Wondering if there's a difference between the single coils in my Hunter Hayes and the one in my 2017 Cutlass?
They sound different to me but is there a physical difference or is it in my head?
Some of the marketing around the Hayes referred to “custom pickups wound to Hunter’s exact specifications” (that’s not a verbatim quote). Playing both makes me think there is some difference between the sets, but I’ve never seen it spelled out either way.
Even if the pickups are the same (and I do not know if they are) the guitars won't sound exactly the same. The SSS Cutlass has two 250kΩ pots. The HSS Cutlass has two 500kΩ pots (for the humbucker) with an additional 560kΩ parallel resistor on positions 2 thru 5 to give closer to the normal 2 x 250kΩ load for the single coils. And the the Hunter Hayes has a single 250kΩ volume pot but with a 500kΩ neck blend pot in positions 1 thru 3. So even if you use exactly the same single coils in each guitar they will all sound a *little* different.
DrKev, both of these guitar are SSS configuration. But the two guitars are definitely wired differently. I don't know why but the pups in the Cutlass sound significantly more open and alive. I just double checked the pup heights on both and they were a bit different but I set up the HH to match the Cutlass and it didn't make a discernible difference. I'm going to kick on the boost switch on the Hayes and see what that does. As you would expect, the boost made it louder but not more open. It must be the pots/wiring.