HSH vs HSS vs SSS advice sought

[Wilvis]

I'm looking at American Deluxe strats on Reverb and there are ones with SSS, HSS and HSH pickup configurations.
I know, I know...you have to try 'em out and decide for yourself...yatta, yatta....and I'll do that. But I'm interested in what to look/listen for or anticipate, particularly as it relates to the H at the bridge and at the neck. I'm marginally an intermediate player, into general classic to blues to classic rock, but not into metal, etc. if that matters.
So, is the HSH more for edgy sound vs HSS or SSS, or mellow or none of the above? I'm looking for that sort of input, if it makes sense at all.

 

[moosie]

Mostly subjective, I'd say. Strat S bridge is too bright, and too weak for standalone use. But it's great paired with middle. S neck is the heart of the instrument, and I'd be loathe to lose that. However, I mostly play clean swing, R&B, etc.

So, HSS sounds like a great idea - if indeed you're sure you want a Strat at all - and perhaps HSH. Sorry, don't know what else to say besides go play them.

I think a lot of times people go for a super strat HSH style because they want it all. Figure they can manipulate the circuit, split coils, etc, and still have trad SSS sounds, too. Meh. The SSS vintage sounds will suffer. You'll still have quite a lot, it just depends what you want. In other words, HSH isn't SSS+more. It's all different.

 

[BryMelvin]

One possible thing to try is 2 prails and a single coil.

make sure you wire with ppulls or switches.
You get SSS with blades SSS with two p90s Hss SSH with blade or P90 for the singles

You'll find what you really like with that setup. I put a set in an affinity for my experiment.

The Prails are eventually endng up in a mahogany lp special my son is making for me.

 

[John C]

Not to throw a further wrench into things but there were 2 variations on the 3rd Generation American Deluxe HSS: from 2010-2014 they had a Fender "Atomic" humbucker; for 2015 they changed to the Shawbucker humbucker. The Shawbucker is a lower-output humbucker than the older Atomic one.

 

[Billnchristy]

I have built HH, HSH, and standard sss ones. I still like the sss best.

 

[whoanelly15]

It’s crazy how many people are down on SSS strats these days. Even on this forum. It’s fairly well tried and true, people. Different strokes and all, but it sure worked well for these guys... and countless others. But hey, that’s just my take. Do what makes you happy.

 

[whoanelly15]

S neck is the heart of the instrument, and I'd be loathe to lose that.

I’ll also second this. Neck pickup on a strat is where a lot of the magic happens.

Also just realized that every pic I posted was a Sunburst, except Eric’s. Sorry, Brownie. I’ll leave this here.

 

[kookaburra]

Given the plethora of single coil size pickup choices, and the styles of music you mention, I would go SSS. You probably will find the mid and neck satisfactory. If you do find the bridge too thin, there are replacement pickups that range from vintage correct to all out screamers, some being single coil, and some being stacked humbuckers, at a wide range of price points.

 

[tfarny]

Lots of people also go for a big overwound bridge single, or put a tele pickup in there, or a rails type of humbucker in the bridge. If you want a strat sound you really want to go single neck single middle though, for sure. If you basically just want a dual humbucker guitar that can, in a pinch, produce a stratty sound, then HSH might work fine. It just depends on what your main use case is and what you're willing to give up.

Coil split humbuckers never sound like a good strat pickup, at least in my experience. And you can put two singles in humbucker mode, but it tends to be overly dark and muddy in my experience, but still maybe useable.

 

[41144]

imho ... Anything but SSS on a Strat is the spawn of the devil - fact!

Gee ... OK . I'll accept an original Am. Lone Star.

 

[Danjabellza]

Never really tried an hsh myself, but always wanted one. They started out with the hair metal guys, and tend to be played by that sort more often than other genres, but... really it’s just a 2 Humbucker setup(used in every singe genre) with the addition of a single coil in the middle(my favorite position for cleans btw). So, if you get one and it’s “too metal” you can swap out the pickups. Or just swap out the pick guard for something more suited to your taste. That’s the beauty of the fender style setup is the breezy modularity.

 

[jvin248]

.

My first Strat was HSS and I regretted it. Especially after I got another HH style guitar the Strat was redundant and I missed having the classic Strat SSS tones available. See those pictures in the previous post ... those are the tones those guys got with a classic SSS.

So my advice is get the SSS.

If you do find yourself gigging and needing "a humbucker!" then rewire the Strat you have with series humbucking setups. I use an Armstrong Blender mod that rewires the stock SSS, no new parts, so the second tone pot blends between SSS and HSH. Sometimes I only want the single coil tone a little thicker. Sometimes I don't want a fizzy humbucker so I roll back a little more single coil. A pair of run of the mill Strat single coils are 6kohm+6kohm=12kohm in series humbucking mode. Classic Gibson PAFs are 8kohms and "hot humbuckers" range from 12kohms to 16kohms -- so the blender or switching can span the range.

The second solution if you really want to do something different than the classic SSS later on, buy a loaded pickguard of HSS or HSH and swap that in your Strat chassis. don't mod the existing SSS loaded pickguard by hacking things up because there is a strong possibility you will want to go back to what your guitar started with as you will miss it. Yep, did that too.

.

 

[SixStringSlinger]

My Strat is a 2005 American Deluxe, so speaking from that experience:

I'd say get (or at least try) an SSS. Mine gets all the classic Strat tones (don't be afraid to tweak the tone knob to tame the bridge a bit), and with the S1 switch engaged I can hang with humbuckers. What I mean by that is that you may not fool anyone into thinking you're playing through humbuckers, but it does thicken your tone to where your Strat can now punch at the same weight as a humbucker-equipped guitar. So an SSS with the S1 switch (at least as it works on my 2005) would seem the most versatile with the least compromise.

Also, just another tidbit from my experience: The more gain you use, the less it seems to matter what pickups you have. One of my dirt boxes is a Z.Vexx Fuzz Factory, and at some setting I can't even tell what guitar I'm playing, let alone pickup position or type.

 

[archtop_fjk]

I’ve recently been playing around with a HSS strat partscaster, and had a Fender lone star pickguard installed for a while (Texas specials in the neck and middle, with the Atomic HB in the bridge). This also had the S1 switch which split the HB. Overall it sounded pretty good, but the HB tone was in great contrast to the other pickups, while the split HB was just OK. I decided that what I really wanted was just good SSS sounds from a strat (I have other guitars which cover HB and P90 tones). However, I like beefier pickups, so I’m looking at various options (TV Jones, Rio Grande...).

 

[JayFreddy]

I'm with JVin248 here.

If you want Strat tones, get a SSS.

It took me a few years to realize that I absolutely needed a SSS Strat to get the Strat tones I wanted.

The HSS or HSH configurations are nice too, but they are variations on a theme.

The original Strat theme that rocked the world is SSS. If you can only have one Strat, I recommend SSS.

If you were a metal guy, you might find the HSS more useful, but even for metal, the SSS gets the job done.

 

[DHart]

I've had Strats (as well as Teles) in pretty much all configurations.

If you are only going to have one Strat, I'd say SSS. An HSS Strat makes for a wonderful addition to an SSS Strat.

So, ideally, have your SSS Strat and add a HSS Strat to it.

The only reason to go HSH is if you want to give up the most "valuable" sound that a Strat can offer because you want a Fender guitar that is essentially focused on jazz tones, or predominantly Gibson-esq tones. And in that case, I would lean toward getting a

Tele HS

Tele MiniHS

Or, a Tele HH


The Lonestar American Standard Strat (above) doesn't really lend itself well to the jazz genre, but it does give great Strat tones along with the addition of that bridge humbucker capability.

Much as the neck pickup on a Strat is revered (as it should be! It's awesome.) I find the Strat middle pickup to be nearly as wonderful, in a slightly brighter tone.

If any of the Strats three SSS pickups might be expendable, in my view it would be the bridge pickup.

If you love the Strat neck, playability, and wonderfully balanced, contoured Strat body, but you yearn for more of a Gibson tone... put a pair of Gibson Classic '57 pickups in a Strat and enjoy! This is a wonderful option... but you won't get any "Strat" tones from it.

If you love the feel, playability, and body of a Tele, but yearn for those great Strat tones mixed with that awesome Tele bridge pickup... start with a Deluxe Nashville Tele and install Strat pickups in both neck & middle positions.

 

[hrstrat57]

Mid 2000's American Standard Strat 2 point trem with 4 springs. Staggered tuners. Awesome silky smooth neck. Can be found for $600. A gigging players dreamboat. Magical tones, versatile tone pots and stays in tune like a rock even with heavy trem use (with 4 springs set flush to body, down action only)

I've had at least 40 strats.

If getting 2 hunt down a late 90's Big Apple. (am Std strat with pair of SD pearl gates)

Done rock on

 

[Texsunburst59]

I have 2 KILLER S-style guitars in my collection.

A Tom Anderson and a Suhr SSH guitars.

Both are amazing, and they cover all the strat tones, and give the the thicker rock tones with the humbucker in the bridge.

I think the SSH set up would be the best OP,and if you're going Fender, I'd go with the SSH with the Shawbucker in the bridge.

Here are my 2 SSH guitars:

 

[DHart]

Just in case anyone might get confused... Fender nomenclature identifies the bridge pickup as the 1st pickup, the middle pickup as the 2nd pickup, and the neck position as the 3rd pickup. Thus, Fender uses HSS to indicate a hum bucker at the bridge and single coils in positions 2 and 3.

And the switching position nomenclature follows suit... switch position #1 is the bridge pickup, #2 is bridge and middle combined, #3 is the middle pickup, #4 is the middle and neck pickups combined, and #5 is the neck pickup alone.

 

[SixStringSlinger]

Mid 2000's American Standard Strat 2 point trem with 4 springs. Staggered tuners. Awesome silky smooth neck. Can be found for $600. A gigging players dreamboat. Magical tones, versatile tone pots and stays in tune like a rock even with heavy trem use (with 4 springs set flush to body, down action only)

I've had at least 40 strats.

If getting 2 hunt down a late 90's Big Apple. (am Std strat with pair of SD pearl gates)

Done rock on

If I hadn't seen any value in the S1 then I'd have probably gone with an American Standard over a Deluxe.