Getting Fender twang from humbuckers using guitar modeling tricks
Knowing a few things about modern guitar modeling can help you get a Fender-like twang from an electric guitar - even if it has humbuckers in it.
Before I get into this, we need to rewind the clock back to 1972 to first see how guitars with humbuckers used to get Fender single-coil like tone.
One of the more famous Telecasters known to have very bright single-coil like tone is the '72 Fender Telecaster Thinline. That particular guitar was loaded with two Fender Wide Range Humbucker pickups, commonly abbreviated as WRHB pickups. What made the pickups special was that they had CuNiFe (copper, nickel, iron) instead of AlNiCo (aluminum, nickel, cobalt) magnets. You can't buy these pickups new anymore, and the one company in the world that was making them stopped doing so because it was getting really tough to source the needed materials to put them together. The modern version of the WRHB by Fender doesn't use CuNiFe magnets.
However, it wasn't just those pickups that made the '72 as spanky as it was. The volume pot also had a 1meg (1000K) resistance, similar to what a Fender Jaguar or a Jazzmaster would use. Normal volume pot resistance used for a Strat or Tele single-coil pickup is 250K, and for a humbucker a 500K is usually used. The 1meg pot really brightened up things.
That was then. If you wanted serious bright spank out of humbuckers, you needed the right magnets and a volume pot that punched up the treble.
With modern guitar modeling, most of the time you don't even need to modify any hardware at all. When you know the right settings to use, you can get some very bright Fender-like sounds even from cheap humbuckers these days.
My experimentation
I've had my Line 6 Spider V 60 for a little while now, and with the help of Line 6's free Spider V Remote software, I've been able to get my Ibanez guitars to produce a rather convincing single-coil tone - even though both Ibanezes I have are HH guitars.
I'm planning on having a sound demo of this later, but for now, this is what I've found that works:
Simulated Fender amp and cabinet
It's usually true in most guitar modeling software that the emulated Fender amps are the brightest of the bunch, and the Line 6 is no different.
On the Spider V 60, the one I've found works very well is the "1964 Blackface 'Lux" preset with accompanying "1x12 Blackface" emulated cabinet.
Simulated MXR Dyna Comp compressor
I've been using simulated Dyna Comps ever since my DigiTech GSP 1101 days. Whether by DigiTech or Line 6, this specific emulated compressor is the kind that puts a little "dirt" in the tone, whereas the emulated BOSS CS-3 is much more clean.
Compressor with a little dirt in it is important to use because it adds in another layer of emulation, which is "juiced tubes".
Most tube-type amp players agree that the amp sounds its best when the volume is up and the tubes are hot. And I don't mean a little warm. I mean hot. When the tubes are hot, a natural organic compression occurs in the guitar tone, which is how you can get that "sustain for days" thing.
A bright emulated Fender amp and cab in combination with a Dyna Comp emulator gets pretty darned close to not only getting a Fender-like single-coil sound out of a guitar with humbuckers, but also has the added bonus of having that juiced tube-type tone as well.
Obviously, you're never going to get a perfect replication of a loud tube-type amp moving real air. However, for recording purposes, the emulated way is more than good enough for classic rock and surf rock tones.
I'm going to try and get out a demo of what this sounds like, but while I'm getting that together, if you use amp modeling, try an emulated Fender type amp and cab with Dyna Comp style compression. The end result is pretty darned good. It makes humbuckers twang and brings on monster sustain. Works well.
Ibanez makes an HSH guitar for under $200
Ibanez yet again puts together a low-priced guitar that features something that used to be a premium-only option: HSH pickup configuration. And it's good.
Times are changing where guitars are concerned. Take the Ibanez GRX70QA model. And at the time I write this, it's under $200 new.
HSH, which means humbucker-single-humbucker, used to be something you would only find on high-end soloist guitars. But now you can have it for just under 200 bucks new.
What makes HSH special?
HSH is special - or at least was - for the reason that it is a nonstandard build.
The vast majority of electric guitars that use a Strat-like double cutaway shape by default will either be SSS, HSS or HH. You simply do not see HSH that often.
Squier did in fact make an HSH Stratocaster guitar, but it's no longer in production. However, even if it were still made, it was a Deluxe model and was always priced significantly higher than $200.
The Fender Player Stratocaster HSH does exist, but that obviously costs far more than $200 to get one of those.
Charvel offers an HSH as well, but that costs even more than the Fender does.
And, of course, Ibanez themselves offers the JEM as well as several other models featuring HSH. But where the best value is concerned, nothing beats the GRX70QA seen above.
Is HSH actually useful?
It is for those that want that middle single-coil pickup.
Imagine a guitar in HH configuration. Now imagine a middle pickup giving you "quack" positions like a Strat, plus another middle pickup position with a nice midrange tone to it. That's the HSH. You go from a 3-position guitar to 5-position, and yes you gain tone functionality that's actually useful...
...BUT WAIT, this Ibanez has a trick up its sleeve that makes it even more useful.
The 2 and 4 "quack" positions I just mentioned? It's not H+S for the 2 position and S+H for the 4 position.
When in the 2 position, the rear humbucker is split to single-coil, and when in the 4 position the front humbucker is split to single-coil.
This means you truly do get Strat-like "quack" sounds from the 2 and 4 positions and not a humbucker overpowering the middle single-coil pickup.
Very, very cool.
And to get it in a $200 guitar is even better.
It's safe to say that the GRX70QA is without question the best value HSH guitar that exists right now. It's definitely an HSH guitar done right.
Casio W96H, the watch I thought I'd never buy
I seriously thought I would never buy a Casio watch in this style...
...but I did, and it's great.
By "in this style", I mean the type with extra large digits on the face. Extra large for a Casio, that is.
Take the Casio W96H. The feature set and operation is identical to the W800H. Where the main differences lie is in size, weight and strap length. The W800H is 41.5mm tall, 35.5mm wide, 12.5mm thick and weighs 40g. The W96H is 37mm tall, 34mm wide, 11mm thick and weighs 30g. The W800H's strap is longer than the W96H.
I specifically avoided this style for a long time because I know the W800H doesn't fit my wrist well. I have one of those wrist types that's smaller and flat on top, which makes finding a watch that fits right difficult. But I decided to take a chance with the W96H and it worked out great. It's a keeper for me.
Out of every Casio watch I've ever owned, this is by far the easiest to read. And it's not just because of the large digits but also because the layout totally makes sense. Big three-character weekday at top left, big time in the middle, year at bottom left, month-day at bottom right.
Having the year displayed is useless 10 months out of the year. But in January and February it is useful for me because I routinely forget the year has changed for those two months. And the rest of the time, having the year displayed isn't in the way of anything, so it's not a big deal with it being there.
Feature set is minimal. Time, single alarm with snooze, stopwatch, dual time feature, and that's it.
As a tool watch however, the W96H really nails it where it counts. Ultra-legible time with date, weekday and year all on a single screen with zero clutter. The night light is green and works well too.
I wasn't sure I'd like this timepiece mainly because of sizing issues, but it fits my wrist correct, and I'm pretty sure the W96H is the only digital watch that has the largest digits in a smaller case size.
Thick vs. Thin electric guitar sound
I'm going into dangerous territory tackling this topic...
...because it's completely subjective. But I'm tackling it anyway.
The argument I've seen most for what defines thick vs. thin guitar tone is when Eric Clapton in 1969 switched over to the Fender Stratocaster from Gibson guitars. Gone was the "thick" sound of the Gibson, replaced by the "thin" sound of the Strat.
The specific thick Clapton sound that's being referred to was using a Gibson SG.
It is the pronounced midrange of the humbucker that really thickens up the sound more than anything else. And you don't need an SG to get it. The Ibanez RGA42FM can get the sound just as well, or pretty much any solid body electric with humbuckers.
Traditional Strats and Telecasters with single-coil pickups don't have a thick sound, nor are they meant to.
What single-coils are best at doing is clean tone. When you want the absolute best clean electric guitar sound, singles are required. There's just no arguing that point. When clean is the goal, get the singles.
For lead tones however, you may be in for a fight trying to get the lead sound you want with single-coil pickups.
Back in the 1970s when there was a lot of electric guitar experimentation happening, there were many attempts to make guitars that had both the crisp clean tones of the single and midrange-heavy lead tones...
...hence why the '72 Telecaster Custom came into existence. Single in the back, humbucker in the front.
Best of both words, right?
Not exactly.
Sometimes you want a humbucker in the back and a single in the front, and you can't get that out of a Tele Custom.
What about going with H/S? That brings about the problem of a loud rear pickup with buckets of midrange and a quiet trebly pickup in the front. And even if you have 4 controls (two volume, two tone), you either have to turn one pickup waaaaay down or the other waaaaay up just so they're not fighting each other constantly. Kind of annoying to deal with.
What about an HH guitar with coil-split humbuckers? That would work, right?
No, that doesn't exactly work either. Or rather, it works, but a common complaint by those who use humbuckers that split to single-coil is that a) the volume drops too drastically when split, and b) the split-to-single tone doesn't sound "single enough".
Yes, there are pickups that when split do retain the same volume as they do in full humbucker, but the same tonal problems remain. The humbucker doesn't have enough midrange bark, and the split single doesn't have enough top end treble bite.
If you want thick with midrange, go humbucker. If you want thin with treble, go single.
Many have tried to build the all-in-one guitar that has both the thick and thin tones. Heck, I even owned one myself at one point where I had a Fender Stratocaster HSS with a humbucker that split to single-coil.
In my experience, both thin and thick guitar tones can't be had in the same guitar. This is one of those instances where if you want it all, you have to own 2 guitars to get it. One loaded with singles, one with humbuckers.
The simple solution to have it all is owning both a Strat and a Les Paul, or a Telecaster and an SG, or a Jaguar and a Gretsch Double Jet... etc., etc.. Again, one with singles, the other humbuckers.
Is it possible to "thicken" or "thin out" an existing pickup?
With singles, the one I know to have the most "thickness" to it is the P90. The P90 brings the growl because it has more midrange response to it. Of course, the tradeoff with the P90 is that you lose some of that top end treble compared to a Strat or Tele single-coil pickup, but again, it does bring the midrange thunder when overdriven.
But where Strats and Teles are concerned, those are all voiced thin very much on purpose - which is how they are supposed to sound because that's where you get that great top end treble response from.
With humbuckers, the treble response of a single isn't there and instead pronounced midrange. And yes, that's how they are supposed to sound. That midrange is great for lead tones, "fuller" sounding jazz chords and so on.
Yes, there are some humbuckers that are voiced to have more treble than others, like the kind found in many Gretsch guitars. But still, a Gretsch won't be as trebly as a Telecaster bridge pickup - nor would you want it to be.
EQ doesn't fix everything
Using the Strat as an example, okay, so you don't have a lot of midrange response coming out of the pickups, so you just add in EQ at the amp and problem solved, right?
Well, if you have ever tried that, you know that doesn't magically change a Strat single to a humbucker sound.
But let's go two steps beyond that. You add in compression (this "squashes out" some treble and raises midrange some), and punch up the midrange EQ, and wire your Strat so that you have tone control on the bridge pickup (traditional Strat wiring does not have bridge tone control), allowing you to take out that biting top end treble by rolling the control down to around 5.
Does this work? Yes, you are better off than before with thickening up the Strat tone, but at the end of it all it's still not going to sound like a humbucker. At best you have a P90-ish sounding pickup at that point. That's not a bad thing, but still not a humbucker.
On the humbucker side of things, scooping out the midrange and punching up the treble control at the amp won't magically get Strat tone out of a humbucker either. You're just not going to get Strat-like treble bite out of a humbucker no matter what.
What's the all-in-one solution?
There is none. Nobody has ever been able to get both the thin and thick sounds in the same instrument. Many have tried.
In fact, I will give you a real example of a guitar that attempts to do it all that you can buy right now at the time I write this, the Schecter Ultra III.
You may look at that and say, "Three humbuckers? I've seen that before." Yes, but you haven't seen it where every pickup can be split to single coil. Look at those 3 switches on that guitar below the pickups. Those are split toggle controls for each pickup.
On paper, the Ultra III sounds like it can do anything. Every possible pickup sound you ever wanted out of one axe. Perfect guitar, right?
No, it's not perfect. It still has the same issues any guitar has with humbucker pickups that can be split.
So even when a guitar is built with all the control you'd ever want, in the end you would still have been better off just buying an all-single guitar and a separate all-humbucker guitar.
This is not to say the Ultra III isn't good. It's great. Very cool guitar. But it won't replace a Strat or a Les Paul.
Vintage certified electric guitars
Do "vintage certified" electric guitars actually exist? Not really. This is a problem for both buyers and sellers.
Somewhere around 2010, it started to become obvious that without too much effort, it was easy for some to craft a new guitar, distress or "relic" it, outright lie and say the instrument was actual vintage, then sell it for 1,000% more than what it was worth.
Anyone can buy a cheap relic Strat copy from China right now. It's ridiculously easy. Do I have a problem with this? No, I don't. But I do have a problem with people reselling them as the genuine vintage thing. Anyone who buys one of those copies for $300 with the intent of ripping someone off by reselling it for $3,000 here in the USA is an ass. If you buy the fake for yourself, fine, whatever. But if bought to resell, you seriously suck.
Most guitar buyers these days are fortunately well aware of what to look for when buying vintage electrics. But every year, makers of the fakes are getting better at covering every single thing you could possibly check to ensure a genuine vintage example.
It is at the point now where you have to get science involved just to identify a fake. For example, on vintage Fender electrics, there is a date stamp on the butt of the neck. Since it's not really difficult to make a new stamp look distressed and old, you would have to bring that ink under a microscope just to see if that ink was recently applied or not. And that's assuming you already had looked at actual old ink under a microscope on a genuine vintage neck previously so you know what to look for.
Sellers of actual vintage electrics have a really tough time these days
There are many guys out there that have real-deal vintage electrics but can't sell them due to the pervasiveness of fakes.
Let's say you do have a vintage electric. How can you prove it's legit? You can't. Even if you have the guitar itself, original case, original receipts and even the original hangtag, it doesn't matter. All that stuff can be replicated.
The only thing that could prove without any doubt that what you have is the real deal is if it were somehow "vintage certified"...
...except that doesn't exist. And it should.
Until this happens (which it probably won't), what can you do as a seller?
The only advice I can give is sell locally and get a lawyer involved.
You basically have to handle the sale of a vintage electric the same way as a vintage Rolex watch. You have to talk to the buyer, get to know the guy first, meet in person, and so on.
If you think things will go well, you then agree to meet in a police station parking lot to complete the transaction. Payment is only accepted with a certified bank check and nothing else. The transaction might even involve a trip to the bank just to make 100% sure the funds are there.
The lawyer is involved where you have an iron clad contract written up that basically says, "After you pay for this and receive the merchandise, you own it for the agreed price 100%. No refunds. No price guarantee. I can't guarantee the authenticity of this whatsoever and you understand this. The only thing that is confirmed true is that this is an old guitar and nothing more. It probably will have problems because it's old. But those problems are yours to deal with. Thanksgoodbyegetoutofmyface."
Yes, it's absolutely annoying to go through all this crap just to sell a vintage guitar. But until some kind of vintage guitar certification service is offered, that's just the way things are.