HSS, or SSS?

[kannibul]

Which do you prefer, and why?

Also, excuse my ignorance on this, but how do single coil pups sound different from hummers, other than being more noisy? I noticed on a lot of single coils pups, they are "stepped" toward the middle strings on the guitar, what's the reason for this?

[tonemonkey]

SSS for me. Humbuckers sound great, but their tone and output, more middy and hot (generally) do not sound 'strat' to me. The reason for the stagger, well thats to balance out the volume of the strings.

[pbradt]

SSS. I don't like the way I sound with humbucking pickups.

[photoweborama]

SSS.. I have a different guitar thats HH... not a Fender, though.

[crush]

SSS if you're going strat. it's really the only way to get the true strat sound. SSH looks kind of 80's cheesy also.

[itbepopples]

depends on how much versatility u need. i prefer the hss config but as u see most others dont. the single in the bridge is more chimey and twangy as opposed to thick and meaty.

[BlueFrogs]

I prefer single coils over HB's for one simple reason, clarity. The notes on single coils sound so much clearer it's like night and day. This is not to say that HB's sound bad at all. I started off as an HB guy and never thought I would prefer single coils at all, but times change and so do people's taste.

[grito]

SSH or HSH. I love the tone of a humbucker in a strat. It's heavy, yet defined. That's my tone.

[MasterChief]

is HSS an option? that's what I would do. Ive got an American Deluxe Fat Strat and I can get all of the tones that I want with it... except for that really dark gibson sound. I can get close though if I turn down the tone really low.

[Kap'n]

I've got a HSS strat-oid, and, since I got a 'real' SSS strat, buckers don't do much for me anymore.

I set the HSS up for a floating trem, and I use it for "idiot rock."