What is the most versatile guitar?

RocknRollDave

I don't really get the HSS thing...I don't really hear much difference between a single coil in the bridge position and a humbucker

guitargeek62

You're doing it wrong then

ToneControl

VG strat

Real USA strat single coils

then simulated strat, tele, HB, acoustic, all in normal tuning, Open G, dropped D, DADGAD, baritone and 12 string

ToneControl

but you mean analogue pickups I guess:

in which case EMG 89 on bridge and neck,. an SA in the middle if you like

Active bass and treble EQ

89s can do EMG 85 sound, or SA sound. They are amazing

and stick a piezo in too

in fact, that means it's this guitar:

http://www.steinberger.com/tech20080007.html

noisepolluter

Strat or tele I reckon, based on the amount of times I've seen/heard them being played in various styles of music. Personally I'd rather have a single coil bridge pickup than make do with the sound of a split humbucker, but that's just because I don't play very distorted stuff. 

335s can also do most styles pretty convincingly - nice balance of twang and fatness. 

bertie

ICBM said:

NPP said:

just (physically) swap the neck and middle pickups. This should give you m - m+n - n - n+b - b on the 5-way switch. 

I know - 

wouldnt a RW/RP  in the middle fuck all that up tho ?  

I just used a schaller mega E........about £7 I think

ICBM

bertie said:

NPP said:

just (physically) swap the neck and middle pickups. This should give you m - m+n - n - n+b - b on the 5-way switch.

wouldnt a RW/RP  in the middle fuck all that up tho ?

That's why you have to physically swap the neck and middle pickups, not swap their connections on the switch.

bertie said:

I just used a schaller mega E........about £7 I think

I would use a proper Superswitch, but the guitar is a Japanese Aria with the short-frame switch, so it won't fit. It was hard enough to find a standard 5-way that did!

ToneControl

noisepolluter said:

Strat or tele I reckon, based on the amount of times I've seen/heard them being played in various styles of music. Personally I'd rather have a single coil bridge pickup than make do with the sound of a split humbucker, but that's just because I don't play very distorted stuff. 

335s can also do most styles pretty convincingly - nice balance of twang and fatness. 

EMG 89 is not a split HB in the same way, different magnets I assume, SC mode sounds like SC much, much more than normal HB efforts.

the Suhr SSV split is a pretty good imitation of a true SC, btw, but I know what you mean, most HB sound nothing like a SC when split

bertie

ICBM said:

That's why you have to physically swap the neck and middle pickups, not swap their connections on the switch.

but then the "neck" in the midldle would cause pos 2 issues with the bridge surely ?  or are you saying you dont use that so its irrelevant ?

ICBM

bertie said:

but then the "neck" in the midldle would cause pos 2 issues with the bridge surely ?  or are you saying you dont use that so its irrelevant ?

The whole point is to get rid of the bridge/middle setting . The only time I ever use it is with a lot of distortion, where I need hum cancelling and where the dirt covers the actual tone enough that I can stand it… although I still have to roll the tone control down a bit.

What I really want - and which is easy with a Superswitch, and so is frustrating that the Aria can't take one (and I'm not going to hack it!) - is:

1 - neck

2 - neck & middle in parallel

3 - middle

4 - neck & bridge in parallel

5 - bridge & middle in series

That would be quite versatile.

luscombe

Although it hasn't been mentioned yet, a gibson 355 with the variotone contol gives an incredible range of tones if you just sit with a guitat and amp and gpo through all the permutations. In a live evornment it doesn't seem to work out that way, and very few players seem to use all the tones available from the Variotone unit (thin 'Strat tones are easily found).