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→Single Coils vs. Humbuckers
==Single Coils vs. Humbuckers==
One of the largest issues involved in magnetic guitar pickups is that they are prone to picking up interference, such as from flourescent lights or radio signals. This produces hum and noise. Single coil pickups use one coil, whereas humbuckers use two coils wound in opposite directions. Humbuckers pick up the interference, ; but with opposite voltages in each coil, causing the interference to cancel from each coil cancels the other out. This is why they are called humbuckers - they have less noise and hum than single coils. This is the main difference between the two, at least before "noiseless" single-coils were created.
Humbuckers also have more output than single-coils, which can make them more easily push an amp into overdrive/distortion. In the modern world, this isn't much of a feature - most amps now feature powerful pre-amp drive. Or you can resort to a fairly cheap boost pedal to make the signal hotter. Humbuckers main benefit is their higher signal-to-noise ratio. Distortion tends to add noise, so it's helpful to start with a rather clean signal, or things can quickly become a noisy mess.