Can You Get Good Humbucker Tone on a Strat? - Let's Find Out!

This is a question I get asked A LOT, so let's grab some guitars and find out!
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[andymacksoundvision]

Brian May's single coils are wired in series and can sound like humbuckers.

[ladyjulia]

Darrell you seem like the sweetest most down to earth kind of guy. I love how all of your videos are totally dummy proof too. If you have kids I bet they can't get enough of your patient and kind demeanor. Hope you see this and keep killing it!
PS You are one hell of a guitar player!

[RCSmiths]

I personally Strats are the most versatile of them all. Like for example, a Les Paul is more for Rock and Blues, and Strats can do so as well, adding on like Jazz, Funk, Country, etc. Strats are my favorite of the bunch. Great showcase and performance indeed here!

[waylonstar]

I’ve watched a TON of guitar YouTubers and you seem like the most honest, most informative and most mature then the countless channels out here thanks for doing what you do it is much appreciated, Scott Paul Johnson is also a great YouTuber

[sowhat]

This was a great comparison. I actually thought you were going to compare single coil sized humbuckers on a Strat to a HH Strat to a Les Paul. I think that would be interesting.

[davidkastin]

Great video Darrell. This is why we need guitars with different pickups. I tried explaining this to my wife but every guitar sounds the same to her 😳 lol

[mairenared]

I use a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster pedal. Apart from boosting the output on single coil pickups, the Resonance Switch lowers the resonant peak of the pickup giving you a sound similar to a humbucker. Position 1 on the switch drops the resonance 2-3kHz to sound like a vintage humbucker whilst position 3 drops the resonance 3-5kHz to sound like a high-output humbucker. Works for me :-D

[barbmelle]

From Leo: I love the 4 way mod. I have even used it on a Tele that I split the neck humbucker, between the tone knob split switch and the 4 way pickup selector, you can find about anything you need.

[priyonjoni]

That’s why I always found it weird when people claim “a SSS strat can sound like a Les Paul”. Position 2 and 4 always sounded more quacky.

[KaiVaiphei]

9:37 a Humbucker sized single coil 🤣🤣 no offense, love all of your videos

[dartman]

As an experiment, I recently installed a single coil sized humbucker in the bridge of my Strat copy. Just a cheap one...$12. I was amazed at the difference! If I liked it, I was planning on installing a better quality pickup. It sounds so good, I'm keeping it!👍😎🎸🎶

[DarrellBraunGuitar]

This comparison has been on my to-do list for a long time!
Hopefully it helps clear a few things up, and gives you guys some possible ideas for modding :)
Enjoy!

[GreenDistantStar]

I've tweaked and fiddled for decades, and beyond major pickup reconfigs, only humbuckers sound like humbuckers. I switch guitars, it's the only solution I've found. Thanks for this, excellent presentation and explanations.

[mateusmusic]

In my opnion with my experience, To make a single coil sound like humbucker you just have to change the location of the Middle pickup to the bridge pickup. then select the 3rd position, and you'll have a humbucker tone with TONE knob working (great to play Eric jhonson too)

[kdakan]

You can use a boost pedal, volume pedal, eq pedal, wah pedal, or a classic low gain overdrive pedal with gain set at min and level set at max and play with the tone control on the guitar and the pedal to simulate humbucker tone using single coils. They sound close enough this way.

[jchap]

9:28 I assume you meant to say "single-coil sized humbucker"?

[marcosvivanco]

I'm gonna tell you a secret: plug a fuzz into a marshall style amp. Dial the fuzz to around 80% fuzz and roll the strat volume to 9-8ish until you get just the enough of dirt from the fuzz but not entirely fuzz. Voilá there you have it.

[StuntcatTV]

This video is proof that this legend of a man does not give up on any of us, thanks for your patience and good will to make this video. :) Best regards from Austria

[donharrold]

You’re addressing one of the biggest conundrums in Rock Darrell. Everyone loves the playability, look and the spanky bell tone from a Strat, but sometimes you want a thicker bridge sound for overdriven lead tones? People try installing a humbucker at the bridge, but end up with issues with the 250k pots. The series wiring option to me is really the ideal compromise.

[bricedavin]

My solution with an EQ pedal : look for the specific frequency range that cause the classic single coil harshness, and cut it. Boost the mids, and raise the lowest frequency a tad (it has to chug a bit). That's getting close to humbucker territory.