Superstrats - HH or HSH?

Schnozz

H or HSH for me - Prefer the latter nowadays.

mbe

Megii said:

If the guitar is not wired for that as purchased, I should be able to do any mods to wiring.

Not so fast pilgrim, have you got the necessary permission from your 'friend' 

hassleham

HSS always

thegummy

hassleham said:

HSS always

For me HSS looks better than either by far; looks great actually.

Particularly because I think a metal cover on the humbucker looks really good with HSS but having 2 metal covered humbuckers on a Strat just looks terrible to me (I actually sent my humbuckers back to have the covers removed when I put them in to a Strat). 

I love the look of HSS I just miss the neck humbucker sound.

If I was really rich and could have loads of guitars I'd have an HSS Strat for the look in addition to having HH and SSS.

digitalscream

Middle pickups have no useful function other than generating the out-of-phase positions in a Strat.

If you don't have a Strat, they will only make everything worse and get in the way of your picking.

Burn them.

(it's possible I may have strong opinions about them)

Anyway, HH.

Megii

mbe said:

Megii said:

If the guitar is not wired for that as purchased, I should be able to do any mods to wiring.

Not so fast pilgrim, have you got the necessary permission from your 'friend' 

Ah yes, well obviously I meant I could do that for my friend if he wanted... 

Megii

thegummy said:

hassleham said:

HSS always

For me HSS looks better than either by far; looks great actually.

Particularly because I think a metal cover on the humbucker looks really good with HSS but having 2 metal covered humbuckers on a Strat just looks terrible to me (I actually sent my humbuckers back to have the covers removed when I put them in to a Strat). 

I love the look of HSS I just miss the neck humbucker sound.

If I was really rich and could have loads of guitars I'd have an HSS Strat for the look in addition to having HH and SSS.

This one would need to have a neck humbucker. But like you I'm very influenced by how things look, as much as any practical considerations.  

Megii

digitalscream said:

Middle pickups have no useful function other than generating the out-of-phase positions in a Strat.

If you don't have a Strat, they will only make everything worse and get in the way of your picking.

Burn them.

(it's possible I may have strong opinions about them)

Anyway, HH.

Strong opinions are good, no worries there

hassleham

@thegummy Agreed, HSS is the best looking setup for me as well (see pic for reference ), but I don't think I've ever thought "I wish I had a humbucker in the neck instead of a singlecoil"


https://photos.app.goo.gl/s6tsb1k7Y5THEQvRA

xDaigaijin

Your friend is lucky to have you to help them through these awkward and challenging questions You are a brave and selfless soul, I salute you.

To your friend is say, I have both HH and HSH, predictably they are different but similar, if you add push/pots and the pickups have the correct wiring the combinations can be further extended

I have single coil sized humbuckers in the middle position that can further add to the tone options with clever wiring

Plus HSH might be easier if you want to add a sutainiac at some point, tho I've not tried that

thegummy

hassleham said:

@thegummy Agreed, HSS is the best looking setup for me as well (see pic for reference ), but I don't think I've ever thought "I wish I had a humbucker in the neck instead of a singlecoil"


https://photos.app.goo.gl/s6tsb1k7Y5THEQvRA

I loved the idea of HSS and, though I had nothing against its sound, I knew I wouldn't miss the bridge single. So I tried it for a while and literally did miss the neck humbucker.

I don't mean instead of a single; if I could only have one guitar the neck would be single coil without a doubt, but I really like a neck humbucker too as long as it's far enough away from the bridge.

So I ended up getting 2 Strats so I could have both. Since then I've got a hot single coil pickup in the bridge that has a base plate on it and I don't think I'd want to be without that option now either.

P.S. Your guitar looks great.

Megii

Kebabkid said:

Have you looked at the wiring for the Suhr Pete Thorn? That's a twin humbucker design and is set out like this:-

Controls: Volume, Tone(Push/Pull Parallel Bridge Pickup),

5-Way Custom Pete Thorn Wiring
1.Bridge
2.Both Single
3.Both Hums
4.Neck Single
5. Neck Hum

Neck Pickup: Thornbucker
Bridge Pickup: Thornbucker+

I'm a HSS/superstrat guy but I've actually been impressed with Suhr's HH sounds on a 5-way switch, particularly the inbetween positions, but I recently heard an EBMM Albert Lee HH and a EBMM Luke III HH and they were both excellent in those formats.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of spank/quack in there as well as the excellent and strong Humbucking sounds

Cheers @Kebabkid - no had not looked at that and most interesting, cheers.

Megii

Daigaijin said:

Your friend is lucky to have you to help them through these awkward and challenging questions You are a brave and selfless soul, I salute you.

To your friend is say, I have both HH and HSH, predictably they are different but similar, if you add push/pots and the pickups have the correct wiring the combinations can be further extended

I have single coil sized humbuckers in the middle position that can further add to the tone options with clever wiring

Plus HSH might be easier if you want to add a sutainiac at some point, tho I've not tried that

Thank you! He is lucky, you're absolutely right there... He would ask on the forum himself but is a bit embarrassed about wanting a pointy super-strat in his mid 50s, I'm sure we can all understand about that. Sustainiac is an intriguing idea, hadn't thought about that one (on behalf my friend of course).

Megii

thegummy said:

hassleham said:

@thegummy Agreed, HSS is the best looking setup for me as well (see pic for reference ), but I don't think I've ever thought "I wish I had a humbucker in the neck instead of a singlecoil"


https://photos.app.goo.gl/s6tsb1k7Y5THEQvRA

I loved the idea of HSS and, though I had nothing against its sound, I knew I wouldn't miss the bridge single. So I tried it for a while and literally did miss the neck humbucker.

I don't mean instead of a single; if I could only have one guitar the neck would be single coil without a doubt, but I really like a neck humbucker too as long as it's far enough away from the bridge.

So I ended up getting 2 Strats so I could have both. Since then I've got a hot single coil pickup in the bridge that has a base plate on it and I don't think I'd want to be without that option now either.

P.S. Your guitar looks great.

Cheers! glad you like the one I (i.e. my friend) picked out. Do wish I could find out more about the trem unit - it seems to be new on a few Ibanez models this year, and I suspect is replacing the Edge 2.

I already do have guitars with neck humbuckers as well as strats and a tele or two with single coils. Some of the strats have the facility to have neck+middle and middle+bridge in series, which is a bit stronger tone. But re the neck pickup,  I like both, but if I had to choose I'd have to go humbucker. What I don't have is a 24 fret "built for speed" modern style of guitar so am really looking to fill that void as it were.

lysander

I’m 100% with @digitalscream on this one.
The Ibanez 5 position switches on RGs with 2 humbuckers give me all the sounds I need, with no hum, I’m a fan of that config.

TTBZ

HH would be my vote but I can't stand middle pickups! I just find it gets in the way of my picking, and looks too busy. Doesn't produce any sounds I like either so bin it!

Philly_Q

HH, but no great logic to it, I just don't like the look of HSH (although somehow HSH looks OK on a Jem or RG, despite looking wrong on a Strat).  And there's certainly plenty of scope for different sounds with two humbuckers and a five-way switch.

musteatbrain

I’ve had a few HSH and a lot of HH guitars. Never really given it much thought but reading this thread made me realise that none of the HSH had in between sounds that were better than positions 2 and 4 on the HH guitars with a 5 way switch.

Not sure of the wiring on musicman and Suhr, but the two I have had with HH have been best

Megii

lysander said:

I’m 100% with @digitalscream on this one.
The Ibanez 5 position switches on RGs with 2 humbuckers give me all the sounds I need, with no hum, I’m a fan of that config.

TTBZ said:

HH would be my vote but I can't stand middle pickups! I just find it gets in the way of my picking, and looks too busy. Doesn't produce any sounds I like either so bin it!

Philly_Q said:

HH, but no great logic to it, I just don't like the look of HSH (although somehow HSH looks OK on a Jem or RG, despite looking wrong on a Strat).  And there's certainly plenty of scope for different sounds with two humbuckers and a five-way switch.

All things being equal, I am coming down in favour of HH I have to say - I think it would do what I wanted, and a bit less congested than HSH on a 24 fret. The guitar I was specifically looking at actually has a 3-way selector plus coil tap, which is maybe not what I'd choose, but I could get a super-switch and change the wiring I would think.

Does anyone know anything about the trem unit on this guitar - it's just described as "double locking trem bridge". It's branded "Ibanez" and having looked on Ibanez' own website, I see it used on quite a few other new models.

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/ibanez-rg420hpfm-blue-reef-gradation-electric-guitar?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi8D_25ul6gIVQeztCh1lhAghEAQYBCABEgLIvvD_BwE#product-details

ToneControl

I prefer single coil, but HH any day rather than the normal mismatched HSH

maybe a P90 in the middle could work

also PPH could be better I think