini-humbucker is a humbucking pickup for electric guitars - it can sense shorter length string vibrations and is narrower in size, making it produce brighter sounds that do not trip or get harsh. It serves as an excellent solution for all your harsh-sound, snappier-sound problems.
Q: How do I get a nice clean sound out of my mini-humbucking pickups?
A: There are two ways you can plant these good-sound wizards in your guitar. You can either get a set of neck and bridge pickups and install them or get a single mini humbucker and place it between your existing neck/bridge pickups in your guitar. If you're unsure about installing flawlessly, take your guitar to a professional or consult a few videos on YouTube to get the hang of it.
