Members garage_logician Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 This will be my first electric guitar. My brother just bought a Fender American Deluxe and it is beautiful but a little expensive for a beginner like me. I love the neck on it and it sounds great, especaiily with the S1 (whatever that does). His strat is an SSS. I love the sound of both the Strat and the LP and in a perfect world there would be a guitar that could do both tones equally as well (maybe there is?). I am going to get a MIM Strat and need to decided on a pickup config. It seems, at least to this newbie, that the HSS would be the more versatile of the two tone wise and would be a great choice. Of course, Fender would not make both configs without a reason so.... what do I give up with the HSS vs. SSS? I am sure the reasonable answer would be to try out each and see what tones you get but being new to all this I am not sure that I would know what to listen for. I am guessing the HSS would have fatter tones over the SSS, other than that I don't have a clue. So, I am just looking for opinions/advice. What would you recommend for a newbie? HSS or SSS? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zepfan976 Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 HSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cletus Spuckle Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 I would say SSS, because that's the classic Strat setup. If you want to go HSS later, that's a simple do-it-yourself mod. If you have newbie ears, either sss or hss will sound pretty darn good. If later on you want more power/distortion on the bridge, you'll gas for a humbucker in the bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xStonr Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 My first guitar was a HSS Strat. I thought that it would be a very versatile guitar. It wasn't, at least for me. I ended up converting it to a SSS about 3 months after getting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zepfan976 Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 also if its your first guitar get a hardtail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FFStratophile Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 The all important question in threads like this: What do you play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Promit Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 also if its your first guitar get a hardtailWhy? Nothing wrong with the trem on a MIM Strat. I personally went for the HSS configuration, because I tend to play a lot of heavier music with heavier distortion and such, especially for lead tone type stuff. So it made sense to have the humbucker in the bridge for that sort of playing. What works best for you depends on what you want to play. An SSS Strat will NEVER be able to approximate the heavy metal tones that are characteristically humbucker sounds. That doesn't mean you can't play metal -- it just means you'll sound a lot different. On the other hand, my HSS doesn't have quite the bridge/mid tone that a proper Strat has, and it can't replicate anything like the angled bridge single coil that many people consider to be the signature Strat sound. Oh, one other thing. If you plan on replacing the pickups, be aware that finding a calibrated HSS set is next to impossible. Everybody makes HH and SSS sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garage_logician Posted April 4, 2007 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 also if its your first guitar get a hardtail I have looked at the Fender's on Musician's Friend and was not able to find a Hardtail, at least in the Standards (my price range). I think you are recommending the Hardtail since it would have less tuning issues, if that is the case would the Floyd Rose model be worth the extra $100? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LAracer Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 also if its your first guitar get a hardtail I disagree. The OP sounds like he has enough brain cells to read how to set up a trem. If I had to do it all again, I'd prolly get a HSS. The thing that you'll lose (if you go HSS) is the bridge pickup position (which I could live without easily) and the bridge+middle position (which I use quite a bit). The "typical" strat tone is probably the neck pickup, which the HSS should do just fine. People like Mark Knopfler (think: Sultans of Swing) and Robert Cray use the bridge+middle tone. It's often described as "quacky". If you just must have that tone, then get the SSS. Otherwise, the HSS is a better bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LAracer Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 But honestly, its not difficult or too expensive to convert HSS to SSS (or vice versa) so don't loose too much sleep over the decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zepfan976 Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 I have looked at the Fender's on Musician's Friend and was not able to find a Hardtail, at least in the Standards (my price range). I think you are recommending the Hardtail since it would have less tuning issues, if that is the case would the Floyd Rose model be worth the extra $100? yes i said hardtail because of tuning issues or you could get one w/ a trem and block it so that it can move then when your a little more settled in to playing you can just take the block out and wala you got you trem back i would also stay away from the floyd because they stay in tune but can be a serious pain in the ass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cokekolev Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 Personally, for my next strat I would use a HH configuration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garage_logician Posted April 4, 2007 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 More options, I see that there is a MIM Deluxe. This is an SSS config with a switch which kicks on the bridge pickup when the blade selector is in position 4 or 5. Probably the best feature of the Deluxe are the noiseless pickups. $599.00 is getting pretty expensive but it seems like a well spent $200.00. Man, this is going all wrong. I was supposed to be narrowing down my options, not expanding them! Argh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bdegrande Posted April 4, 2007 Members Share Posted April 4, 2007 HSS, but I have never had any use for the Strat bridge single coil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garage_logician Posted April 5, 2007 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2007 Thanks everyone for the advice. It came down to SSS with a maple neck or a HSS with the rosewood. I played both and loved the tone of each. Since I am partial to maple I bought the SSS. I had my sons with me and while I was looking over the Strats I ran across a 51 Squier. I handed it to the them and let them have at it, they loved so that one went home with us as well. Two great guitars in one day! I am really looking forward to learning and playing guitar with my sons. I just hope I can keep up. :-) Thanks again everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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