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Humbucker or not?

StickmanJamStickmanJam Posts: 425
edited February 2007 in Musicians and Gearheads
Hey all, I'm a beginner guitar player, and am looking at buying a Fender Strat this summer (right now I have a Squier strat). Question is, I'm not sure whether to get the standard strat or the one with the humbucker, both are the same price. Don't really know much about humbuckers, was just looking for some insight. thanks
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Comments

  • MLC2006MLC2006 Posts: 861
    a humbucker at which position....the neck, bridge or both? I have a strat that has single coils at the neck and middle, and a humbucker at the bridge. I wouldn't want a Strat that doesn't have a single coil at the neck, because Strats are primarily blues guitars and the single coil at the neck gives it that trademark sound. but a humbucker in the bridge, yeah, go for it. you can get good sounds from rock to blues to metal from a humbucker in the bridge.
  • PJ-SinPJ-Sin Posts: 348
    Humbucker!!
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  • StickmanJamStickmanJam Posts: 425
    yea sorry about that. A humbucker at the bridge position. My friend (whose a guitar player) said it gives the guitar a heavier, crunchier sound. Now what if, say, I didn't want a heavier sound on some particular things I play?
    MSG 7/8-7/9/03 -- Boston 9/28/04 -- Hartford 5/13/06 -- Boston 5/24-5/25/06 -- MSG 6/24-6/25/08 -- Hartford 6/27/08 -- Philly 10/31/09 -- Hartford 5/15/10 -- Boston 5/17/10
  • MLC2006MLC2006 Posts: 861
    StickmanJam wrote:
    Now what if, say, I didn't want a heavier sound on some particular things I play?

    that's why you'd have single coils in the neck and middle. the humbucker gets a good distorted sound in the bridge. the single coil in the neck can get a good spicy blues sound (like SRV or Hendrix) or you can get a somewhat decent clean sound out of it too. I personally have never had much use for the middle pickup, but I'm sure you could get an in between sound from it.
  • NovawindNovawind Posts: 836
    I use my bridge for power chords and distorted stuff where my tone could otherwise drop off significantly. My neck is for solo notes and Clapton type stuff. I just use the middle for light strumming, think Long Road or Santa Monica. So in other words yes, I'd recommend the fat strat (humbucker). I have a standard single-single-single and it works fine, but I bet you'll like the humbucker.
    If idle hands are the devil's workshop, he must not be very productive.

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  • moster78moster78 Posts: 1,591
    I'm a firm believer that a Strat should be three single coils. But thats just my two cents.
  • sandozsandoz Posts: 166
    not.

    alnico
  • StickmanJamStickmanJam Posts: 425
    MLC2006 wrote:
    that's why you'd have single coils in the neck and middle. the humbucker gets a good distorted sound in the bridge. the single coil in the neck can get a good spicy blues sound (like SRV or Hendrix) or you can get a somewhat decent clean sound out of it too. I personally have never had much use for the middle pickup, but I'm sure you could get an in between sound from it.

    my only concern is that songs like Small town and Daughter would have a different sound than they're supposed to be. but what do I know
    MSG 7/8-7/9/03 -- Boston 9/28/04 -- Hartford 5/13/06 -- Boston 5/24-5/25/06 -- MSG 6/24-6/25/08 -- Hartford 6/27/08 -- Philly 10/31/09 -- Hartford 5/15/10 -- Boston 5/17/10
  • this is not for youthis is not for you Posts: 240
    my bro has a strat( my strat which he sorta stole when i started to play drums)
    he has recently got a humbucker and put it at the bottom
    i dont kno bout the difference.. he says it jus makes it sound better or more porffessional or something... i dunno
    he has normal pick ups for the rest of the strat tho
  • armanHammerarmanHammer Posts: 471
    Humbucker at the bridge completely ruins the strat look. So if you really have to have a big Gibson sound, just buy a seymour duncan or dimarzio 'mini humbucker' that will fit in a regular single coil spot.
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  • seanw1010seanw1010 Posts: 1,205
    buy a standard strat, and if you feel you might want a heavier bridge sound, buy a SD hot rails and put it in
    they call them fingers, but i never see them fing. oh, there they go
  • amitamit Posts: 73
    Hey, in my opinion if this is going to be your only guitar for a while and you are looking for something all-round that'l let you play a variety of stuff, you should get a humbucker at the bridge. That'll let you play nice clean stuff like Yellowledbetter with your single coils, and then you can switch to your humbucker for a some more crunch for songs like corduroy, lukin, leash, you get the idea.

    But if you are planning on getting a second guitar later on that has humbuckers like an ibanez or gibson, you might as well just get single coils.
  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    As amit said, a humbucker at the bridge will give you more versatility, but the suggestions to buy the sss model and replace the bridge pup with a single sized hummer are very good. Keeps the traditional look.
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  • keeponrockinkeeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    lucylespian wrote:
    As amit said, a humbucker at the bridge will give you more versatility, but the suggestions to buy the sss model and replace the bridge pup with a single sized hummer are very good. Keeps the traditional look.

    Exactly, IMO the humbucker RUINS the strat look.
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  • amitamit Posts: 73
    What are all guys on about when you say 'the strat look'?

    Who cares?

    Just focus on the actual tone and playability of the guitar that suits you personally rather than trying to get yourself a typical strat just becuase they are traditionally well known and used.
  • Edward HatspaceEdward Hatspace Posts: 16
    OK, this is my first post on this site so here's my two cents. If you're gonna spend the $$'s on a strat I'd say you should find a store that has fat strats and just spend some time with both and see what you prefer. Personally I'd go for a standard single coil x 3 set up. The choice of after market pickups is big enough that you can tweak your sound as much as you want. A Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the bridge is a great choice. Keeps the "look" if thats something you want and gives your bridge sound some more balls too. I have one in the bridge of a tele and it's a great pup.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Edward Hatspace wrote:
    OK, this is my first post on this site so here's my two cents. If you're gonna spend the $$'s on a strat I'd say you should find a store that has fat strats and just spend some time with both and see what you prefer. Personally I'd go for a standard single coil x 3 set up. The choice of after market pickups is big enough that you can tweak your sound as much as you want. A Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the bridge is a great choice. Keeps the "look" if thats something you want and gives your bridge sound some more balls too. I have one in the bridge of a tele and it's a great pup.


    excellent first post Ed. The little 59 is a great pickup for strats to add some balls to that bridge pickup and take out the harsh top end they can have. One thing to note is that you will need to modify the pickguard just a little for it to fit. It's just a hair large for the regular single coil hole. It's nothing major really just a tiny shave job.
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  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    didn't have to modify my pickguard to fit the lil 59 on my last strat.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    didn't have to modify my pickguard to fit the lil 59 on my last strat.


    really? huh. maybe the one we dropped in had a misshaped pickguard or something. sorry I mis spoke.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    amit wrote:
    What are all guys on about when you say 'the strat look'?

    Who cares?

    Just focus on the actual tone and playability of the guitar that suits you personally rather than trying to get yourself a typical strat just becuase they are traditionally well known and used.

    +1

    BTW, don't forget, you already have the squire... Why not look into upgrading the pickups on the Squire and then maybe branching out a little when you start considering getting another guitar. You might want another Strat type, or you might find yourself gravitating towards something different. Try playing everything you can before you buy.

    Eventually you will pick up a guitar that you wind up playing longer than all the others... one that lets you think of different riffs or fingerinigs than you've thought of before, one that you play for so long the sales person starts to get annoyed.

    THAT"S the one you'll want to get. So don't blow your loot before you find it.

    Them's my 2 cents.
  • who's_pearljam?who's_pearljam? Posts: 2,104
    ^ That's what I think.

    If your Squier is really a bad guitar and you're going to get a better guitar, think about how you really play.

    If you like riproaring leads at overdrive, then maybe getting the Lone Star with the bucker in it would be good.
    Personally, I'd get a three single coil guitar and pop in a Duncan '59 or something like that, because the humbucker in the lonestar doesn't really send me. That would probably cost you $120- $150 to do in the future.
    Then you can wire the '59 so you can split the humbucker to a single coil OR humbucker and have both. :)


    I think it's more important to make sure you're comfortable with the guitar AND amp first, and match them both to the styles you want to play.
    Spend some time playing different combinations before you plunk down all the money!
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