Are HSS guitars unpopular?

playas

playas

Well-known member
It might seem like a strange question, but I notice that outside of strictly bolt-on superstrats it's very rare to see a guitar with a hss pickup layout.

I was wondering if other designs with hss layouts just don't sell.

It strikes me as a versatile set-up but even a lot of more modern designs seem to always gravitatate towards HH designs.

Any thoughts, opinions?
 
I am going to guess that, similar to my roll-your-own, HSS was what one got when one quickly modified their SSS Strat in the 80's, to chase that 80's tone. So early on, HSS became the de facto standard.

However, soon after someone, and a few manufacturers, tried HSH, then HHH, and with more tones available in these configurations, they became the new standard. The pinnacle being HHH with split options for all pickups. It can do everything between SSS and HHH.

Edit: Kind of missed the main point of the OP but I will assert the same applies to non-Superstrat bodied guitars.
 
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I would argue that outside of "reissue" type guitars, HSS is the most popular configuration, right up there with HH.
 
Seems like HSS guitars sell well but that's just my impression, supported by no statistics.

I've got one HSS guitar, and its versatility is exactly why I like it. I can do rock on the bridge, split or full hum, and keep positions 1 and 2 available for funk and neo-soul. I'm not generally a single-coil guy, so an HSS setup works for me.
 
If you're after a do everything stage guitar, it's really difficult to beat an HSS.. My primary is a Parker night fly that weighs a ton, but give me everything from Les Paul crunch to dire straits (with a ton of mods :-)
 
In the 80s, they were super popular, and most companies made them. In real life, though, there are a few compromises. The single coils are generally lower in output than the humbucker, so there is a volume change. You can use higher output singles, but then they don't sound like a classic single coil any more.
 
Even the Ibanez headless guitar is HSS

Most of the guitars i see are either hss or hh

Few are sss or hs

Mustang is ss or hh

Teles are sh ,ss or hh sometimes hs

Ibanez makes all the flavors hsh sss hs hh etc

P90 p90 is popular
Bridge hum with a p90 neck is popular now
 
Mincer said:
In the 80s, they were super popular, and most companies made them. In real life, though, there are a few compromises. The single coils are generally lower in output than the humbucker, so there is a volume change. You can use higher output singles, but then they don't sound like a classic single coil any more.
Click to expand...

Or a boost pedal when you're playing the singles.
 
I hate the HSS setup. HSH works better for me because it is fewer compromises. the neck pickup is a full humbucker, and split it often sounds decent, but the 'stratty' tones are depentent on the middle pickup so HSH works fine in that regard.

HSS doens't work for me because the bridge pickup is either overpowering the singlecoils, or the singlecoils are so hot to work with the humbucker that they lose the singlecoil character, and to put in a hotrail in the neck is TOTALLY redundant and stupid if a full blown humbucker can do what a hotrail does but better.
 
For my purposes I think HS is ideal. I don't like humbuckers in the neck position: they are always muddy in my hands. Single coils have so much more clarity. At the same time, I never need the middle pickup. It doesn't get in the way for me, but it is something I don't really need or want.
 
To me, HSS is super versatile, if wired just right. Start with a bridge pup that works good in split and parallel. Distortion and Invader come to mind.

Then wire it so the bridge position has the HB'er in parallel, and the #2 position is split with the middle pup. Now you have more or less standard Strat sounds for pos's #2 - #5. The #1 position is noiseless and isn't quite so ice-picky as a bridge single.

Finally, you do a "blower" switch, to bypass the 5-way, and connect the bridge pup, in series, either direct to the output jack, or to the volume / tone control.
With an Invader, this basically gives you a Tom DeLonge Strat at the flip of a switch.

Super versatile. Lots of tonal options.

​
 
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I think it comes down to what kind of music you are playing... For me:

I think they are absolutely hideous!
I hate single coil pickups. They are Flat and boring.
I hate middle pickups. They are in the way.
I hate strats too while I'm at it.
Heck I don't even like neck pickups very much.

Did I miss anything ?
 
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It is difficult to argue against this ^^^^^.

In the 80's, when I changed my Strat from HSS JB/stock/Stock to H Distortion, there were only a few tunes where I missed the single coils.
 
orpheo said:
I hate the HSS setup. HSH works better for me because it is fewer compromises. the neck pickup is a full humbucker, and split it often sounds decent, but the 'stratty' tones are depentent on the middle pickup so HSH works fine in that regard.

HSS doens't work for me because the bridge pickup is either overpowering the singlecoils, or the singlecoils are so hot to work with the humbucker that they lose the singlecoil character, and to put in a hotrail in the neck is TOTALLY redundant and stupid if a full blown humbucker can do what a hotrail does but better.
Click to expand...

All of this, plus the middle pickup gets in the way.
 
I play mostly neck pickup and kinda like single coils for that pickup

Sometimes I play a bridge but they just seem harsh to me no matter single coil or not
This does sound better with gain though
 
My main guitar right now is a neck-through Jackson HSS. It's a swiss army knife and gets me through any music that gets thrown at me, for the price of a couple switch changes. The neck is a DiMarzio 54 Pro, which gets me Fender Strat neck tones, the middle is an Injector neck that gets me Gibson neck tones, and the Custom Custom in the bridge is wired on two push pulls that get me any coil config to mix with that. Parallel coils gives me Tele bridge tone, full humbucker gives me PAF tones, screw coil gives me P90 tones and slug coil gives me Fender Strat bridge and in between quack tones.
 
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