Not in the market to purchase anything at the moment, but what should one be looking at if one wants to be able to get close to Strat territory tone wise (Neck and Neck/Middle tones) but is bored to tears of Strats having had several and always got bored of them?
I've always loved the look and vibe of semi hollow guitars like this but I know nothing about them
https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/hollow-semi-hollow-body-guitars/prs-se-hollowbody-ii-charcoal-burstThis particular model is humbuckers and not splittable.
I guess, with only playing at home and using modelling (Helix and studio monitors/headphones) it's fairly easy to contrive most of the tones you could want with any guitar, but still would appreciate any advice on things to consider.
It would probably end up being my only electric, so versatility is pretty key. Budget would be around £1k eventually, new or used I'm not fussed.
Comments
You can get reasonably close with two split humbuckers, but they need to be in the ‘24 fret neck’ positions and split to the inner coils. The Strat neck sound needs to be a single coil in the *outer* coil position. You can also get fairly close with two single coils as far apart as a Tele, with some clever circuitry like the Jerry Donahue Tele, but it’s still not as accurate as simply using a pair of Strat-type pickups.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'd guess if it was one of the Teles with a middle pickup it could get the notch tones, assuming the spacing was right.
I know that a neck humbucker on a 24 fretter doesn't sound as "necky" as it does on a Strat or Les Paul; just doesn't sound right. Never tried it with a single coil though.
The other big problem with splitting humbuckers is that they just don’t really sound the same as Fender-type single coils. There are some humbuckers that get around this by being like two Fender pickups - eg Duncan Stag Mag, Oil City Brassknuckle - but they don’t sound like normal humbuckers when not split.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I’m in a similar position in that I don’t like trems really, don’t like the 3 pot system on a strat, a master tone and vol would be way better and less in the way and don’t really like the jack input on a strat.
The downside was that the standalone position cleans were a bit meh.
PRS Silver Sky?