I had a HSS for a while, but I missed the clean bridge single coil sound and the mid/bridge quack. To my ears, I just don't like the clean sound of a humbucker (full or split) in a Strat bridge; it's just not the same as a real single coil. I do like the clean tones of a humbucker in an LP or 335 type guitar. I only have the one guitar, so I went back to SSS. If I had enough extra cash to justify buying another Strat I'd make that HSS.

Own both and you've got it all covered.............. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

My HWY1 HSS run through a BOSS Metal Core into my HR DeVille isn't perverse. It's plain evil!

Great addition/necessary evil.

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Fender 50th Anniversary Strat
Fender Road Worn '50s Strat
Fender Highway One (HSS) Strat (D standard tuning)
Fender '72 Tele Deluxe
Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212

Absolutely! The more reason to own more guitars! I personally, don't have a reason to ever use position 1 on the switch, but all the sounds a strat makes are good ones to somebody or the other. Most of my guitars are HSS from one manufacturer or another; it's simple tonal versatility. I do however have an SSS strat and think anybody that likes them should.

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

Absolute total PERFECTION!!!

The HSS Stratocaster IS one of the most versatile guitars on the planet!!
You sacfrfice NOTHING!! You have all the great STRAT sounds in positions 2 through 5 AND you have the great humbucker chunk in the bridge!

Though I LOVE Strats....I've never had ANY use for the single coil bridge pickup....to shrill, brittle and not enough chunk!

This way...in my band....I can do a Hendrix cover, and then do a Zeppelin cover without switching guitars.

I am a BIT prejudiced though......(see pic)
All of these Highway One's have had their tuners, pickups , and saddles replaced!

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

i prefer the traditional sss pickup configuration. just sounds like what i think a strat should soundlike to me. one day i will pickup a hss to add some variety but my fave is the sss.

HWY1Strat: That is a MASSIVE collection of Highway ones All with Rosewood necks (I guess you know how you like em). Is it correct that you've loaded most of them with Dimazio Area 61 single coils?

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My Rig: Guitar into Pedals then into Amps and out into Speakers.

Perversion or Perfection--such extremes!

Though I have an AmDlx (SSS) and a HW1 HSS I have to say that the more spartan lines of the SC pups, with special attention to the slant of the bridge pup has a magical elegance. When I got my HW1 HSS I actually hated the black on parchment scheme that came with the sunburst. I swapped out the pickguard for a BWB and things are looking better. But mind you--this was a problem of visual aesthetics.

As musicians we have a choice--do we follow or do we lead? Those who only follow end up getting stuck in a set mode and can't break out of the structures laid out by others. Some make good money being Elvis, Hendrix and Micheal Jackson impersonators. But none-the-less, they are stuck inside a box.

I have a friend--let's call him James since that's his name. He wants that Hendrix tone so badly that he's got the vintage Marshall '67 Plexi and a white '70 Stratocaster. He's got all vintage stomp boxes that he's paid so much for he won't touch even them with his bare feet. They're on a stand where he can engage them by hand. But--he spends so much time finding stuff on eBay--buying this and selling that, spending hours and hours every day and after 13 years of knowing him he still doesn't know what a pentatonic scale is or what I mean when I say 1-4-5. So he has all this gear but I sound 100 X more like Hendrix than him on an acoustic guitar. In the end, it's not what you play but how you play that becomes your art--your music.

The best musicians are always growing, always pushing their limits. Miles Davis wasn't just a trumpet player, he was an innovator. SRV wasn't just another Hendrix knock off. He was a genuine original who, like many others were sparked off by the electricity of Hendrix, but then made his own original mark.

Perversion or perfection? Think about it--since most of the best songs are about making love, partying and hanging with the cats (dogs for all you young homies) which by Vatican standards are all perversions, those songs most perfect to most of us, if you think about it, are all perverted. Such powerful words only put up walls--limits. Art is best when it is unfettered.

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"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

Impulse7....yeah...I'm a recent Rosewood convert! Maple is just too darn BRIGHT for my taste!
Here is the "official" pickup breakdown.....

The breakdown:
(Walnut) DiMarzio Area 67(n) Area 61(m) Gibson Burstbucker 3
(Sunburst) Fender Vintage Noiseless, Gibson 57 Classic Plus
(Ebony trans.) Fender Vintage Noiseless, Gibson 498T
(Daphne Blue) Dimarzio Area 67, DiMarzio 36th Anniv. P.A.F.
(Black) Fender Vintage Noiseless, Gibson 490T
(Amber) DiMarzio Area 58, DiMarzio P.A.F.
(Wine Trans.) DiMarzio Area 58, Dimarzio 36th Anniv. P.A.F.

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!