Tone difference: Single J / Split J / Stacked J

[Twincam]

Been doin' a bunch of reading on TB. Still looking for this opinion: I've read that stacking coils for humbucking changes the tone. I get that. What about the various split coils (under a single J cover) that are available? Do they typically sound different from a Single J? In what way? Will they sound closer to singles or stacks? Thanks.

[Nedmundo]

I've never tried a stacked J pickup, but I have Lindy Fralin's noiseless Split-Jazz, and they are very close to a pure single coil tone. In fact, I bet most players wouldn't notice a difference without an A/B test. They lose some high end "sparkle" and "air" compared to pure singles, but that's about it. If you play with the treble rolled back a bit, there's no meaningful difference IMO.

[SGD Lutherie]

Stacking reduces the output and the low end because of phase cancelation. So extra wire is usually wound to make up for it, and that changes the tone a bit.

Split coils also have more wire than normal wound than on a single coil. That might make the mids and lows a bit stronger.

There is a third hum canceling option, which is a regular dual coil pickup. As far as I know only Joe Barden and myself make those. I find you can wind less wire to keep them sounding more like single coil pickups, with no hum. And they get a nice strong tone.