I was wondering how the hs-3s and hs-4s sound. Are they capable of metal tones? Specifically rythym tones

It can be done but at a cost…I have these pickups and can only get a metal rhythm tone with them by cranking up the gain on the amp (AND) using a distortion pedal. This works and sounds good at bedroom levels but all the extra gain to get them there is very noisy and feedback is out of control.. this configuration would never work at gig volume levels because too hard to control. Might work with a noise suppresser but I have never tried that…. With a tube amp you can get some decent distortion if the amp is cranked to the point of power tube saturation but you need to be playing arenas at that volume and still not really going to be the distortion you need for Metal rhythms. Leads is a different story as you could work with it cleaner for solos………. These are very weak pickups and not really designed for Metal tones… Not to say they suck because they’re very nice with great tone with sweet low end and some punchy mids but again not designed for Metal…..these pickups are very good for clean and into some Blues tones…. For metal you may want to look into the Dimarzoi ( Chopper,Cruiser, tone Zone, or fast track rail pickups).

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

Welcome to the Forum by the way, Glad to have you here and enjoy. some great knowledge here and 10 lifetimes full of experience form some of the nicest people you will ever meet….

Cheers
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

FYI: Malmsteen jumped off the DiMarzio ship and is now with Duncan:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/e ... _yjm_fury/

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You dig?

This means that his signature model should be upgraded once.

I was wondering why the Dimarzio YJM was now being called the HS-4

thanx Martian

Cheers
Bill

_________________
(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

You're welcome!

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You dig?

If you want good metal tone, put a humbucker in your strat, like the American Special. That's what I have and I can play metal to blues on my guitar. It's a one-stop, play-it-all guitar.

Here's an American Special HSS Strat with the DH-1 humbucker and the Floyd Rose original tremelo.

Not be confused with the "new" American Special HSS, which is a completely different beast.

Ah i see! i just got into the whole modding my strat thing i was also looking into the size of frets. i feel that i MAY like JUMBO frets . Has anyone bought necks from the stratosphere ebay site?