I've got the funds to buy a new guitar. I was going to replace the Les Paul Studio that I had reluctantly sold recently, but I also have a Robert Cray Strat MIM that I really have gotton used to. I see these MIA Strats with the Humbucker in the bridge position and I wonder how good they sound. How close, if at all, do they come to a Les Paul sound? Do they have a coil tap splitter switch so I can get the single coil sound if I want it? Your opinions and facts please !

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

IME, no, it will NOT sound like a LP.

The tone of an LP is as much the maple cap, the mahogany body, the scale length, the position of the pickup locations from the witness point on the bridge, etc.. as it is the humbuckers.

Coil switches are relevant to the pickup that's installed and how many conductor wires are provided. In other words, the pickup in question has to have the wiring available to implement coil switching or phase cancelling switches.

No it will not sound like a Les Paul, but they do sound pretty good. If you can, try it out before you buy.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I have 2 HSS Strats set up with coil split switch, one is a push /pull Volume, the other is a DPDT toggle switch....
NO.... they never sound like a Les Paul, it's different configuration. My first HSS never sounded like My LPC and vice versa when compared.

BTW... A coil Tap is where the HB is tapped in the middle of the coils wiring which when switched cuts the coils to half of that coil producing power so if you have a 10 K resistance on that pup hitting the coil tap will cut that resistance by half, which in effect gives you a much weaker output.

A coil switch is where your HB has ( must have ) 4 wires two to each coil, the coils are then wired up with one central wire from each coil soldered together as a ground. This effectively cuts out one of the HB's coils completely thus you have a single coil sounding like a single coil.
when the switch is activated.

Be careful if you have this done and you ask the tech for a coil Tap, you will not get a coil switch if he/ she takes you literally. They are quite different.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I have an Am Dlx HSS, and an '07 LP Standard Faded. Two completely different beasts. I wouldn't even attempt to make them sound the same. I like them for their differences.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

If you want a Les Paul type sound out of a Stratocaster, try to find a short scale model with a humbucker. The Contemporary Series of the '80s featured some short scale guitars.