SHS

[toomanycats]

I think it's pretty safe to say that the combination of a bridge single coil, a middle humbucker, and a neck single coil is the most rarely seen configuration on a Stratocaster. Probably for good reason as well, for while I can't imagine a single justification for such a set up, I can think of many reasons why I wouldn't want it. For starters, say goodbye to the authentic quack of position 2 and 4. And how the heck do you balance the output of the pickups?

Think about the much more frequently seen combination of humbuckers and singles on a Strat, the HSS, or the HSH. Now these make sense, and it's easy to understand the rationale why somebody would want that setup.

What made me think of this is watching a live Supertramp video for the song "Bloody Well Right" from 1979, in which Roger Hodgson is playing a SHS configured Strat. I have nothing but love for Supertramp, and I think that Hodgson is great. But what's up with that SHS Strat? Does he know something that we don't?

[RockYoWorld]

First off, I do want to point out that I am not an expert of single coils, as I have very little experience with them (but not a single coil hater).

What I do notice in the video right at the section you have the link to start at is that the pickup selector switch is in the middle only position. It is possible that he really likes the sound of a humbucker in that position with the portion of the string's wavelength. Could be good for that type of lead as it is shared. He could then use the bridge and neck single coils by themselves for rhythm parts. That would justify not using a HHH, which isn't super popular, but much less rare than this SHS configuration (first time I've seen it).

I'm curious how much of a quack sound you could get in position 2 and 4 if that middle pickup was coil split.

Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing!

EDIT: I can confirm that at 3:00, he's just using the bridge pup for the crunchy rhythms. Seems like he uses that middle humbucker as his lead boost of a sort. Might actually be an interesting way to boost your signal and thicken your tone for leads, especially if you go right to the amp without any pedals.

[Bullcat]

I thought Wayne Kramer of the MC5 was the only one to use a SHS strat.

[toomanycats]

EDIT: I can confirm that at 3:00, he's just using the bridge pup for the crunchy rhythms. Seems like he uses that middle humbucker as his lead boost of a sort. Might actually be an interesting way to boost your signal and thicken your tone for leads, especially if you go right to the amp without any pedals.

Yup, @1:56 he flips from the middle position he's using for the lead to the bridge position for the verse riff. Here's a thought: Maybe he only has a three way blade and isn't even concerned about position 2 and 4. It is a pre CBS smaller headstock and is in all likelihood a genuine 50s or 60s year model. Five way blade didn't come out until 77 I believe. There's gotta be some info on this guitar somewhere in the interwebs.

[Chocol8]

I think you have most of it.

A) 3 way blades, not concerned with or maybe not aware of 2 and 4 quack tones.

B) Looking for a way to boost the level for leads. They didn’t have 20 million pedal choices or readily available hot single coils, or active mid-boost kits, and a lot of guys were experimenting with limited tools and even more limited experience and technical knowledge. Not a lot of choices, no Internet to research options, so sticking in a spare humbucker might have made sense at the time.

C) Drugs and alcohol may have been involved.

I would chalk it up to being one of those things that was tried but didn’t stand up to the test of time.

[glasshand]

I thought Wayne Kramer of the MC5 was the only one to use a SHS strat.

I wasn't aware of that, but you're absolutely right. He still uses one in that config, too.



In the interview where that photo came from, he says

Fred preferred a Rickenbacker 450/12 with humbuckers, which led you to modify your Strat, too, right?

Yeah. What happened was, I couldn’t quite get my solos louder than him to jump out in front of the sound of the band. We weren’t very good at dynamics yet, so everything was balls-to-the-wall. It was very difficult for us to learn how to play quieter—how to break it down and leave yourself some headroom. So my solution was, “I’ll put a humbucker in the center position, so when I want to play a solo, I can switch over and I’ll have just enough boost in gain and tone so that my solos jump out in front a little bit.”