Strat Pickup Config Tradeoffs: HSS Vs. SSS Vs. HSH | The Gear Page

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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 pickup config tradeoffs: HSS vs. SSS vs. HSH

• Thread starter Buck Woodson
• Start date Nov 24, 2019
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Buck Woodson

Member

Joined Jul 6, 2018 Messages 5,878 Reaction score 5,402 I'm not a strat guy at all as I've always found them overly trebly but lately I've been appreciating how nice they sound with effects such as analog delay. I've come across a Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat in a package deal, hence this thread. What does one get vs. give up with an HSS vs. SSS? I don't know if the humbucker is splittable or not.

59Bassman

Plank Cranker

Gold Supporting Member Joined Oct 4, 2004 Messages 4,060 Reaction score 8,040 For a very long time, I was a Fender-style purist. Leo gave us Telecasters with two (or one!) type-appropriate single cool pickups and Stratocasterte with three. Deviating from that was sacrilege. Even though I owned a PRS, I saw humbuckers as “cheating”, and usable primarily in high gain music. I did not see a need for me to really se humbuckers. Now, I have 5 s-types. 2 are HSS. I may convert at least one more of them. The guitars I reach for first when heading out are my HSS Suhr S-types. What I found when I expanded my thinking is that I reall don’t care for the tone of most humbuckers when they are split. But I DO like the tones of a humbucker in parallel. So the way my HSS guitars are wired is to use lower output humbuckers (I have a Suhr DSV in one, Thornbucker plus in the other), and have them wired to a series/parallel switch on the lower tone pot. I normally run the humbuckers in parallel, where they still have a bit of quack when in position 2, and sound (to me) reminiscent of a Tele in position 1. The parallel humbucker balances well with the single coils in output. I save the series mode for a little volume boost for solos or songs where a bridge humbucker is really required. Love this configuration.

David Garner

Platinum Supporting Member Joined Aug 12, 2009 Messages 8,467 Reaction score 11,137 Location Yorkville, Georgia You give up the gnarly bridge tone (which most hate but I love) and the correct bridge/middle tone, though this can be approximated with a coil split and usually is. I prefer SSS because I have Les Pauls for when I want humbucker tone. If I only wanted to play Strats I’d probably have an HSS and an HH too.

PatrickE_FenderADV

Silver Supporting Member Joined Mar 12, 2008 Messages 36,648 Reaction score 78,879 Location Tampa Bay I am a huge strat guy but until 3 or so years ago rarely used the bridge pup by itself. I wasn’t dialing the knobs correctly for a long long time. Nowadays I have an HSS set up on my Lonestar that is killer, I also have a traditional SSS strat with a dedicated tone knob for the bridge and I have one SSS set up with a blender pot. It’s not about giving something up... it’s really about variety and flexibility. Learn to use the guitar’s knobs accordingly is what a strat (and Tele) is all about! This is my Lonestar now... View media item 169621 Last edited: Nov 24, 2019 B

Buck Woodson

Member

Joined Jul 6, 2018 Messages 5,878 Reaction score 5,402

59Bassman said: For a very long time, I was a Fender-style purist. Leo gave us Telecasters with two (or one!) type-appropriate single cool pickups and Stratocasterte with three. Deviating from that was sacrilege. Even though I owned a PRS, I saw humbuckers as “cheating”, and usable primarily in high gain music. I did not see a need for me to really se humbuckers. Now, I have 5 s-types. 2 are HSS. I may convert at least one more of them. The guitars I reach for first when heading out are my HSS Suhr S-types. What I found when I expanded my thinking is that I reall don’t care for the tone of most humbuckers when they are split. But I DO like the tones of a humbucker in parallel. So the way my HSS guitars are wired is to use lower output humbuckers (I have a Suhr DSV in one, Thornbucker plus in the other), and have them wired to a series/parallel switch on the lower tone pot. I normally run the humbuckers in parallel, where they still have a bit of quack when in position 2, and sound (to me) reminiscent of a Tele in position 1. The parallel humbucker balances well with the single coils in output. I save the series mode for a little volume boost for solos or songs where a bridge humbucker is really required. Love this configuration. Click to expand...

That champagne gold + pearl is the prettiest S-type guitar I've ever seen.

59Bassman

Plank Cranker

Gold Supporting Member Joined Oct 4, 2004 Messages 4,060 Reaction score 8,040

Buck Woodson said: That champagne gold + pearl is the prettiest S-type guitar I've ever seen. Click to expand...

Thank you. It’s actually Inca Silver. I picked the color because I can wear a gray guitar with any color shirt lol.

LReese

Member

Joined Oct 4, 2005 Messages 2,763 Reaction score 1,867 Location Southeastern US

David Garner said: You give up the gnarly bridge tone (which most hate but I love) and the correct bridge/middle tone, though this can be approximated with a coil split and usually is. Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it up. At best its an approximation. I don't really care for hotter bridge pickups, which tend to be what you get when you buy a set of pickups. I'd prefer 3 identical pickups. You could say in my mind "Slice is nice!" - up to a point. That being said, I keep a couple of HSS in my stable. My current favorite EMG loaded with MK Mod/EXG/SPC.

Coolidge

Member

Joined Aug 23, 2009 Messages 2,659 Reaction score 5,408 Location Battle Ground, WA I went HSS on my strat and wish I had gone SSS because I have since purchased a couple Les Paul double cuts which cover the HH zone.

Jab_Guitar

Member

Joined May 14, 2019 Messages 4,034 Reaction score 5,169 SSS is more 'balanced' and stays all within the single coil sounds. The bridge position cuts through different and is a thinner sound than a humbucker. It has less low end and will be noisier under higher gain and will have less output overall. The HSS will have more overall frequencies and low end and output which is useful if you plan to play more distorted and want more 'crunch' happening. Both configs are very usable, it just depends on the sounds you're going for. HSH is also really good because in combination with a 5 way switch you get a lot of parallel wired options between the middle single coil and humbucker which results in a lot of nice sounds. Many find the single coil middle position to be all the brightness and single coil sound they need. Its good if you want humbucker sounds but still want at least one dedicated single coil sound. I'd say SSS is the most 'pure' Strat and will give you the most Strat sounds. HSS will cover sort of anything without going too far in 1 direction, and HSH is probably the most versatile but also the least balanced since it has so many different tones happening between each position.

Thumpalumpacus

Senior Member

Joined Dec 16, 2011 Messages 8,992 Reaction score 15,295 Location Texas I'm gettin' ready to drop a 'bucker into the bridge of my Squier. I think HSS is the best of both worlds -- I get the sweet neck sounds, the position-two cluck, a thinner middle pick-up, and a beefy lead sound.

Benz2112

Memba?

Gold Supporting Member Joined Jul 11, 2017 Messages 12,711 Reaction score 61,750 Location Utica, NY A really good SSS set will make you stop thinking you are missing out by not having a humbucker. Also, position 2 on a traditional strat is money. I actually like having an SSS and a HH strat style, the switching seems most intuitive.

TonePilot

Member

Joined Feb 28, 2018 Messages 6,377 Reaction score 9,606 Location Canada I’m a HSS fan and it’s doubtful I’d ever buy a Strat in the SSS configuration. But I play a lot of stuff with high gain.

stratamania

Senior Member

Joined Nov 12, 2012 Messages 3,862 Reaction score 3,318 Location United Kingdom It's simple enough to experiment, an HSS pickguard and an SSS one and you are off to the races. Also, there are single coil sized humbuckers available to make it even easier to try something out.

Tommy Biggs

Silver Supporting Member Joined Jun 8, 2010 Messages 8,392 Reaction score 13,101 Location North Jersey I miss the SSS bridge for fuzz , but I really don’t use that often at all. I like the flexibility the HSS gives me. I’ve played some Strat single bridge pickups that worked well, but I didn’t have much luck. The Single sized bridge HB works well for me, I don’t use much quack either. The Strat neck pickup is my go to. I’d consider a better bridge true single coil, but I’m happy enough with what I’ve got that I don’t feel a need to try something else. Last edited: Nov 25, 2019

TonePilot

Member

Joined Feb 28, 2018 Messages 6,377 Reaction score 9,606 Location Canada

stratamania said: It's simple enough to experiment, an HSS pickguard and an SSS one and you are off to the races. Also, there are single coil sized humbuckers available to make it even easier to try something out. Click to expand...

That’s a good point, and it’s easy enough to add a micro switch to split the coils. 7

77717

Guest

Joined Mar 21, 2010 Messages 1,760 Reaction score 3,054 I like both S/S/S and H/S/S (see below). I may consider an H/H American Professional if I can get one at a deep discount, but that would mean selling several guitars I have to make room. I have my Thorn 56 and St Vincent HH for neck humbucker sounds (and also my Squier VM Tele Thinline with Mojotone 72 Clones in it). M

Masa

Silver Supporting Member Joined May 5, 2007 Messages 956 Reaction score 1,363 Location San Jose, CA I've used the single coil strat bridge pickup more than anything in my life. I've tried the HSS more than a few times in the past, and never worked for me. At the moment, I have 6 x SSS strat 2 x HH strat 1 x HSH strat 0 x HSS 1

1973Marshall

Member

Joined Sep 13, 2006 Messages 7,273 Reaction score 2,035 Location NYC I used to view HSH as the ultimate all-around setup and it was certainly the view back in the day. Most “studio players” related pro models had HSH and studio cats and sidemen are all about versatility. Through time I’ve found HSS is the most versatile but a huge compromise on the 2nd position tone. HSS - most versatile, huge compromise on position 2. Nevertheless you can use HSS to get a pretty pure version of every “required” tone in a gig or session. Funk, country, reggae, rock. Maybe a little tougher with jazz SSS - still very necessary and hate to say it “looks” right as well HSH - even metal players I know admit they rarely use the neck HB. Neck HBs can also be a lot of work in terms of finding the right one to balance bridge tones. My friends who use Ibanez for example, love the IBZ design but would probably prefer HSS which is not the setup on many top models until more recently with the AZ, Timmons etc. For someone who has HH the HSH does gives back position 2 & 4 with decent quack along with a true single coil (the middle single is quite underrated - lol don’t ask Blackmore but do ask Hendrix).

MkIII Renegade

Member

Joined Aug 25, 2017 Messages 7,769 Reaction score 11,880 Location Hiding from Murder Hornets in Atlanta, GA I have a couples of rules: 1. Floyd means HH, HSS or HSH 2. Traditional Strats: SSS cos #2 and #4 matter

LReese

Member

Joined Oct 4, 2005 Messages 2,763 Reaction score 1,867 Location Southeastern US There's more than one way to skin a cat... The Fralin Twangmaster does work pretty well. There's still a difference in the #2 position, but not that big in the scheme of things. I'd describe it as Tele-ish, but thicker sounding than a Tele - all depends on the spec it is ordered with.

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