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Post subject: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:33 pm
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Had a talk with a guitar playing buddy of mine the other day, and I made the comment that, circa 1995, the HSS pickup arrangement was still fairly exotic for Stratocasters. Certainly not unknown, but still somewhat rare. The kind of thing you'd have to have the local tech/luthier set up for you.

He seemed to think HSS strats were fairly common as early as the mid-80s.

So, question: What year did Fender first offer production Stratocasters with the HSS pickup layout?


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 4:10 am
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Can't give you an exact year, but (at least) the Contemporary, HM and Fat Strat were born in the eighties.
And of course, the Frankenstrat shimmers in the shadows before those.

I'd imagine this wasn't an easy period for Fender - in the early eighties they were going 'back to basics' (Dan Smith etc.) while the public demand for Superstrats was growing...

For the wizards of the forum, I'll expand the question: first MIA/MIM/MIJ HSS models, what and when?


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:54 am
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There were of course non-Fender HSS (and HH and single H) strat-styled guitars that were at least semi-production by other manufacturers and not just mods done by individual players. I'm thinking primarily Schecter, as you could get them with SSS, HSS, and HH assemblies circa 1977-1982.

Regarding Fender - the first HSS, HH and H model Fenders that I remember seeing were the MIJ Contemporary series in 1985. There were several variations on HSS and HH, plus at least one single H model. It seems like those went away and were replaced by the HM series around 1988 - the original MIJ HMs were available as HSS and single H.

The HMs were called "made in USA" (but the bodies and necks appear to still be FujiGen) so I guess we'll follow Fender and call them the first "USA" model Strats with a bridge humbucker. At that point the single H model was dropped and the HSS model was joined by an HH version and another verision that was HS where the neck single coil was a Lace Sensor. There was also that "unknown origin" model in 1989-90ish that was HSS, had a figured top, and had a Kahler Spyder trem that appears to also be an all-FujiGen build (except for the pickups and the Kahler).

Other HSS models would be MIJ builds - like the HRR models that came out in 1990, and that more Ibanez/Jackson looking version of the HM from 1992. And of course the Heartfield Talons were branded as "Fender" briefly (that might depend upon what part of the world you lived in).

If we're talking a "pure" USA build, then it was probably the Strat Ultra since it had that Dual Red Lace Sensor in the bridge slot; that would date to 1990/1991, followed by the Floyd Rose Classic model in 1992 (HSS or HH with an OFR). There wouldn't be an American Standard with a factory bridge humbucker until 1996 when the "Lone Star" model came out.

I don't recall there being an MIM HSS model until that "Stratocaster Special" model came out circa 1994/95.

Of course there have been even more models since then, but those are the early ones. And of course during the 1990s Fender stopped importing most of the MIJ models to the USA as more production was taking place in Mexico.


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:30 am
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The HSH configuration is fairly recent, the first guitar to sport this layout was the Dave Murray Stratocaster, introduced a couple of years ago - followed by similar models in the US Standard/Deluxe, MIM Blacktop and MIC Modern Player series. But - alas - there are no HHH-equipped Strats (apart Billy Corgan's customized hard-tail Highway 1) in the horizon.

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(guitar is not mine).

John C wrote:
If we're talking a "pure" USA build, then it was probably the Strat Ultra


You forgot the original Jeff Beck Strat with the fat baseball neck!



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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:18 am
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chromeface wrote:

John C wrote:
If we're talking a "pure" USA build, then it was probably the Strat Ultra


You forgot the original Jeff Beck Strat with the fat baseball neck!



Good catch!! I did forget to include the Beck which came out at about the same time frame as the Ultra and the Floyd Rose Classics.


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:45 pm
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John C wrote:
There were of course non-Fender HSS (and HH and single H) strat-styled guitars that were at least semi-production by other manufacturers and not just mods done by individual players. I'm thinking primarily Schecter, as you could get them with SSS, HSS, and HH assemblies circa 1977-1982.


Thanks for this knowledgeable response...and for reminding me of an old axe I owned in the mid eighties and had completely forgotten about. It was indeed a Schecter "Strat" with the HH P/U arrangement, and with an astonishingly unattractive salmon pink paint job! Heh, it was the 80s.


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:05 am
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Is that salmon pink Schecter Strat HH equipped with three mini-toggles? From what I see David Schecter used a couple of mini toggle switches instead of the normal 5-way selector - giving you a lot of tonal options....


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:19 am
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John C wrote:
that would date to 1990/1991, followed by the Floyd Rose Classic model in 1992
.

The Floyd Rose Classics and the original Sambora signature models were the successors to the MIJ HRRs.

Not all HRRs were Japanese as I've recently read an article saying the Custom Shop did a couple of customized HRR50s for Richie himself and these guitars became the platform for a signature model which debuted in 1991 - with the HSS pickups being powered by a switchable active Elite circuit which can be turned off through a special push-push button located between the TBX and MDX tone controls.

In 1996 Fender Japan did their own version of the Sambora Strat available in 3 colours: cherry sunburst, snow white and black paisley. Unlike their MIA counterparts the Japanese Samboras lacked off the Elite circuitry and Texas Specials but retained the TBX tone pot for the middle/bridge pickups.

Richie's own Black Paisley guitar (built by Todd Krause) sported the same specs found on the MIA Artist series.


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:57 am
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chromeface wrote:
Is that salmon pink Schecter Strat HH equipped with three mini-toggles? From what I see David Schecter used a couple of mini toggle switches instead of the normal 5-way selector - giving you a lot of tonal options....


By the mid-80s Schecters could have had either the mini-toggles or a blade switch on the HH models. If I'm remembering correctly the mini-switches kind of went away for them during the Dallas era - which would be after David Schecter and Tom Anderson had both left the company. During the Van Nuys era it seems like more of them had the mini toggles instead of blade switches (they moved to Dallas in 1984).


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:30 am
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John C wrote:
Regarding Fender - the first HSS, HH and H model Fenders that I remember seeing were the MIJ Contemporary series in 1985.


That's actually a bit of a surprise, especially considering that the "Mother of all HSS Strats" (Frankenstrat) is from the seventies. But the slow reaction time is likely due to CBS/FMIC tapestry - seems there are no CBS-HSS-Strats.
(BTW: I would have bet my money on some Fat Strat being the first...)


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:07 pm
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Though the Strat Ultra was one of the first HSS Stratocasters, the people @ Fender do not have schematics for this great instrument. There are no schematics for the Strat Plus or the Tele Plus. I would think this is due to the corporate relationship between Lace and Fender, which has been terminated.

So the few who have these wonderful instruments, cannot service them properly, thanks to this poison between these companies.

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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:42 pm
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John C wrote:
There were of course non-Fender HSS strat-styled guitars that were at least semi-production by other manufacturers and not just mods done by individual players. I'm thinking primarily Schecter ...

Yes ... and also from Dean, Charvel, and Kramer. Probably Washburn, too.
Eddie's Frankenstrat was a major driver for this. And even though Eddie's git only had one single-coil instead of two (which was not even functional),
it still definitely triggered HSS designs of the era.
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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:55 pm
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jmattis wrote:
John C wrote:
Regarding Fender - the first HSS, HH and H model Fenders that I remember seeing were the MIJ Contemporary series in 1985.


That's actually a bit of a surprise, especially considering that the "Mother of all HSS Strats" (Frankenstrat) is from the seventies. But the slow reaction time is likely due to CBS/FMIC tapestry - seems there are no CBS-HSS-Strats.
(BTW: I would have bet my money on some Fat Strat being the first...)


Only Teles got humbuckers during the CBS era and these Seth Lover-designed wide range pickups employed CuNiFe magnets. Strats were always available with single coils.

In fact a lot of musicians such as Eddie Van Halen customized their Stratocasters with humbucking pickups in order to achieve a heavier sound required for their playing style. Later EVH replaced the Rockinger tremolo from his "frankenstrat" with an original Floyd Rose bridge assembly and this association with the inventor of the locking tremolo brought him into the Kramer camp - the brand's most important endorsee who further boosted Kramer's success.

Image

In 1983 the Pacers were slimmed down, with the Pacer Deluxes becoming the first guitars to bear an HSS pickup layout. This became a very popular configuration and, along with Strat-style bodies and pointy droopy Explorer-like headstocks, would dominate the rest of the 1980s.


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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:41 pm
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And Dave Murray's (Iron Maiden) iconic black Strat with HSH configuration pre-dated Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstrat. It was a 1957 Strat he purchased from Paul Kossoff (Free.) He used it on the 70s Iron Maiden albums primarily and has since retired it for more modern Strats with SSS and HSS configurations utilizing Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio single-slot humbuckers and standard humbuckers and Floyd Rose trems.

The iconic black Strat's setup included a DiMarzio PAF, A Super Distortion and a Fender standard mid single coil (which is almost useless in that configuration.) What I don't know is if the Dave Murray Strat was HSH while owned by Paul Kossoff or if Dave modded it after purchasing. If Paul Kossoff used it in Free with HSH config then it was a circa mid to late 60s HSH!

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Post subject: Re: History of HSS Strats
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:25 am
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Dave used his namesake signature guitar for the Somewhere Back in Time world tour of 2008/2009. This model, however, is slightly different than the regular production Artist series as it shares many of the features borrowing from the MIJ HST-57DM tribute Strat. Has the '57/62 single in the middle and a pair of Super Distortion DP-100 humbuckers in the neck & bridge - all hooked into a 5-way pickup selector - while the bridge is an original Floyd in place of the vintage 6-screw trem.

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