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→Single Coils vs. Humbuckers
The point here is just because it's a humbucker doesn't mean it has to sound nasal.
Many guitars that feature single-coil pickups have them wired so that the pickup selector can select two-at-once, with the selected pickups have opposite direction coil windings. This effectively makes them operate as one big parallel humbucker - single-coil tone with hum-canceling. This is how the Fender Stratocaster is wired for pickup selector positions 2 and 4, which happen to be very popular positions.
===Stacked Humbuckers===
Also, appearances can be decieving. Most humbuckers have two clearly visible coils or are cased but clearly wider than a single-coil. However, some pickups look nearly identical to single coils but are actually humbuckers. The two coils are stacked on top of each other, creating the appearance of a single coil. Many times the goal is to get hum-canceling, not the more nasal and higher output humbucker tone; so they are wired in parallel. Yet, this is not always the case, and you have to be careful when selecting your pickups and/or wiring them, depending on what you want.
==Position==
The position of the pickup also has a big impact on tone. A guitar typically has 2-3 pickups, labeled bridge, middle, and neck relative to their position being closer to the bridge or neck. Bridge position is very bright and tight - it is very responsive but can be a bit harsh in the high frequencies and can be a bit thin or nasal. Neck position is more loose and open, with a thicker bass response and a more hollow tone. Middle is...in the middle.
Manufacturers often create pickups as a set, with different models for the neck and bridge to provide a more consistent tone when switching between them. This doesn't mean they have the same tone - it's impossible to get the same tone given that they are "looking" at different parts of the string, which physically must behave differently. And it makes the guitar more versatile to be able to use the different positions. The goal is to try to make the output levels consistent, as well as not have one sound dramatically different from the other.
So part of the purchasing process is determining
==Phase==
==Actives vs. Passives==
==Major Brands/Models==