Sage-Tips

Is SSS or HSS better?

The HSS Stratocaster is very similar to the SSS version, with the exception of a Fender humbucker replacing the single-coil bridge pickup. This makes the HSS Strat better suited to metal and hard rock, but don’t go thinking you’ll get deep, dark extreme metal tones out of it.

Is HSS good for beginners?

Generally I recommend HSS because it has the biggest variety of sounds that are useful to most people. If you are particularly bothered by single coil hum or really like the fatter sound of a neck humbucker then you should get an HH. If you want the thin bright tone from a strat bridge then get an SSS.

Are HSH guitars good?

A guitar with an HSH pickup configuration is incredibly versatile. The combination of two thick-sounding humbuckers with a single-coil in between gives you a wide palette of tones, making HSH electric guitars dependable for a raft of styles.

What is pick up configuration in electric guitar?

Most electric guitars have two or three magnetic pickups. A combination of pickups is called a pickup configuration, usually notated by writing out the pickup types in order from bridge pickup through mid pickup(s) to neck pickup, using “S” for single-coil and “H” for humbucker.

Is HSH better than HH?

The short answer is that an HSH guitar can be wired to do everything an HH guitar can, but provides the additional option of mixing in the middle single coil. HH guitars are usually wired with a three-way switch (neck, middle, bridge) and either master volume and tone or individual pickup volume and tone.

What does H-S-S mean on a guitar?

Then you need to know that you read it from bridge position to neck position. So, when you see a guitar described as having an H-S-S arrangement, you’re looking at a Humbucking pickup at the bridge position, a centered single-coil pickup and a single-coil in the neck position.

How do you wire your HSS guitars?

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.

What’s the difference between HSS and SSS?

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. 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.

What is an H-S-s arrangement?

So, when you see a guitar described as having an H-S-S arrangement, you’re looking at a Humbucking pickup at the bridge position, a centered single-coil pickup and a single-coil in the neck position. Here are some standard pickup configurations and corresponding Fender models: