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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:24 pm
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I would tend to agree with you, Martian, however given the fact that all my electric guitars are SSS Strats I think my answer would have to be disqualified. On the other hand I used to have a PRS SE Custom 24 with humbuckers so for a brief period I had both. :x

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:56 pm
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blackstratacat wrote:
...Very good observation there, Martian 8)

Thank you! :)

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:55 am
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I seen a tele that had an HSH setup. The middle single coil was used only to get connect either of the humbuckers in a reversed phase configuration.

It sounded great to my feeble ears.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:28 am
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I don't have too big of a problem with mixing. Although, most of my guitars are HH.

If you're into vintage or moderate powered Humbuckers, then you're really just quieting down hum in the neck position as opposed to going with a single in the neck. But if you're a believer that singles have a more flavorful sound, then what's the issue if both types have the same relative output?

My favorite neck pickup is a single coil. But I've never been content with Strat single coil bridge pickups for all around versatility. When it comes time to distort, I want a Hum in the bridge.

There are only 2 situations where I use a neck pickup. For clean channel bassy tones, and when my wah is engaged (clean or dist.). It doesn't matter to me whether it's single or hum.

The only time I use middle pickups is when I want to hang back in the mix for rhythms. The middle switched position of HH seems to achieve the same thing.

For a neck Hum to come through with clarity, it seems like it needs to be in a range of output that can easily be in the normal range of a single. To me, the only questions become "Can I Handle the hum, and which one sounds more flavorful to me?"

I guess the short answer for me is that it doesn't matter much. I'm cool either way.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:00 am
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Happy Birthday Martian !

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:10 am
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I think it largelly depends on how well the pickups are matched. I do have an HSS Strat (M.I.C.). It's OK but not been able to compare side by side with a thoroughbred SSS one.
It has fallen out of favour since I put together my custom with a matched output hotrail humbucker in centre+ phase switch. Great range of tones.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:44 am
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I guess I never gave this subject a lot of thought. I have only one guitar with a single coil and humbucker -- it's a 15 year old Fender Cyclone that doesn't get much playing time these days.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:51 am
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I'm with you on this one. IMO, Strats and Teles should be single coil only while LP's & SGs should be all HB's.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:37 am
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I use to be that way, however after having "The B_tch" around for a while...a '99 Fat Standard, I have to admit that my opinion has changed a bit. A lot of it could be the Southern Rock gig I've been doing for a while now, but I do kind of like being able to drop down to that humbucker for the leads on tunes like "Sweet Home Alabama" and such and switch back to the single coils for the rhythm. I've also found it to be rather nice for switching back and forth between stuff like the SRV material (where I'm usually in the neck/mid position) and some ZZ Top stuff (with the hb) for tunes like "Fool For Your Stockings"...it's kind of wicked to do ZZ Top on a Strat :-)

I guess a lot of also really depends on what I'm doing as well...ever since I bought the Roland midi rig, I tend to stay on the '95 Standard a lot (Blue 2...all single coils w/ the Roland pickup), but a great deal of that is because I'm also doing a lot of keys/piano and sax and such now as well. That said, there's just some tunes that guitar doesn't really sound right on, so I still end up switching back and forth on guitars quite a bit.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:06 am
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The tonal qualities I look for in a guitar is for it to be distinctive and flexible generally. I'm just not a one guitar fits all kind of guy since I tend to play a fairly wide range of styles. I don't own a gallery of guitars. I own just a few that serve specific purposes. However my strat is my most flexible in terms of configurations and that's because I chose a HSH configuration so that positions 2, 3, and 4 give me a mixture of single coil tones while 1 and 5 give me some humbucker tones. I also have coil tapping on my Les Paul, but not on my hollow body Gretsch as that's more of a specialized guitar for very specific styles.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:09 am
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Here's Albert Lee (mostly soloing) with neck 'bucker
and single coils...sounds fine to me. :D


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:47 pm
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Thanks, Mike. Nice vid.

I think DonX14 nailed it exactly. If the electronic bits are not precisely paired for each other there can be issues. I believe they are particularly puzzling when it comes to coil taps. I have two guitars with mixed pups. My Partsocaster, which I do not feel is fully sussed out yet. It's great on some switch positions but the coil taps leave me wanting a little more. I blame myself for that because even after fiddling with it for a while I still don't think I fully understand the dynamics involved in pairing buckers and singles. That being said, my '98 AD Fat Strat Locking, which is still stock factory Fender as regard the electronics, is a wonderful machine and balancing the pups was simply a matter of raising and lowering pickups. They did a great job sussing it all out but it's all greek to me under the hood. 1MΩ pots make zero sense to me given the tone of the guitar but there are some caps involved which I don't fully understand in places where you don't typically see them and of course the superswitch which is akin to rocket science to this layman. All I'm saying is, it IS possible to make it work. Just don't ask me how it all works. I just enjoy it when it does. Despite all the axes that have come and gone over the years and despite my best efforts to dethrone it, my '98 is still my number one and always has been since I got it. Trembucker and all.

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:29 pm
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I tend to agree, but I do like the coil tapping option on my Les Paul and I've played some Teles with a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck that I've liked.

Here's a really simple solution you can try if it sounds like your pickups are mismatched: try adjusting the pickup height to match pickup outputs. If your single coils sound weak, raise them and lower your humbucker. That trick has improved the sound on many guitars I've tried it on. The best part is that it's free and sometimes it's even improved the tone on pickups I thought I didn't like!

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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:41 am
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I have two: an Ibanez HSH and a Strat HSS. The Ibanez configuration is fairly useful but the Strat gets used either as an SS, neck single or with the 'bucker alone. It isn't very balanced but I got a great deal on it and figured I could always change the pups down the road. But if I had to sell a guitar right now, that would be my top candidate as my least used one.

I'd love to try one of the new Shawbuckers live. The video makes it seem far more balanced, as though you really can use the bucker with the middle pup and that it doesn't overpower any of the other settings. I'd really want to see how easily you can dial in a balanced sound in a live environment. The video is great, but it's in a controlled environment with their choice of amps, mics to use, etc.


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Post subject: Re: Just Curious
Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:48 pm
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I feel SOME comfort in reading the last post (philipk) - or else I felt a bit stupid after reading all these postings , where nearly all of you agree that mixing of pups is bullshi-t.
The thing is : I've just been playing for some hours (at home) with my new guitar , which I bought 2 days ago. (- and left behind a considerable amount of money in the shop) And i have been very happy with the tonality and sound in most pickup combinations , leaving the amp with the same settings (Princeton rec. amp)
My new axe is a Am Strat deluxe , with a shawbucker . But I think I stay to my own observation there , because I really like this axe and the superb tones I can get from it. I've just owned one HSS guitar ( for nearly 25 years) - and that was quite good , but not as easy to balance as this one. (Carvin DC135C, which I sold a couple of weeks ago)
So this new Strat is just a breeze to dial in a diversity of tones, also in conjunction with the S1-switch. For me , this is a stayer :D
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