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Post subject: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 2:42 pm
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I know that the vast majority of players don't think like I do in this regard: I require any guitar of mine to be either all humbucking in all its pickup selections or all single coil in all its pickup selections. The reason being, I feel there is a definite compromise in the amp's settings where neither of the two can achieve their optimum tonality. Granted, this is certainly not a monumental issue but I was just wondering if anyone else feels the same way. :?:

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 3:49 pm
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I share you views, Martian.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:09 pm
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Martian wrote:
I know that the vast majority of players don't think like I do in this regard: I require any guitar of mine to be either all humbucking in all its pickup selections or all single coil in all its pickup selections. The reason being, I feel there is a definite compromise in the amp's settings where neither of the two can achieve their optimum tonality. Granted, this is certainly not a monumental issue but I was just wondering if anyone else feels the same way. :?:


Seems like a lot of people don't like mixing them! A lot of topics about people getting HSS Strats then getting new pickguards and a single coil to convert to SSS. I have only one and I swapped out the humbucker for a P90 a few months ago - was an HSS with no pickguard and would have looked strange with a singlecoil screwed into a humbucker route but the P90 was a perfect fit.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:50 pm
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I also share this view. I recently bought a strat that is SSH and I have major issues with the pickup switching. I can't get all the pick ups to sound good without major changes to my amp. The guitar is now for sale.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:41 pm
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Martian wrote:
I know that the vast majority of players don't think like I do in this regard: I require any guitar of mine to be either all humbucking in all its pickup selections or all single coil in all its pickup selections. The reason being, I feel there is a definite compromise in the amp's settings where neither of the two can achieve their optimum tonality. Granted, this is certainly not a monumental issue but I was just wondering if anyone else feels the same way. :?:


Well said Martian. Worded that way I agree. :D

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:51 pm
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Sound reasoning, and I agree.

Neither is better than the other, just different.

The Rock, Blues, Metal and Country annuls are full of monumental examples of each !

But mixing the two blurs the qualities of each, and as mentioned, makes trying to dial-in an Amp a compromise at best.

IMHO, Fender adding humbuckers alongside single coils has more to do with marketing than 'tonal versatility'. There are those believing they're getting the best of both worlds, only to become less than enthusiastic about them later on, as we've seen right here on this forum.

Interesting that Gibson hasn't yet decided to create such hybrids... :?

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 11:10 pm
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Lightnin MN wrote:
Sound reasoning, and I agree.

Neither is better than the other, just different.

The Rock, Blues, Metal and Country annuls are full of monumental examples of each !

But mixing the two blurs the qualities of each, and as mentioned, makes trying to dial-in an Amp a compromise at best.

IMHO, Fender adding humbuckers alongside single coils has more to do with marketing than 'tonal versatility'. There are those believing they're getting the best of both worlds, only to become less than enthusiastic about them later on, as we've seen right here on this forum.

Interesting that Gibson hasn't yet decided to create such hybrids... :?

cheers!

Guess the modeling amp crowd has the advantage there - they can dial in their presets and toggle back and forth so they don't have to compromise.

I'm thinking that the HSS mix has more to do with marketing too, and as we've seen on the Forum over and over, people that buy HSS often convert it to the traditional SSS. I know that I have no intentions of getting another but have played some Teles lately with a HB in the neck that I really liked. Same issue with the amp though - dial it in with the best tone going to bridge singlecoil or the neck HB? You can't have both although it does seem to work better with the Tele setup than a HSS Strat.

My Les Paul has coil split - maybe that was Gibson's way of getting in on the marketing hype? If so I wasn't impressed and if I played it more would likely order up some traditional HB's for it. Maybe is just the cheap Epi pickups but they just don't have that LP sound. Or could be that it has 250k pots to accommodate it in single coil mode and that is compromising the humbucker mode sound. Some things just shouldn't be messed with - either have plain humbuckers with 500k pots or all singlecoils going into 250k. It worked for decades.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:29 am
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I'm with the rest of you guys, don't mix em..

and yea,, the mustang does help you manage this. I have two banks setup.

one is optimized for the humbukers, the other optimized for single coils.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:18 am
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I think that P-90 pickups are an anomaly in this theory.
You can easily mix a P-90 with a single coil without the resulting disparity in amp settings (I know this because my Telecaster has a P-90 in the neck and a flat-pole Tele bridge pup).

But I have also seem people mix a P-90 (which is technically a single coil pickup, albeit a large one) with a humbucker, and it sounded excellent. Gibson did this a few years ago with the BFG Les Paul, and I have an acquaintance who did that pickup combination on a Tele knockoff...neither one had volume/eq/amp setting issues.

Besides the fact that I love their fat, punchy and focused tone, I've always felt that P-90s were more versatile and are the best of both worlds of standard single coils and Humbuckers...and perhaps they are the tonal missing link, as shown by the fact you can mix and match them with either pickup.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:37 am
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I agree too. Which is one reason why I am somewhat dismayed by Fender putting out more and more SH/HS/SSH/SHS/SHH/HSS/HSH/HSS models. Stick to not mixing, please.

However, I do like being able to switch to using a single coil of humbuckers (sometimes incorrectly described as coil tapping, which is not the same). As long as it happens on all pickups.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:06 am
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I agree - - either/or ...but not together.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:14 am
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Same here, all my Strats and Teles are single coil, if I need humbuckers I use one of my Gibson.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:54 am
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I'm with those who prefer to have a separation of single coils from humbuckers. The variables of sound and volume just haven't appealed to me. I'm not saying it can't work or doesn't exist in good form; it just doesn't grab me from many of the combos I tried.

While personal preference plays a part here, the S1 switch is a compromise . . . but, at least the matchup is more consistent IMHO.

And, I might add, I hate the mismatch of PUP colours on a guitar. Two single coils combined with two separate covers could be improved, perhaps, with a single combined cover.

Just my 2 sense. :D

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:29 pm
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I own a guitar with an HSH configuration. The single coil in the middle position is an lipstick-like PU. If I play rhythm stuff with that guitar, I normally use the lipstick and one of the humbuckers. And if I want to play an lead part after that rhythm part, I only deactivate the lipstick and than the sound gets something like "boosted".
Thats pretty cool with that guitar but normally I prefer only-singlecoil-configurations or only-humbucker-configurations, too.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:03 pm
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I guess I'd be of the same opinion if I switched pickups a lot through a song (or a set).
But I have my favorite selections for each strat, so... I'm not affected much by the inconsistency.

Very good observation there, Martian 8)


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