Description
Before Bartolini became shorthand for hi-fi clarity, there was the 1C — the company’s first humbucker, dating back to around 1975. It set the template for everything that followed: rather than winding both coils to match, Bartolini deliberately unbalanced them using the same wire throughout. The result is a pickup that leans toward single-coil character in the upper mids, with noticeably less of the warm mid-hump you get from equal-winding humbucker designs.
What that translates to in practice is exceptional clarity and definition. Complex chords don’t just sound loud — you can actually pick out the inner voices and harmonic detail that get smeared together in a lot of vintage-style humbuckers. The attack sits in an interesting middle ground: not quite as bright and immediate as an acoustic-style single coil, but not as rounded or diffused as a classic PAF-era tone either. That in-between voicing is exactly why it plays so well with your amp and onboard controls — there’s headroom to shape the tone further without fighting a pickup that’s already committed to one extreme.
If you’re after a humbucker that trades some of the syrupy midrange warmth for articulation, note separation, and a livelier top end, the 1C is a genuine piece of Bartolini’s design history that still holds up.
- Bartolini’s original humbucker design, circa 1975
- Unequal coil windings using consistent wire for a clear, single-coil-leaning tone
- Reduced midrange warmth compared to equal-winding humbucker designs
- Finish: Black
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