If you play mostly rock / heavy rock....

NelsonP · June 2020

Is a Fender Strat a good guitar for that?
And does it reallly need a humbucker on it for heavy rock?

I guess Simon Neil would say "Yes" and "No".
Tom Morello "Yes" and "Yes" would say put a SD hot rails in it.
Jimi Hendrix would probably say "just play the damn thing".

But what does the Fretboard think?

Lestratcaster · June 2020

For the heavier styles I would definitely want a humbucker in a Strat or at least high output single coils.

I just like the humbucker sound on a distortion channel.

fretmeister · June 2020

I use my strat for that. And I have 3 scratchplates wired up with an easy swap system.

The weakest output of the 3 is a set of Lollar Black Face singles - and yes I do use them for metal into a raging boosted JCM800 or a plugin of it. Sounds brilliant - really cutting and articulate.

The other bridge pickups are a SD Pearly Gates and a Dimarzio Injector. The PG is medium output, and the Inj is a stacked bucker and has the loudest output of the 3. Still sounds more like a single than a humbucker though.

Apart from the old EMG81 I'm not a fan of high output pickups for anything. Too much articulation is lost for me.

monquixote · June 2020

It depends what you are going for

Zep and RATM is very often a Tele

Biffy Clyro and Deep Purple is a Strat.

The vast majority of rock stuff on record is a humbucker, but unless you are slavishly trying to nail tones then you are going to be fine.

webrthomson · June 2020

I think for Rock you could get there with single coils, might need a boost of some kind depending on the amp.

TeleMaster · June 2020

The thing about lots of recordings is they'll double, quad track so it's not really representative.

Using a boost, delay or an EQ pedal can get you closer to humbuckers territory, but if you want humbuckers sounds get a humbucker in your guitar.

imalrightjack · June 2020

I used a Strat for years, in ignorance, not really knowing much about the difference (sounds ridiculous - and it is - but it's also true). And it sounded fine. But, with hindsight, I'd have had a much tighter, more controlled sound (more like I was after) with humbuckers. But for looser rock, I think single coils sound great.

stonevibe · June 2020

Billy Corgan gets some big sounds out a Strat.

TeleMaster · June 2020

stonevibe said:

Billy Corgan gets some big sounds out a Strat.

They're Dimarzios and are super high output and he uses a Reverend with humbuckers now.

stickyfiddle · June 2020

TeleMaster said:

stonevibe said:

Billy Corgan gets some big sounds out a Strat.

They're Dimarzios and are super high output and he uses a Reverend with humbuckers now.

Yeah, but all the classic stuff was recorded with regular single-coil Strats, and one with Lace Sensors. Nothing humbuckery

Limehouse_Blues · June 2020

I think a Tele has more balls than a strat and is a better rock guitar for that reason. Assuming one wants single coils. While a humbucker might seem a more obvious choice, they can be muddy and harder to cut through. I think the Tele is the ultimate rock machine. In fact I think it’s the ultimate machine. Sod the internal combustion engine, powered flight and space travel. You can conquer galaxies with a Tele.

Danny1969 · June 2020

Superstrat would be my choice, basically any Strat with a bridge humbucker.

LP would be a more popular choice for rock & heavy rock though

LastMantra · June 2020

What's wrong with you people?! Of course you can rock with a (proper single coil) strat!!

prowla · June 2020

Blackmore, Malmsteen, Trower - they can rock on a Strat.

Though not heavy rock, Gilmour gets some big sounds from his.

That said, I prefer HSS.

stonevibe · June 2020

TeleMaster said:

stonevibe said:

Billy Corgan gets some big sounds out a Strat.

They're Dimarzios and are super high output and he uses a Reverend with humbuckers now.

He recorded the original tracks with Lace Sensor pickups in a '70s Hardtail Strat.

Crazyblue1779 · June 2020

On the ( much) heavier end of the spectrum Karl Sanders of Nile used a humbuckered strat.

Loaded1me · June 2020

Dave Murray and Adrian Smith seem to do ok with single coil strats.

Boromedic · June 2020

Don't they have hotrails in them though? Adrian generally plays humbuckers and has chopped guitars around a lot, he uses a Les Paul sometimes too.

TTBZ · June 2020

HSS (or HH) is a much better choice imo and is much more versatile. You can do it with singlecoils but you just don't get the proper tightness or chunk for heavier stuff. They get too stringy and screechy with high gain, not a good sound. I don't even like Blackmore's tone on a lot of stuff for this reason.

Depends what you're playing I guess. RATM sound is heavily bass driven so a thinner guitar sound works. By itself the guitars don't sound too great.

guitarmangler · June 2020

All the rage against the machine riff stuff is a single coil neck pickup. Tom Morello only use the bridge pickup for soloing.

Philly_Q · June 2020

The consensus seems to be that there's no consensus. Or that anything can be made to work.

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If you play mostly rock / heavy rock....

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