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Hi. I'm Richard. I had a Lone Star Strat stolen recently, and though the police ostensibly are looking out for it and I'm conducting my own searches, I'm gonna go ahead and get another guitar. So I'd like some advice.

I play all sorts of stuff, but two of the big forces in recent years have been soul/jazz and African pop (with a university ensemble). These often require two very different tones: round and warm, and bright and clear. Basically, the age-old humbucker vs. single coil struggle. How to get that on one instrument? (I'm thinking wiring mods. Anyone have much experience with coil-splitting/paralleling humbuckers, and how Strat-y they sound? Which particular pickup models might be best for this? I'm especially interested in anything that could approximate that 2/4 Strat tone, though I've been told some of that is based more on physical pickup placement issues, not to mention woods and so on.)

As far as the instrument itself, I'm leaning toward a shorter scale. Easier for me to play, less stress on the tendons and such. I really like the idea of semi-hollows, too. I used to play a Sheraton II (still have it, actually, but it needs repairs and I might just sell it to help finance this new one), and between the look and the tone, I was pleased. In other words, the Strat style is not really my thing for a primary instrument anymore. (I've played Ibanez and Schecter semi-hollows with Strat-type body outlines that I kinda liked; those wide 335 bodies can be kinda cumbersome. But I wouldn't necessarily rule them out.)

As far as cost: I'm a jobless student, and I wasn't exactly planning to make this purchase, so nothing too crazy. Under $1000 for sure.

aaaaaaaaaand GO.

Maybe I should choose one or two points to ask for advice on? Looking at the post now, it's dauntingly huge...

Let's start with the Strat 2/4 quot;out-of-phasequot; tone. Semi-doable with trick humbucker wiring, or is it a physical phenomenon?

Well, if you wanted to go with 'buckers you can wire them out of phase from each other. From there rolling the volume control up amp; down on each pickup will give you different shades of tone and can loosely mimick the 2 amp; 4 thing that you'd get from a Strat. Maybe coiltaps or even a combination will get you close but unless you put in a Stagmag it's never the same as a single coil. On the flip side with single coils, rolling the tone controls down to take the edge off can make them sound a little thicker but they'll have the same girth, size amp; drive as a humbucker.

I feel your pain man...I had a guitar stolen once. Thankfully it was recovered inside of 48 hours but I felt sick for those two days.

I was considering the Stag Mag, actually. Maybe in just one position, with a more standard pickup in the other one. Not sure yet.

I was playing a guitar today that had a series-parallel switch, as well as a coil-split switch. It was hard to apply it to my situation, though, as this was a Strat-style with only one pickup in the bridge position. Not quite what I'm needing.

Here's a question for anyone: Those Washburn-made Oscar Schmidt 335 copy things? You know, the ones that are cheaper than dirt? Any good, especially with replacement pickups?

What's wrong with the Sheraton II? Why not get that fixed up rather then buying a new guitar?

Hey YiddishSoul. Sorry to hear about your loss.

People often talk about the #2 and #4 positions being quot;out of phase.quot; To be clear, they're not out of electronic or magnetic phase. They're out of mechanical phase. That means that the phenomenom you're hearing has to do with each of the pickups sensing a different section of the vibrating string, and often those two sections are mechanically out of phase with each other.

Also, the specific #2 / #4 quot;quackquot; tone usually has to do with two single coil pickups -- though there are single-coil-size humbuckers that can do the trick: like Duckbuckers or our new Classic Stack Plus pickups, which just came out last week.

You can get close to Strat quack with humbuckers, but generally it's not quite the same as the real deal. This usually has to do with the physical geometry of a humbucker bobbin and magnetic aperture vs. that of a single coil.

Bottom line: you can get a Strat to sound like a Gibson and you can get a Gibson to sound like a Strat. Kinda. But not quite. PRS and Fender's Double Fat Strat are good examples of guitars that go both ways. But there are other limitations as well, the scale length, the woods, the neck joint, the weight, etc., that make it just an approximation at best.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for all the info.

So yeah, I brought my old Sheraton in to Erlewine Guitars today and had Mark take a look at it. (I love living in Austin.) He said that the fingerboard is starting to come off the neck, and it'd have to be cleaned out and reglued. Also, the frets need milling or something like that. The bottom line: $450 . At that price, I'm tempted to get something else, and maybe even use the Sheraton's pickups in whatever new instrument I buy. MAYBE even get his cousin Dan's book and see what damage I can do to the thing on my own... (Though that's probably a bad idea.)

I'm partial to strats, so I'd say get a strat and use an overdrive for the fat tones. That to me works better than the other way around.

However, since it sounds like you are leaning towards a short scale, HB, hollowbody, I'd suggest checking out a used Hamer Studio or Artist.

each of these should be within your budget.

p-90's

seriously


Originally Posted by YiddishSoulHi. I'm Richard. I had a Lone Star Strat stolen recently, and though the police ostensibly are looking out for it and I'm conducting my own searches, I'm gonna go ahead and get another guitar. So I'd like some advice.

I play all sorts of stuff, but two of the big forces in recent years have been soul/jazz and African pop (with a university ensemble). These often require two very different tones: round and warm, and bright and clear. Basically, the age-old humbucker vs. single coil struggle. How to get that on one instrument? (I'm thinking wiring mods. Anyone have much experience with coil-splitting/paralleling humbuckers, and how Strat-y they sound? Which particular pickup models might be best for this? I'm especially interested in anything that could approximate that 2/4 Strat tone, though I've been told some of that is based more on physical pickup placement issues, not to mention woods and so on.)

As far as the instrument itself, I'm leaning toward a shorter scale. Easier for me to play, less stress on the tendons and such. I really like the idea of semi-hollows, too. I used to play a Sheraton II (still have it, actually, but it needs repairs and I might just sell it to help finance this new one), and between the look and the tone, I was pleased. In other words, the Strat style is not really my thing for a primary instrument anymore. (I've played Ibanez and Schecter semi-hollows with Strat-type body outlines that I kinda liked; those wide 335 bodies can be kinda cumbersome. But I wouldn't necessarily rule them out.)

As far as cost: I'm a jobless student, and I wasn't exactly planning to make this purchase, so nothing too crazy. Under $1000 for sure.

aaaaaaaaaand GO.

Jazz/soul and African pop? -that's pretty close to my neighbourhood. My main band plays late 60's funk (think JB/Meters) and Afrobeat (think Fela/Antibalas?Manu Dibango).

Having recently seen the awesome Quantic Soul Orchestra play, I'm hunting around for a semihollow too. I'm looking at Guild Starfire IV, which is a sort of 335 derivative. The US Fender-made reissues are exceptionally well made. They pop up used for under a grand sometimes.

Here's a page with some deatils and ebay listings:

from : localhost/they're a bit rich for your blood, then you could hunt down a Dearmond Starfire. These were made in the 90s as a sort of Squier equivalent line for fender's guild range. Nice guitars with US pickups.

Another cool guitar that can be had for not too much money is the Gibson ES 135. These go for about a grand in excellent condition s/h and often for less. It's a 335-depth body, but fully hollow with p90s, so that should give a more single-coil sound. They are quite large-bodied guitars, though.

On the subject of splitting humbuckers, there is such a thing as a 5-way superswitch for twin humbuckers. I've played guitars set up with them and they do a very nice job of fenderish tones.

if you decide to go the fender route, I'd suggest a thinline telecaster with humbuckers.

H-S-H or H-S-S (Fat Tele) will get you most of what you want.

Sweet. I'll look into some of these model suggestions. And now: replies.

Originally Posted by drew_half_emptyp-90's

Wouldn't that limit my instrument choices? Also, can they get really bright and clean AND warm and meaty, or is it more of a compromise thing? I've played them in stores, but not for long enough to get a real feel for what they can do.

Originally Posted by CurlyI'm partial to strats, so I'd say get a strat and use an overdrive for the fat tones. That to me works better than the other way around.

But what about jazzy warm clean tones? This is why I'm thinking humbucker.

Originally Posted by drpietrzakH-S-H or H-S-S (Fat Tele) will get you most of what you want.

Are there any models that have H-S-H in a Gibson-y scale?

Originally Posted by Hot _GritsJazz/soul and African pop? -that's pretty close to my neighbourhood. My main band plays late 60's funk (think JB/Meters) and Afrobeat (think Fela/Antibalas?Manu Dibango).

Which are pretty compatible, really. I mean, you can't listen to JB and Fela without expecting that they fed off each other.

Originally Posted by Hot _GritsOn the subject of splitting humbuckers, there is such a thing as a 5-way superswitch for twin humbuckers. I've played guitars set up with them and they do a very nice job of fenderish tones.

Oh? Do tell. (Or link.)

I'm about to go buy an Ibanez AS83. (I chose that out of the 335-style bodies I've played; I chose 335-style because hey, I already have a hardshell case in decent shape...) I have an Afropop gig on Monday, and I want to use it in the real world a bit. Returns accepted for up to two weeks after purchase at the store I'm going to...

If I like it, I'll have it modded later. Or not, if it works as-is. Maybe I won't miss the single-coil stuff as much as I think I will. We'll see.