Three Seymour Duncan Pickups...Is this the most versatile guitar of all time?

More pickups =/= more versatile. I am finding myself more and more drawn to the 2 pickup setup (but 3 pickup look). Two great PAF's or heck, even a PATB3/PATB1n setup, and I'm a happy camper for 99% of my tonal needs.
 
All I hear is twang and clank. How is that versatile? Lol.

Brent's guitar is heard on more recordings and #1 sellers than anything you own...that's for sure. Maybe heard on more hits than any guitar in history.

Not a clank to be heard:

 
More pickups =/= more versatile. I am finding myself more and more drawn to the 2 pickup setup (but 3 pickup look). Two great PAF's or heck, even a PATB3/PATB1n setup, and I'm a happy camper for 99% of my tonal needs.

Unless you want a middle pickup combined with the neck or bridge sound. Lots of people do, me included. Not always of course.

Lots of people use the middle pickup by itself too. Jimmie Vaughan being one. Jeff Beck being another. I don't but they do.

I've wanted a guitar with a B string bender ever since seeing Clarence White with the Byrds 50 years ago.
 
Well, in his hands, it certainly is. But I don't think most people buying that guitar have his skill set. I think the Ernie Ball Steve Morse model is a close contender for stock signature models that are versatile. But I suspect very few people can play all styles as well as Steve, either.
 
Well, in his hands, it certainly is. But I don't think most people buying that guitar have his skill set. I think the Ernie Ball Steve Morse model is a close contender for stock signature models that are versatile. But I suspect very few people can play all styles as well as Steve, either.

True enough.

The Morse guitar doesn't have a B string bender tho.

And it's filled with Dimarzios. :ugh1:

Joking about the Dimarzios. I like the Dimarzios in my Ernie Ball Axis.

But they're the first Dimarzios I've really liked.
 
True enough.

The Morse guitar doesn't have a B string bender tho.

And it's filled with Dimarzios. :ugh1:

Joking about the Dimarzios. I like the Dimarzios in my Ernie Ball Axis.

But they're the first Dimarzios I've really liked.

You know, I love all of Steve's tones, but his pickups are very strange. Not only do they not give you anything close to his sound, they sound positively terrible in most guitars.
 
I thought Tommy Tedesco's was the most recorded Tele of all time?

Might be versatile, but sure is ugly.

Hard to say it's "most" versatile. There are lots of versatile guitars. Morse, James Burton Tele, Page LP, Townshend LP, Townshend Strat, Clapton Strat, Gilmore Strat, Les Paul Personal / Pro, G&L CLF research models, many super strats, like HSH with all kinds of split wire options, are all quite versatile; some have options that are not always useful, but sure, versatile.
 
I do think that set up, only with a hum in the bridge, is the most versatile. That can probably play anything. Hum bridge, single middle, mini neck.
 
I do think that set up, only with a hum in the bridge, is the most versatile. That can probably play anything. Hum bridge, single middle, mini neck.

All three pickups are humbuckers in the Brent Mason Tele. The bridge is a Vintage Stack and the middle is a Hot Stack.

A paf style humbucker in the bridge will prevent it from sounding like a Tele though.

At about the 9 minute mark of that interview I posted Brent plays some jazzy stuff and the tone is everything I could ask for. Of course he really knows his way around the fingerboard and has a great touch. That's the ticket to getting a great tone: having a great touch and knowing your way around so you're not fumbling and having to think too much.
 
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Not at all.

HSS or HSH with coil taps would be the thing, hot bridge bucker and vintage stuff in middle and neck
 
Brent has some serious chops. For what he does, that guitar is as versatile as it gets. He certainly gets a lot of different sounds out of it.

My most versatile guitar has two humbuckers and a 5-way superswitch that splits the humbuckers in 2 and 4. Well, my Les Paul also splits both humbuckers but via push/pulls on the volume controls so that has the slight edge with the ability to have a few more combinations. But at the same time, I can pull off what I need to with my HH Frankenstrat and a single volume control.
 
brent played on tons of other sessions besides country. its not like he doesnt own a les paul, a strat, a baritone, a 335, and sg etc... but this guitar did get a ton of use over the years
 
brent played on tons of other sessions besides country. its not like he doesnt own a les paul, a strat, a baritone, a 335, and sg etc... but this guitar did get a ton of use over the years

That's right. Best way for a Tele player to sound like he's playing a Les Paul is to put the Tele away and play his Les Paul instead.
 
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