ggidzinski said:
I am putting together a Strat build. My style includes EVH, ZZ Top, AC/DC so a Seymour Humbucker in the bridge position is a given along with a tremelo bar. Currently looking at the '78, custom custom, pearly gates, etc. I also play some Hendrix and so it's tempting to think about single coils as well in one or both of the remaining positions. I need some advice:
1) Is it rationale to try to make guitar that can properly serve all of these styles? IOW, do humbucker/single coil guitars work?
Guys have been trying to build that guitar since sliced bread was a newfangled thing. It's the Holy Grail of stringed instruments. Hasn't been found yet, although starting from a Strat or Tele base is a good foundation.
In my experience, you can get dual/single coil pickup guitars to work, but it can end up a bit disappointing. The two pickup designs generally have wildly different characters to them, so they don't mix well. Switching to one pickup type or the other is fine, but together they're less than ideal. Mixing singles works, mixing duals works, mixing singles/duals doesn't. Doesn't mean you can't have both on the same guitar, but the in-between points may leave you wanting.
You can cheat that a bit by coil-splitting duals, but duals usually are usually built with smaller coils so that when you wire them into "humbucking" mode, the output doesn't cause lightning strikes. That means the single coil sound you get out of one is going to be kinda weak. Although, that's not 100% true, as there are dual coil pickups out there that are super-hot, so using half of one can work out ok. But, then when it's in humbucker mode, it's out-of-this-world hot, which may or may not be a Good Thing.
ggidzinski said:
2) If so, what configurations makes the most sense - HSS, HSH, HHS, etc?
If you must live with only one guitar, I'd do the HSS thing as has been suggested. You may have to experiment to find a good combination of parts, though. It's tough to say which will work, because your neck and bridge are going to have some noticeable effect on the character of the guitar as well. A DiMarzio Super Distortion is going to sound different on a guitar with a Maple neck and a vibrato bridge than it does on a a guitar with a Mahogany neck and a Tune-O-Matic bridge.
ggidzinski said:
3) Does a four wire bridge PU help you switch in the strat sound?
Not that I've ever heard. Split humbuckers to me just sound weak and noisy. They're not designed to sound good that way. They're simply provided that way because it's easy and the market demands it.
ggidzinski said:
4) Would you go for traditional fender single coils or a modern SD solution?
A good single coil sound is hard to decide on. Traditional single coils are very noisy, and there's little you can do about it. After some years of development, there are a number of "noiseless" singles out there. Most of them are just dual coils configured differently, and while they all work, they have varying degrees of "authenticity" to them. Oddly enough, the best ones I've heard are the least popular and least expensive. I suspect there's a mental thing going on there, but what do I know?
That's not to say that there aren't a lotta premium noiseless single coils out there; there are and I've used many of them. Each has its own character, and some prefer one over another. But, if you'll start with the ones I've mentioned, your investment will be dramatically lower than it would be with any others and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised at how good your fiddle sounds.
Anyway, if you want some noiseless pickups that sound like really good single coils, you'd have a tough time beating GFS'
Neovins or especially the
True Coils. The True Coils aren't
truly noiseless, but they're close enough for ork 'n' orr. Another set I'd highly recommend is Bill Lawrence's
Micro Coils. In any case, those are all very high performance/high quality pickups at surprisingly low prices.
Regular PAF-style noiseless pickups are available by the wheelbarrow load at a wide variety of prices. Usually, when somebody can't decide on a humbucker, the safe bet is to throw in a
Seymour Duncan JB (SH4). You just can't get pissed at one. It may not be
exactly what you're looking for, but it's liable to be close.
Very versatile pickup. Nice broadband response, hot enough to feed an old Fender and make it sound nice or drive a Marshall nuts, but backs down to a nice smooth tone if you wanna. I'd wager there's more music recorded with that pickup than just about any other humbucker.
