Superstrat vs "Normal Strat"

funkadelic

So what's the real difference in tone between these two animals? Superstrat SSH and "Normal" Strat SSS? I'm guessing it depends on what style you play but what if you need some John Mayer creamy Strat sound and yet have to be versatile as well? Mostly lead and funk style rythmn. I NEVER use overdrive when playing rythmn. Never play that pure rock/blues stuff.

GuitarDoge

Strat has more twang, and better cleans IMO but doesn't handle high gain nearly as well. A superstrat is built for versatility and shredding and will generally give that 80's lead tone perfectly.

However some superstrats with coil tap and hand wound pickups can get really close to a strat's tone.

arjunmenon

GuitarDoge wrote: Strat has more twang, and better cleans IMO but doesn't handle high gain nearly as well. A superstrat is built for versatility and shredding and will generally give that 80's lead tone perfectly.

I'm not sure about the "twang" (which i think is more of a Tele trait), but a Strat definitely has "cluck".
I agree with the single coils handling clean bit but disagree with the doesn't handle high gain bit..

GuitarDoge wrote: However some superstrats with coil tap and hand wound pickups can get really close to a strat's tone.

funkadelic

Wow havent even thought of coil-tapped super strats! Now that sounds like a plan.

arjunmenon

GuitarDoge

Arjun Menon wrote:
GuitarDoge wrote: Strat has more twang, and better cleans IMO but doesn't handle high gain nearly as well. A superstrat is built for versatility and shredding and will generally give that 80's lead tone perfectly.
I'm not sure about the "twang" (which i think is more of a Tele trait), but a Strat definitely has "cluck".
I agree with the single coils handling clean bit but disagree with the doesn't handle high gain bit..

GuitarDoge wrote: However some superstrats with coil tap and hand wound pickups can get really close to a strat's tone.
+1

My strat definitely has more twang and percussion than my schecter, and is much brighter and sparklier. A telecaster does have even more twang than that.

As for high gain, a strat does sound good, but it gets very noisy very quickly.

singemonkey

Locking vibrato tailpieces must make some difference? I've never loved the tone of superstrats. They always sound way "flatter" and less dynamic than strats. I've always put that down to Floyd Rose style bridges. Even unplugged they sound less lively. But I also suppose that it makes them a sort of "neutral" platform which could be good if you're playing with loads of gain and compression and stuff.

If I ever had a need for a guitar that could do it all, I think I'd want a traditional vibrato tailpiece. I read Van Halen saying that it was totally possible to set one of those up so that you could do anything with it and stay in tune.

IceCreamMan

Arjun Menon wrote:
GuitarDoge wrote: Strat has more twang, and better cleans IMO but doesn't handle high gain nearly as well. A superstrat is built for versatility and shredding and will generally give that 80's lead tone perfectly.
I'm not sure about the "twang" (which i think is more of a Tele trait), but a Strat definitely has "cluck".
I agree with the single coils handling clean bit but disagree with the doesn't handle high gain bit..

GuitarDoge wrote: However some superstrats with coil tap and hand wound pickups can get really close to a strat's tone.
+1

way off topic but Jake E lee launches an album today ,coincidence hey

under red dragon cartel ...jake e lee pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth after ozzy fired him

Charlie4

singemonkey wrote: Locking vibrato tailpieces must make some difference? I've never loved the tone of superstrats. They always sound way "flatter" and less dynamic than strats. I've always put that down to Floyd Rose style bridges. Even unplugged they sound less lively. But I also suppose that it makes them a sort of "neutral" platform which could be good if you're playing with loads of gain and compression and stuff.

If I ever had a need for a guitar that could do it all, I think I'd want a traditional vibrato tailpiece. I read Van Halen saying that it was totally possible to set one of those up so that you could do anything with it and stay in tune.

As we all know, it's the pickups that do the talking. I had an Ibby that sounded as fat as the people shopping at Wallmart. Dimazio EVO pickups which have a LOT of bass, specifically the neck pickup. Now I'm using a different Soup-Strat with Seymour Duncan SH1 & SH4. A lot less bass and with coil-splitting I get a nice twangy Tele sound which I like quite a bit. For all out variety, coil-splitting is where it's at. 8)

funkadelic

Definitely gonna check out some super strats with coil tapping.

GuitarDoge

My schecter has coil tapping in the bridge, but unfortunately it doesn't have the coolest feature of early schecters.

The ones Tom Anderson helped make in the late 70's and early 80's had a 3 way toggle switch for each pickup. Position one was the full single coil(wound much more than a traditional strat pickup), two was only using half that coil for a vintage tone and three was off. Essentially you could have any mix and match of vintage and modern tones. Mark Knopfler used one like that.

V8

Arjun Menon wrote: I'm not sure about the "twang" (which i think is more of a Tele trait), but a Strat definitely has "cluck".
I agree with the single coils handling clean bit but disagree with the doesn't handle high gain bit..

+1.

I generally associate cluck/quack with position 2/4 on a SSS strat (sometimes I think of it in a Claption/SRV way as Glassy) and twang with a tele (country style).

Single coil noiseless pickup's (thinking kinman's) amaze me, I dig the versatility - Sweet clean and gain sounds from them, especially a bridge p/u + fuzz + wah or the clean's from the neck p/u- bliss.

GuitarDoge wrote: The ones Tom Anderson helped make in the late 70's and early 80's had a 3 way toggle switch for each pickup. Position one was the full single coil(wound much more than a traditional strat pickup), two was only using half that coil for a vintage tone and three was off. Essentially you could have any mix and match of vintage and modern tones. Mark Knopfler used one like that.

Now we're talking...Never a huge fan of the sound from a HSS/HSH strat. Though, if I had only one guitar it would be a HSS with a setup like you described (or a variant of kinman's K7/K9 switching).

Though I'm beginning to appreciate fretboard radius & neck profile more and how much it affects the way I play...so I'd rather have two guitar's one for the occasional shred (clubbier neck, flatter fretboard, w/HB in the bridge) and one for rhythm playing (flatter neck, more fretboard radius, SSS strat).

Not yet owned a guitar with a compound fretboard radius, hmmm...one guitar to rule them all? :?

Neil-Nitro

I have a Washburn Chicago series from the 80's. It can pull off some Mayer aswell as rock out. I probably would be playing this thing a lot if it didn't have the floyd. I much prefer classic trems.

AlanRatcliffe

Coming back to the OP...

It's really quite simple: what sound do you want? Single-coils give you articulation, with definition, dynamics detail and attack; humbuckers fill more space and are more compressed and smoother-sounding. I often compare them to paintbrushes: your SC is a fine brush, great for detail; your humbucker is a wide brush, filling in large spaces with one swipe.

You can leave output levels and even frequency response at this level of choice - that only comes in when choosing specific models, not types of pickup. These days both types of pup can be found in a huge variety of outputs and tonalities. Modern amps have a lot of control over both too, with plenty of gain and EQ on tap. Anyway, a humbucker in the bridge is bright and a single coil in the neck will be warm. So no need to worry too much about that aspect.

For your intended purpose (cleans and funky stuff) nothing beats single coils IMO (at least for my tastes). The detail adds interest and dynamics to cleans, the attack and quack of the 'tweens (2 & 4 as well as N+B and all three sounds) make them perfect for the funky, percussive rhythm stuff.

funkadelic

I'm hoping that once my Schecter has been modded fully I'll get both the goodness of the single coils (EMG89 reversed so single coil pup is closer to the neck) for the funky stuff and the humbucker for the more jazzy stuff (I happen to like the humbuckers more for jazzy type stuff) with one guitar. If that doesn't cut it I may find myself hunting for a good Fender/Fender Strat copy.