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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Strat: HSS w/ Coil Split vs SSS

• Thread starter Jab_Guitar
• Start date Mar 27, 2020
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Jab_Guitar

Member

Joined May 14, 2019 Messages 4,034 Reaction score 5,169 Hi all, I've been thinking lately if it might be worth going to HSS setup w/ coil split on my Strat. Its an American Pro SSS model. I love how the guitar sounds and I don't mind the single coil bridge sound. I guess the question is, will a split HB get me the sound I want? I have another HH 25.5" scale guitar with coil splits and IMO it sounds great. It has an unpotted low ouput PAF style humbuckers and it basically sounds very similar or as good as my Strat does but I still have the option of the humbucker low end and fullness which I like without the split. Anyway, just want some opinions. I may just leave it as is, I like how the SSS Strat looks and the SSS really has a distinct sound to me but at times I wish I had the HB bridge.

PatrickE_FenderADV

Silver Supporting Member Joined Mar 12, 2008 Messages 36,556 Reaction score 78,273 Location Tampa Bay Have you checked the route yet? I would be hesitant to chop up a new strat routed for the SSS set up. Maybe get a hotter PUP in the bridge position and add a baseplate to it? That way you still retain the traditional strat set up but can get more oomph out of the bridge position. FWIW... I have an HSS set up on one of my strats and it’s definitely a rock guitar, but I still have two SSS strats to grab when I want a more traditional strat sound.

derekd

Silver Supporting Member Joined Sep 10, 2007 Messages 49,422 Reaction score 186,543 Location In a van down by the river I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. M

Mtt02263

Silver Supporting Member Joined Nov 19, 2018 Messages 675 Reaction score 1,385 For Strats, I always go SSS. A humbucker in the bridge of a Strat doesn't get me the bucker tones I want and the split sounds suffer a bit, plus I lose that bridge single coil tone that I love when I'm using fuzz. R

ripgtr

Member

Joined Jul 17, 2014 Messages 17,491 Reaction score 27,422 Location Austin, TX I have never owned a humbucker when split that came even close to an acceptable single coil sound to me. Just sounded weeny. And I tried a bunch of stuff. I did see a vid of a PRS where they had some kind of splitter or some such, where in the vid, the single coil sound, though not a great single coil sound, would certainly be usable. I've read a few comments that it isn't a splitter but a circuit (maybe a cap in line?) but I don't really know. A note, I had some OX4s in a strat for a bit, HSH, which I think makes more sense, and then put them in a 335. They sounded pretty different in the two guitars. Humbuckers in a strat don't sound like humbuckers in a 335 to me, from what I heard.

jvin248

Member

Joined Jan 13, 2016 Messages 7,202 Reaction score 11,664 . My first Strat was HSS and I hated it, plus it was redundant to my HH guitar I got later, and I missed some classic tones. Now I always convert a new/used Strat to SSS and wire with an armstrong blender mod. wiring only change that lets me use the second tone pot to blend from SSS to HSH. From classic Strat, through classic PAF, to Hot high output humbuckers. The best wiring walk through is a youtube video 'breja toneworks armstrong blender'. .

Jab_Guitar

Member

Joined May 14, 2019 Messages 4,034 Reaction score 5,169

FenderBigot said: Have you checked the route yet? I would be hesitant to chop up a new strat routed for the SSS set up. Maybe get a hotter PUP in the bridge position and add a baseplate to it? That way you still retain the traditional strat set up but can get more oomph out of the bridge position. FWIW... I have an HSS set up on one of my strats and it’s definitely a rock guitar, but I still have two SSS strats to grab when I want a more traditional strat sound. Click to expand...

Yes, it appears to be an HSH route even though it was SSS from the factory. I am thinking that low output PAF style HB might be a strong contender, in my other guitar the split sound is really good to me. Its bright and fairly scooped with alnico 5 magnets so its bright like a single coil even though its a humbucker. Of course its not exactly like a single coil, but I do like the sound I get. Just don't know how it'll all sound if I dropped it in the Strat. Having said this, I may just leave it alone so I have an SSS only guitar. Basically I have a 25.5" scale HH, 24.75" HH, a Tele and the SSS Strat (all different/unique guitar setups basically). But I do not have an HSS.

derekd said: I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. Click to expand...

Yeah, my low output PAF unpotted HB guitar has a really good single coil split sound to my ears. I love it. Very bright like a single coil, but without the split it still has a solid low end to it and fuller sound. I was sort of hoping to pull off the same type of sounds in the Strat. I am thinking now I may just have to get an HSS Strat and keep the SSS alone (maybe).

Mtt02263 said: For Strats, I always go SSS. A humbucker in the bridge of a Strat doesn't get me the bucker tones I want and the split sounds suffer a bit, plus I lose that bridge single coil tone that I love when I'm using fuzz. Click to expand...

Good point, I will try out my split HB that I have now and my SSS Strat to see how it works with fuzz. I do like fuzz way more with single coils but I don't use fuzz very often. Will test to confirm the differences.

ripgtr said: I have never owned a humbucker when split that came even close to an acceptable single coil sound to me. Just sounded weeny. And I tried a bunch of stuff. I did see a vid of a PRS where they had some kind of splitter or some such, where in the vid, the single coil sound, though not a great single coil sound, would certainly be usable. I've read a few comments that it isn't a splitter but a circuit (maybe a cap in line?) but I don't really know. A note, I had some OX4s in a strat for a bit, HSH, which I think makes more sense, and then put them in a 335. They sounded pretty different in the two guitars. Humbuckers in a strat don't sound like humbuckers in a 335 to me, from what I heard. Click to expand...

Yeah, this makes sense. The 24.75" scale vs 25.5" scale naturally results in tonal frequency differences.. as well some I guess would argue the wood/construction has some tonal impact. 25.5" tends to always be brighter to my ears and 24.75" is darker.

ToneDeVille

Member

Joined Jul 16, 2017 Messages 7,953 Reaction score 20,503 Location N Tx I have a USA HSS Strat that I bought one day at GC maybe 15 years ago. Was in the amp room test driving a Blues Jr Tweed and pulled an HSS off the wall (Montego Brown) to test the amp. I liked it so much I bought it and the amp too. It's a fantastic Strat. I'd say the HB bridge pup doesn't sound like a typical HB pickup though. It's fatter than a standard Single coil pup but not as fat sounding as a HB on a Les Paul, for example...maybe more like a HB on an SG. Could have something to do with body density and thickness...not sure. But the HB on the Strat is VERY usable. WHen I gig with this guitar it pretty much stays on the bridge pup all night. The guitar also has the S1 switching, which I rarely use. I just leave it on bridge pup and adjust tone rolloff a bit here and there as needed.

SupremeDalek

Member

Joined Apr 16, 2014 Messages 811 Reaction score 673 Location Skaro

derekd said: I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. Click to expand...

This is my feeling as well. I've tried a number of options. All had the same sad result. I also tried swapping singles for a better sound, and wound up getting an HSS setup permanently. A HB in the bridge position is just more my thing.

derekd

Silver Supporting Member Joined Sep 10, 2007 Messages 49,422 Reaction score 186,543 Location In a van down by the river

SupremeDalek said: This is my feeling as well. I've tried a number of options. All had the same sad result. I also tried swapping singles for a better sound, and wound up getting an HSS setup permanently. A HB in the bridge position is just more my thing. Click to expand...

I like both so one of each is the TGP answer. R

ripgtr

Member

Joined Jul 17, 2014 Messages 17,491 Reaction score 27,422 Location Austin, TX

Jabby92 said: Yeah, this makes sense. The 24.75" scale vs 25.5" scale naturally results in tonal frequency differences.. as well some I guess would argue the wood/construction has some tonal impact. 25.5" tends to always be brighter to my ears and 24.75" is darker. Click to expand...

Yea, it was funny, I got them in the strat just to try them (It is a beat up old MIM strat I used for a testbed and now for slide), and recorded this surf tune. The HB really worked for that, didn't sound straty but had a kind of Jazzmaster vibe, which is great for surf. Then put them in the 335 and thought they were too dark. So yea, guitar matters a lot. But I'd rather take a low wind humbucker and scoop it with eq than split it. the split just does not sound right to me, at least any pickup I've tried. Others may have better luck than me.

monty

Member

Joined Mar 2, 2009 Messages 34,736 Reaction score 55,159 Location parts unknown I rarely use a Strat bridge alone so HSS is a no-brainer for me. Gets close enough when split for me and I like being able to use it for a solo boost by switching to HB mode during a song.

uab9253

Member

Joined Jul 20, 2017 Messages 3,261 Reaction score 4,110 Location Mid Atlantic

derekd said: I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. Click to expand...

Agreed. The split on my Players Series Jazzmaster is particularly bad.

zul

Gold Supporting Member Joined Jun 7, 2007 Messages 3,203 Reaction score 3,523 Location nyc Try a partial split on the HB. It took me some tries to get to the value that works for me. I like to start on the screw coil for bite, then roll in the slug. Some prefer the opposite.

ferrinbonn

Member

Joined Feb 27, 2017 Messages 2,099 Reaction score 6,097 Location California

Jabby92 said: Hi all, I've been thinking lately if it might be worth going to HSS setup w/ coil split on my Strat. Its an American Pro SSS model. I love how the guitar sounds and I don't mind the single coil bridge sound. I guess the question is, will a split HB get me the sound I want? I have another HH 25.5" scale guitar with coil splits and IMO it sounds great. It has an unpotted low ouput PAF style humbuckers and it basically sounds very similar or as good as my Strat does but I still have the option of the humbucker low end and fullness which I like without the split. Anyway, just want some opinions. I may just leave it as is, I like how the SSS Strat looks and the SSS really has a distinct sound to me but at times I wish I had the HB bridge. Click to expand...

derekd said: I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. Click to expand...

I think a lot of people have misconceptions about how splitting of humbuckers works. A big factor into whether or not a split sound works well is how the wiring is done, rather than the humbucker itself. If you split a humbucker without any fancy wiring, you get the output of the selected coil. If the coils are would equally, you'll get half the output. That's generally the issue people face. In a HSS strat, you might have two single coils that are would around 6k, and a humbucker at 8k. Once you split it, you're getting 4k output from the one coil and that's going to sound very wimpy, especially in a bridge position. There are a few ways around this. One is to use a humbucker with unequal windings. The 59/Custom hybrid by SD does this. The slug coil is something like 7k and the screw coil is something like 4k if I remember correctly. So when you split to the slug coil, you get output that doesn't sound near as wimpy. The other option is to use a resistor to ground to do a partial split instead of a full split. This is what PRS does on most of their splitting circuits and is the reason people think that their humbuckers "split well". The way a humbucker splitting circuit works is that when the switch is switched or the push/pull pot is pulled out, is that the signal from one of the coils is sent to ground instead of staying in the signal path. By putting a resistor in that path to ground, you make it so that only a portion of the signal goes to ground and the rest remains in the signal path. So depending on the resistor value, that same 8k humbucker from the first example I listed could be made to split to 4k from one coil and 2k from the other. You retain more output and still get some degree of hum cancelling. The tone you get is somewhere in between the regular humbucker tone and the fully split tone. By varying the value of the resistor you use, you can keep more or less of the output from the coil that is being split out of the circuit. I really like how I have my Strat wired now. It's HSS. The two singles are wired through the middle tone knob and I turned the back tone knob into a blender knob so that I can get neck/bridge or all 3 if I want. No tone circuit on the bridge, so it's still bright enough even with a 250k volume pot. I added a mini switch to be able to partially split the humbucker. I'm using a Duncan 59 which pairs well with the single coils. I think I used a 2k resistor on the splitting circuit, so the split sound is very usable and not totally anemic. It's super versatile and I really like having the humbucker in the bridge.

MoBigBro

Gold Supporting Member Joined Jul 17, 2018 Messages 2,253 Reaction score 3,588 Location Salt Lake City Seymour Duncan also makes the StagMag humbucker that does a good Strat SC tone when split. The humbucker tone is not particularly PAF-like, but quite usable. Cheers, MoBigBro

Mincer

Member

Joined Nov 25, 2006 Messages 4,655 Reaction score 2,521 Location Tampa Bay area, FL USA

MoBigBro said: Seymour Duncan also makes the StagMag humbucker that does a good Strat SC tone when split. The humbucker tone is not particularly PAF-like, but quite usable. Cheers, MoBigBro Click to expand...

That humbucker in parallel sounds good. It isn't so thick, like in series. But each coil is an actual single coil. My HSS uses a 59/Custom Hybrid, which splits. It sounds pretty quacky, too.

mikebat

Member

Joined Jan 8, 2014 Messages 14,058 Reaction score 17,828 Location It's cold outside. After years of having a SSS strat, I tried a HB in the bridge. It was ok. But when you split it it just falls flat. again, if you have the chance of having multiple guitars, let each one be what it was designed to be instead of compromising them, and trying to make them into a jack of all trades. and enjoy the fact that each guitar has a different voice.

MkIII Renegade

Member

Joined Aug 25, 2017 Messages 7,769 Reaction score 11,879 Location Hiding from Murder Hornets in Atlanta, GA

derekd said: I've never heard a bucker that split well enough to use for a bridge pickup. Maybe one exists. Click to expand...

SSS. There is no substitute. .

supersoldier71

Member

Joined Jan 27, 2010 Messages 4,631 Reaction score 10,692 Location Fayetteville, NC I’ve got a JB Jr in the bridge of my Strat. It’s not my favorite guitar tone, but I like it more than any Strat single coil I’ve ever heard and positions 2-5 all sound like—surprise—a Strat. I’m fine with that.

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