The stigma of an HH Strat

As most who read this are aware, I recently purchased a Squier Bullet HH. Technically it's not a Stratocaster or even a "Strat" because that name is stated nowhere on the guitar. However since it looks and feels almost identical to a Strat, people think it is and that's fine, so I'm calling it a Strat.

I got some minor backlash from the fact I own a Strat with an HH (humbucker-humbucker) pickup configuration in it now. There are some who believe that all Strats should be SSS (single-coil, single-coil, single-coil) only. I'm not one of those people. My belief is that you should play whatever type of guitar you want that gets the sound you want.

I bought the Bullet HH for two reasons.

First, I specifically wanted a Strat with the HH configuration or at bare minimum a humbucker in the bridge position, like an HSS. Why? Because there are certain rock sounds I wanted it for. Single-coils can do low and high frequencies very well, but lack a little in the midrange department. Humbuckers lack on the high end, have a decent low end and much more midrange. It's the midrange I specifically wanted, and the humbucker delivers very well there.

Second, the Strat body shape is my favorite. Not Telecaster. Not Les Paul. Strat. I am most comfortable playing with a true-to-tradition Strat body. For those of you who know my gear, yes I have a Schecter C-1 Classic with an HH setup, and while that guitar is Strat-like, it's just not the same. This isn't to say the C-1 is a bad guitar because it certainly isn't, but the body shape is "very Schecter", meaning not Fender-like at all. It might look similar to a Fender but feels totally different.

There were a few that thought I was abandoning single-coil Squier Strats altogether because of my HH purchase. Not true. I just wanted a humbucker-equipped Strat guitar in my setup, and now I have one.

I've said before that I believe all guitar players should own two guitars with the classic pickup configurations. One in SSS and the other in HH. Even if you get the exact same guitar (which I more or less did) and the only real difference is the pickup type and layout, each guitar will sound distinctively different from each other. Or even if you own two totally different guitars by different companies, that's fine too. Having both to get those different tones is just a cool thing, and that's why I did it.

Published 2012 Jun 13