Do-all stage guitar

Musicwolf

rlw said:

I was going to say 'Studio 22'.  I have the core version

ICBM

Yorkie said:

I have never been able to get convincing strat bridge+middle with a humbucker on the bridge position.

Surprisingly on my Swamp Ash Special, the more convincing ‘Strat’ bridge/middle is with the humbucker *not* split. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think the spacing of the coils is more important than the type of pickup. It’s not exactly the same as a real Strat, but it’s easily close enough to work with a band.

BigPaulie

rlw said:

I was thinking along these lines

steer

This is a guitarists perceived problem. When your sound is sat in a mix with drums, bass, keys etc, then perhaps 2 or 3% of the audience will notice a discernible difference between the sound that 2 different electric guitars make (most of that 2 or 3% will be fellow guitarists).
But, if this thread encourages someone to buy another guitar, then I am all for it. 

Voxman

My 2002 PRS Cu24 does pretty much all of that and is my main gigging guitar. Great trem, fast locking tuners, lovely neck (mine's the wide-thin), great weight, very comfy to play, just really well made and sounds great. So much easier than having to change guitars several times during a gig.

StefB

grungebob said:

This does it all for me

It’s an Ibanez Six6FD something or other but it’s a bloody good guitar that can be had for not much coin. The coil taps are really great and the pickups sing in all positions. 

I originally bought this due to necessity for its body thickness but I’m finding I really enjoy everything about it. 

Nice guitars, I had the blue one for a while.

Do you not miss a tone pot though?  I did.

Gassage

Honestly?

CS Lifeson Axcess sig.

Coil split, wonderful acoustic piezo, powerful HBs when you need...got everything. Justin Derrico uses one for everything in the P!nk shows.

roberty

Ibanez AZ2402 will do all those sounds well

I did a partscaster with a 3 way switch, just to make things as easy as possible on stage. The positions are bridge on its own, neck + middle, and neck on its own. There's a push pull for middle pos in or out of phase, and another to change middle pos to middle pickup on its own. And a killswitch because I'm basically a child. You could cover your bases with something similar I'm sure

grungebob

StefB said:

grungebob said:

This does it all for me

It’s an Ibanez Six6FD something or other but it’s a bloody good guitar that can be had for not much coin. The coil taps are really great and the pickups sing in all positions. 

I originally bought this due to necessity for its body thickness but I’m finding I really enjoy everything about it. 

Nice guitars, I had the blue one for a while.

Do you not miss a tone pot though?  I did.

Not really, as it doesn’t have treble bleed and that the pickups are pokey just the smallest of turn downs on the volume pot darkens it up enough. 

I do think though that if I could find another I’d look to refinish it and maybe add a 3 postion tone switch. 

Philly_Q

The Music Man Steve Morse signature is super-versatile.  Complicated though... I watched a few videos about it and I think if you put all the switches in the down position you get the bridge humbucker.

(No coil splits though, and the Fender switch is only a three-way.)

DartmoorHedgehog

roberty said:

Ibanez AZ2402 will do all those sounds well

I did a partscaster with a 3 way switch, just to make things as easy as possible on stage. The positions are bridge on its own, neck + middle, and neck on its own. There's a push pull for middle pos in or out of phase, and another to change middle pos to middle pickup on its own. And a killswitch because I'm basically a child. You could cover your bases with something similar I'm sure

Maybe the OP didn't specifically mention it, but a neck is probably high on the list of "must haves" for a do-it-all guitar

roberty

DartmoorHedgehog said:

roberty said:

Ibanez AZ2402 will do all those sounds well

I did a partscaster with a 3 way switch, just to make things as easy as possible on stage. The positions are bridge on its own, neck + middle, and neck on its own. There's a push pull for middle pos in or out of phase, and another to change middle pos to middle pickup on its own. And a killswitch because I'm basically a child. You could cover your bases with something similar I'm sure

Maybe the OP didn't specifically mention it, but a neck is probably high on the list of "must haves" for a do-it-all guitar

I knew I was going wrong somewhere

Kebabkid

fastonebaz said:

No idea of these but they seem quite versatile on paper

https://uk.prsguitars.com/electrics/model/fiore_2023_2

They're also quite versatile in one's hands
Fabulous guitar and pull up the middle control to bring in the neck pickup with others and get you a pseudo Tele.
Positions 2 and 4 and quackier than a 513
Pull up the last control to do from Parallel to Series.

The Brent Mason is also very good and for a simpler affair, a DGT and you won't go wrong with an SE one, either. However, how about one of these and it's not a new concept but it sounds good

guitarfishbay

https://youtu.be/VEzUvAm9JRE?si=d-gNSNTxMF5g7YU9

From about 59 seconds on for the sounds demo. 24 fret HH guitar of your choice and this wiring for all hum cancelling options. Alternatively wire the 5 way as below and wire options to partial split pos 1+5 for your bridge or neck single tones

Svartmetall

stickyfiddle said: Does it exist? My priorities for live use right now are probably a mellow neck pickup, tele-middle sound, and rock bridge humbucker. And occasionally a Strat-in-between.

Is this why fancy HSS guitars exist? And PRSes? Fuck. Is there anything that does that stuff without looking really boring?

A decent HSH Strat can be a good all-round workhorse - mellow neck HB, twangy middle SC and punchy bridge HB is a great combo. I was never able to get my live rig down to less than 4 guitars, though, not least due to using several different tunings along with a bunch of 7-string stuff. Haydn Williams' Evo model is about as good an HSH as you can get your hands on, though even a decent Mex strat will do the job with good pickups (I recommend Iron Gears - Blues Engine neck, Texas Loco middle and Dirty Torque or overwound Rolling Mill in the bridge).

Yorkie

ICBM said:

Yorkie said:

I have never been able to get convincing strat bridge+middle with a humbucker on the bridge position.

I’m not entirely sure why, but I think the spacing of the coils is more important than the type of pickup.

Yes, absolutely agree. One of my strats has a middle pickup wound to tele neck specs, with a darker and more powerful tone, etc; nevertheless, the guitar sounds like a proper strat. 

snowblind

You don't fancy something a bit more esoteric?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ac/1f/36/ac1f36bc7c77aea686b80fa97316e041.jpg

hollywoodrox

Ibanez RG550 or a Jem 

fretfinder

TTBZ

Suhr Pete Thorn? Or something HH or HSH with Thornbuckers/other pickups that split well? They seem like pretty versatile pickups, always sounds great when Pete uses the split tones in demos too.