Last Updated on April 28, 2023 by Teemu Suomala
Are you after a bright & glassy tone with scooped mids and tight bass? Enter: Lipstick Pickups. I’m really grateful for Danelectros and Nathan Daniels (the founder) knowledge about guitars and women’s cosmetics. Because without those 2, lipstick pickups wouldn’t most likely exist.
This article is a tight knowledge package about lipstick pickups. I gathered together the cream-of-the-crop guitars with lipstick pickups. Both acoustic and electric, plus I reveal my 3 favorites. If you have any questions, check the FAQ section of this article or leave a comment.
Let’s get started!
Check our full electric guitar pickup types guide here.
Author: Teemu Suomala
18 Guitars With Lipstick Pickups
Danelectro has a really good selection of different guitars with Lipstick pickups available. This 12-string Danelectro 59X12 is a great example. It’s got a vintage single-coil with large housing (size) and Lipstick humbucker with a coil-split. Pretty amazing choice if you are after a 12-string electric guitar and love lipstick pickups.
Price Range Icon Meanings:
$= $250-499
$$= $500-899
$$$= $900-1199
$$$$= $1200-1799
$$$$$= $1800
*Consider all links in this post to be affiliate links. If you purchase, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission. It helps us to keep the lights on, thanks! 🙂
| Model | Pickup | Body Style | Price Range | Check Current Price (affiliate links) |
| Harley Benton Custom Line Nashville-Steel – Cheapest Guitar With Lipstic Pickup (Electric-Acoustic) | Piezo system (bridge) and Lipstick single coil (neck) | Single-cut Hollowbody | $ | Thomann* |
| Silvertone Classic 1303/U2 SVB – Best Budget | 2 x Original style Lipstick pickups | Single-cut | $ | Amazon |
| Royall IT95/BL Imperial Black | 1 x Lipstick Single Coil | Resonator Tele | $ | Thomann |
| Silvertone Classic 1449-BSF | 2 x Lipstick Single Coils | Double-cut | $ | Amazon |
| Dean CE Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Resonator | 1 x Lipstick Pickups | Resonator | $ | Guitar Center |
| Danelectro 59X12 12-string Semi-hollowbody | 2 x Lipstick single coil pickups | Double-cut | $$ | Thomann |
| Danelectro ’59M NOS+ – Best Overall | 2 x NOS+ Lipstick Single-coil | Double-cut | $$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Harley Benton Custom Line CLR-ResoElectric | Gold-colored resonator lipstick single coils | Resonator | $$ | Thomann |
| Danelectro Baritone | 2 x NOS + “Lipstick” single coils | Double-cut offset | $$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Danelectro 66BT Baritone | 2 x Lipstick Single-coil | Single-cut | $$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Danelectro ’59 Resonator Guitar – Best Resonator | ’56 Lipstick Single-coil & piezo cone | Resonator | $$ | Sweetwater |
| Danelectro 59X Aqua – Best With Lipstick Humbucker | 1 x Vintage single coil & 1 x splittable dual lipstick humbucker | Double-cut | $$ | Thomann |
| Danelectro 59X12 12-string Semi-hollowbody | 1 x Vintage single coil & 1 x splittable dual lipstick humbucker | Double-cut | $$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Danelectro ’57 | 2 x Vintage 50’s Lipstick Single Coils | Single-cut | $$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Danelectro DB612-BBS – Double-Neck | 4 x Lipstick single coils | Double-Neck | $$$ | Thomann |
| Danelectro 66BT Baritone | Vintage-style Single-coil & Dual Lipstick Humbucker | Double-cut offset | $$$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Danelectro 66-12 | Vintage Style Large Housing Single Coil & Dual Humbucking Lipstick Single Coil | Double-cut offset | $$$ | Sweetwater – Thomann |
| Fender 60 Strat Inca Silver – Premium Stratocaster With Lipstick Pickups | 3 x hand-wound ’60s Lipstick Cover Strat single coils | Stratocaster | $$$$$ | Thomann |
Our Favorite Music Store in The World!
Why?
– Excellent Customer Service (4.7/5 Trustpilot Score)
– Fast & Free Shipping
– Gear is Inspected, Tested, & Ready to Play When it Arrives to You (We love this)
– Fair Prices
Visit Sweetwater:
3 Best Guitars With Lipstick Pickups – My Favorites
Best Budget – Silvertone Classic 1303/U2 SVB
What I like
- Affordable
- Offers vintage experience with both, sound and playability
- Offers high value for the money
- Stellar tuning stability
- Pickup height can be adjusted from the back of the guitar
What I don’t like
- Finish and quality issues can happen with cheap guitars like this
Who is it for?
If you are after a budget guitar with lipstick pickups, Silvertone Classic 1303/U2 SVB is one of the best choices. It offers pure lipstick pickup sound, vintage playability, and high value for the money.
Check Today’s Price on
Best Overall – Danelectro ’59M NOS+
What I like
- Unique bridge placement can fit some players really well (really comfortable for some picking hands)
- Pickup height can be adjusted from the back of the guitar
- The Slim (1.650″ nut width) neck with a C neck shape is easy to handle
- The flat 14″ fretboard is smooth to play around
- Metal nut only adds to the bright and jangly tone
What I don’t like
- Bridge placement might not suit everyone
- The metal nut is not for everyone’s tonal taste
Who is it for?
If you are after an extremely high-value guitar with a strong vintage vibe and lipstick pickups, Danelectro ’59M NOS+ is a top-notch choice. From metal nut to the classy tone, it’s a rockabilly machine that is impossible to ignore. I personally love the unique bridge placement too.
Check Today’s Price on
Best Resonator – Danelectro ’59 Resonator Guitar
What I like
- Easy electric guitar-like playability
- Pickup height can be adjusted from the back of the guitar
- Lipstick single-coil offers nice vintage tones
- Piezo cone pickup allows running this resonator through an amp
- Good all-around quality
- Sounds solid unplugged too
What I don’t like
- A hardboard top is a quite cheap choice
- Doesn’t give you an authentic resonator experience
- Not a solid top
Who is it for?
If you are after easy playing resonator guitar with lipstick pickup, this Danelectro ’59 Resonator is one of the best options. It sounds good with either lipstick single-coil or piezo cone pickup on or unplugged. It’s also one of the smoothest-playing resonator guitars because of its C-shaped neck and thin body.
To find out more about resonator guitars, check this in-depth guide: 5 Best Resonator Guitars – The Only Guide You Need
Check Today’s Price on
FAQ
Are Lipstick Pickups Any Good?
Lipstick pickups are an excellent choice if you aim for bright & glassy tones with scooped mids. There is some tightness on the low-end, but not that much meat on the tone. Lipstick pickups offer unique tone, work great with fuzz & overdrive, and are jangly with the cleans.
Lipstick pickups are a great choice for surf, rockabilly, and instrumental rock genres.
Pros and Cons of Lipstick Pickups
Pro
- Unique tone
- Offer fuzzy overdriven & distorted tone
- Jangly, bright, and glassy cleans
- Surprisingly versatile tonally
- Relatively quiet single-coils (the lipstick tube is usually grounded, this might help to minimize the noise)
- Extremely great fit with surf and rockabilly genres
Cons
- Very few brands use lipstick pickups (mainly Danelectro and Harley Benton and Fender sometimes)
- Scooped mids might not suit every player
Alternatives to Lipstick Pickups
There are not many great alternatives to lipstick single-coil pickups since their construction is so unique. But since lipstick pickups in general offer really low output, I would look for a low-output alternative.
Lipstick Pickups Construction
Lipstick pickup consists of 1 solid magnet pole, wrapped on copper wire. This duo is then waxed (to prevent pickups from picking up unwanted noise and to prevent corrosion), wrapped in tape, and placed inside of a lipstick tube (or a tube that looks like a lipstick tube).
This video by Phillip McKnight reveals the full teardown of a lipstick pickup:
Do Telecasters Have Lipstick Pickups?
No. Many people call the neck single coil of a Telecaster a lipstick single-coil, but it isn’t. Telecasters have normal single coils in them, on the neck too. Built-wise neck single coil of a Telecaster is just like any other single coil, with 6 magnetic poles in the middle and copper wire around them. Neck single-coils of Telecasters just usually have a cover and are smaller in size.
Conclusion on Guitars With Lipstick Pickups
There’s almost nothing better than moody/ambient lipstick clean licks played on top of rhythm played, you guessed it, with lipstick pickups. The tonality of this mix is outstanding. And to be honest, pretty much any stuff played with lipstick pups is amazing…
I hope this article helped you out, and maybe you even decided to get one of the guitars featured. If you have any questions, leave a comment, I and the GND team are here for you.
Now go, my son, and Rock!
You might also like:
5 Best Hollowbody Guitars Under $1000 in 2023 – Great for Jazz & Blues
5 Best Electric Guitars Under $200 in 2023 – Budget Guitars In-Depth Tested
5 Best Metal Guitars for Beginners in 2023 – Kickstart Your Shred Journey
Yamaha Pacifica 112V Review – In-Depth Tested
5 Best Electric Guitars for Small Hands in 2023 – The Only Guide You Need
