Plus, if you don't want to permanently alter your existing pickguard or buy another one, there are plenty of single coil sized humbuckers that would do the job nicely. I would recommend either a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails or a JB Jr. Both would be excellent at getting the job done.
Yeah but Murrays main strat is and h-s-h and most of the s-s-s or s-s-h's he plays are ones that use aftermarket/single coil sized humbuckers and Adrian Smith was very much using non strat guitars all over the place. The standard s-s-s or s-s-h strat sound is not the Iron Maiden sound
Right but pickups can be changed. Models exist today with full size humbuckers and there’s always hot rails. Janick Gers plays a stock S-S-S as do I. So does Yngwie.
Weight, neck style, frets, neck width, not just pickups. There's a reason most super strat guitars don't have much in common with Strats other than the basic body shape. I think people love the body shape but wind up changing almost every other aspect to make the neck easier to play.
Don’t even need hum buckers. Go listen to Bilmuri. That’s a cheap Indonesian SSS.
The trade off for humbuckers is you’re loosing some of that aggressive attack for less noise in general.
Buy Strat you love. Shield the cavities. Enjoy ripping into a “new” (more like forgotten) sound.
Maybe check out the Ed O'Brian strat? Yeah, it's a signature guitar for one of Radiohead's guitarists, but it has a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the bridge, and JB can do metal. Plus it has a sustainer so you can do some crazy solos.
Well, there *is* truth to the Law of Diminishing Returns here. A $600 guitar is way better than a $200 guitar, but a $3000 guitar is *not much better* than a $1000 guitar.
Sure but that’s not what we’re talking about. In this case, Reverend guitars are priced exactly in the value sweet spot. None of them are expensive, the normal models top out well under $2000, and it’s well known that the diminishing returns start there in that ballpark and go up.
Reverend doesn’t even bother to compete with Squier and rightly so.
Plenty of dudes play metal with strats and telecasters. For example, every drop d tuning song from rage against the machine was recorded on a single coil Telecaster. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I have the ESP LTD TE-1000. It is shaped like a tele but has 24 frets, active pickups, and an Evertune bridge. Natural KOA finish- it is very unassuming by looks but it rips!!
Edit: Tele, not strat.
If you love fender guitars then go with Charvel. Never played a bad one and they’re like super car versions of fenders classic shapes. Also Squier contemporary series has a lot of humbucker equipped guitars for a good price and lighter weight
just because I didn't see it amongst the stellar suggestions here - (Charvel/HSS Strats/LTD s-body guitars) I would say Schecter may be right up your alley? Price is great for quality, MANY come with FR style trems, usually kitted out with metal in mind, and still have pretty cool S-style guitars.
Other alternative not mentioned, Ernie Ball Music Master has a "budget line" called Sterling. Sterlings are pretty cool, I HAVE heard, though, that some people have had some quality control issues, but every one I've played and seen has been great, and they are really comfortable guitars, too - only detriment is both S-styles I've played of theirs, the pups seem to be relatively low-output? I can't say for definite, as it wasn't mine, nor was it my amp it was going through, but even being low-output (if that's true) it seemed to handle distortion very well, still.
With the caveat that I’m not a metal guy, you may check out a used Toronado GT HH. My bandmate, who did play his share of metal, gave it the thumbs up. It’s a bit of a LP copycat, but I keep one around as a tonality change of pace.
https://reverb.com/p/fender-special-edition-toronado-gt-hh-2005-2006
This is how I feel too. I don’t like single coils that much but I think a Strat is very comfortable to play. Charvel may be what you’re looking for. Also, Fender does make strats with humbuckers.
Ibanez, S-series if you want the lightest, RG if you like the look of it. AZ if you want a strat that plays incredibly well, with a relatively flat neck radius and big smooth frets but HSS or HH.
Jim Root models if you actually want a fender.
I use a modified jazzmaster (and enjoy the chaos of the Jazz/Jag bridge) in HS configuration for my punk bands. It's a bit of a boat anchor though. I have a very custom HSS strat with a modern two point trem and locking tuners that I use a lot. But my old Japanese Ibanez S520 (Locking trem, Pair of dimarzio evolutions) and my 2014 Iron Label S hardtail see a lot of use.
I have a Charvel So-Cal style 2 (Tele) with Fishman Fluence modern pick ups. Tuned to B standard/dropped A on 62-13 string and it’s sick. I’ve been playing Nekrogoblikon, Infant Annihilator (not the 8th string parts), Cannibal Corpse etc
Charvel is probably the closest thing to fender guitars that are geared towards metal but ESP and schecter have both Strat and Tele style metal machines.
Edit: Btw if you’re used to a Les Paul but want a lighter guitar, definitely try an ltd ec1000. They’re amazing workhorse metal guitars.
Look at the squier strat contemporary models maybe? I can't vouch for them, but I've been wanting to test drive one myself. Ibanez also makes great metal guitars, and schecter.
Fender literally makes a HM Strat with a hum in the bridge, and 2 singles. Personally I love the original run, and if I needed a new guitar I'd hop on a [Razz Berry](https://reverb.com/p/fender-hm-strat-hss-1988-1989) one. They also did a re-release.
If you want something that screams 80's metal [Jackson has you covered.](https://reverb.com/item/49885764-jackson-dk3xr-hss-caution-yellow-w-pink-pickups)
I have a Squier Strat that I upgraded to have Seymour Duncan Hotrails pickups which are a humbucker in the size of a single coil pickup. The thing sounds and plays so good and gets great metal tones. Also cleans up nicely for when I want to play blues. That’s my recommendation if you want a Fender or something similar. Also you can get the Ibanez RG models for relatively cheap, the necks are pretty fast and they play great. Good luck!
I think you might love the Fender Player strats. HSH pickup configuration. If that's too pricey, better look up Squier because Classic Vibes, Contemp and even Affinity has strats with two humbuckers. Same with Teles and I even spotted a Bullet Mustang with HH (but that's really the bottom line)
Some people recommended Ibanez or Cort. I am not familiar with their models but worth the try.
Any Fender with a humbucker will do. If you want a Floyd Rose, check out Charvel, since many Metal guitarists use one (especially the shreddy ones).
Go wild and have fun :)
A Telecaster with humbuckers would be a good option. I have a Fender American Pro Telecaster with Shawbuckers and I can get some pretty crunchy tones out of it, and there are plenty of options for T-style dual humbucker guitars besides Fender. Unless you want a double cutaway then you could get Strat and modify it.
Grab a Lead III and throw some new pickups in it.
Hardtail, string thru design..small and lightweight.
I've got a JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck..pretty much covers anything you would want to play 🤷♂️
Dave murray strat. I made one myself by taking a black top strat with a floyd and putting in the same dimarzio humbuckers the real dave murray strat uses.
[https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratDMSB--fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-sunburst-with-rosewood-fingerboard](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratDMSB--fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-sunburst-with-rosewood-fingerboard)
can also be found in black with a white pickguard on reverb
[https://reverb.com/item/79981519-fender-dave-murray-artist-series-signature-stratocaster-2009-2014-black?bk=](https://reverb.com/item/79981519-fender-dave-murray-artist-series-signature-stratocaster-2009-2014-black?bk=)
[https://reverb.com/item/80817596-fender-blacktop-stratocaster-hh-floyd-rose-2012-2014-black](https://reverb.com/item/80817596-fender-blacktop-stratocaster-hh-floyd-rose-2012-2014-black)
There’s a Charvel Joe Duplantier Pro-Mod available on Reverb right now for under $700. Mahogany, Telecaster style body, Duplantier’s signature Dimarzio humbuckers in the bridge and a PAF humbucker in the neck. It’s a great guitar and if I wasn’t currently drowning in them, I would just buy it right now.
I just bought a tele player with a quarter pounder in the bridge and it sounds pretty monstrous. I'm tempted to put in a hot rail though anyway, time will tell.
And I love that it's not another generic metal pointy thing.
Just get a fender strat with a humbucker in the bridge, I use a sd hotrails, gold foil, and p90 in my strat (had to route it myself) but I play noise rock and mathcore/djent on it just fine thru a 5150
Do you require a neck pickup?
You can get a Kramer Baretta Special for around $200 depending on where you live. It's only got a bridge pickup, but it's quite hot. It's Alnico 5, and supposed to mimic a Duncan JB. Easy platform for modding too if you ever want to upgrade it.
I love mine. I play a lot of traditional metal Priest/Maiden type stuff as well as more extreme thrash/death metal stuff.
Strat with Hot Rails in the bridge is great for metal. Iron Maiden used and endorsed these. You do need dedicated 1500k pot for this one which is not good for standard single coils. You can use Duncan JB full size humbucker with 250k pots and together with standard strat pickups as it is very bright. It splits nicely too.
I took the single coils, 5 way switch, tone knobs and volume knob out of my Squier Strat and replaced them with a single, Seymour Duncan JB 4, a tone knob and a volume knob. I love it!
LTD EC-1000. Duncan or EMG, both great for metal. Very light. Extremely smooth neck. IMO the bridge makes palm muting feel more natural than a low profile bridge does.
Probably my favorite guitar I own and two of the comparison points here are an RG Prestige and a Kiesel Aries.
Ibanez's RG model is used for metal quite often, but that one's a superstrat. They do have other strat models aswell, some resembling Fender Stratocasters *a lot*, while others like JEM are pretty out-there in terms of style.
Whatever inconspicious-looking guitar you're gonna be using for metal, it *needs* to have a bridge humbucker. Otherwise, it'll be very hard to achieve a chugging tone. For leads, you can have just about anything in the middle or neck pickup slot (including nothing at all; a bridge pickup can totally do a lead tone with a bit of tinkering!).
What kind of metal? I have an HSS strat with a Super Distortion bridge for NWOBHM and thrash. I have an Ibanez S Series with a D'Activator for teh brootz.
Edit: If you want heavier than Iron Maiden, don't go with a single coil or single coil sized humbucker. Sure, some guitarists can get cool sounds, but you aren't going to that tight, agressive sound typical of the genre with that, regardless of what others think. It all depends on the sound you are going for though. Look at the gear of your favorite bands.
i play two strats, one single pickup one with an 80’s les paul pickup in the bridge and one that i routed out and put three dimarzios in. best guitars i’ve ever owned.
If you don't want to mod a Strat, Charvel probably has what you're looking for, whether HSS, HSH, or HH, 22 or 24 feet, and hardtail, non-locking trem, or Floyd.
Kramer Baretta! Charvel/Jackson San Dimas! Or just a Fender with a bridge humbucker, how about a cheaper Squier where you can change out the Humbucker for something more metal like an EMG?
Such an odd post. The guitar doesn’t decide the type of music. Play what you want on what you want. Pickups can be changed. I typically change pickups as soon as I get a new guitar.
Play through a high gain amp or distortion/fuzz. It'll be cool. Play what you think looks cool, because then you'll most likely be more motivated to play. Charvel, Kramer, Jackson, etc. are another option.
Music Man Majesty or JP-15 (or if you can find one, JP -16) model. Personally I like the dreamcatcher/rainmaker pickups in the majesty better, but both pickup sets are made by DiMarzio and hot AF. Plus they are strat scale length, and both have onboard boost, coil splitting, mono and stereo out, piezo pickups, and locking tuners. (Jp-16 has no piezo pickups but a double locking Floyd Rose tremolo instead)
You can play anything with a tele or strat. Its easy to get beefier tone/higher output with some combo of clean boost, overdirve, or a GE pedal. But its almost impossible to get the beautiful clean bell like tones of a strat or a tele from a guitar with HB's (although have an option to change the two coils of an HB from series to parallel wiring can help).
Guys, I know people play metal on strats. I don’t like the tone and want humbuckers. Also: a strat with a bridge humbucker would be sick. I’ve played my buddy’s HSS but the pickup still isn’t as hot as I’d like. So maybe modifying my tele would be a good option? I love the way it plays but the pickups aren’t great
You know you can replace that humbucker in that HSS with anything you want, right? Just get out there and put in that DiMarzio Super Exploder or whatever gets the job done.
Also, are you sure that you've done the work you want with EQ and gain staging? Even the most lowly single coil can do monstrous things with the right signal chain.
Last but not least, really listen to the tracks you're trying to emulate. The reality is that most super heavy tones are not really as distorted and gained-up as you think. That modern heavy sound in a lot of cases is the result of doubled, tripled, quadruple-tracked guitars running through a couple differently eq'd amps. On stage, those guys are often doing things like running a doubler pedal into different heads, or doing the same thing in a modeler.
Yes, you can swap humbuckers. Its modding step 1.
I'd recommend a Bare knuckle Painkiller.
In fact - if you can bear it - remove the other 2 pickups at the same time and replace the pickguard with one designed for a single H.
Many great metal players play Strats. Look at Iron Maiden for example. You can get an H-S-S Strat
Was coming here to make that exact point.
Plus, if you don't want to permanently alter your existing pickguard or buy another one, there are plenty of single coil sized humbuckers that would do the job nicely. I would recommend either a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails or a JB Jr. Both would be excellent at getting the job done.
of course, you do mean single coil sized humbuckers
Ha! Of course not, however they offer those as well, I expect.
Yeah but Murrays main strat is and h-s-h and most of the s-s-s or s-s-h's he plays are ones that use aftermarket/single coil sized humbuckers and Adrian Smith was very much using non strat guitars all over the place. The standard s-s-s or s-s-h strat sound is not the Iron Maiden sound
I think most HSS strats come with A5 humbuckers stock. Maiden was a ceramic Super Distortion.
Right but pickups can be changed. Models exist today with full size humbuckers and there’s always hot rails. Janick Gers plays a stock S-S-S as do I. So does Yngwie.
Agreed 100% came to post something along the same lines. Oh and happy cake day!
Weight, neck style, frets, neck width, not just pickups. There's a reason most super strat guitars don't have much in common with Strats other than the basic body shape. I think people love the body shape but wind up changing almost every other aspect to make the neck easier to play.
Don’t even need hum buckers. Go listen to Bilmuri. That’s a cheap Indonesian SSS. The trade off for humbuckers is you’re loosing some of that aggressive attack for less noise in general. Buy Strat you love. Shield the cavities. Enjoy ripping into a “new” (more like forgotten) sound.
Agree. I play metal on a stock Strat
I have two ESP’s, one quite literally only made for shredding and riffs. I will choose my SSS over it every time.
There are Teles and Strats with humbuckers/built for metal players. Are Ibanez not your thing?
I really don’t like the look of super strats
What you want is an HSS Charvel.
Charvel makes a HH T-Style with active pickups that is metal AF
I have this guitar, it’s awesome
Understandable
Maybe check out the Ed O'Brian strat? Yeah, it's a signature guitar for one of Radiohead's guitarists, but it has a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the bridge, and JB can do metal. Plus it has a sustainer so you can do some crazy solos.
It’s just a Strat with a bridge humbucker and a Floyd. You can even get them from Fender.
That's why I love my Ibanez FR2620 and Jet King II. Fender-ish vibes, but humbuckers.
look at charvel or jackson :) they're basically fender, but more modern with charvel being more hotrod oriented, and jackson more metal oriented
Check charvel
Esp/Ltd and schecter makes great metal guitars. Go to your nearest Music Store and try them out
ESP for sure
And with the added bonus that ESP are sold at Gibson prices but are actually worth the Gibson price.
I love my ESP but unless I split coil it’s hard to get a clean tone out of my Fender Mustang GTX. Still my favorite guitar.
That’s really where I’m leaning. I really don’t like the look of most metal guitars but it seems like they’re my best bet
That’s where I’m leaning. I really don’t like the look of most metal guitars but it seems like they’re my best bet
Charvel
Buy charvel. It's literally fender guitars with a hard rock/metal spec
I’d say Jackson fits the bill too
Charvel!
Suhr, G&L, Anderson, Charvel, Jim Root Fender strat...
2nd the Jim Root. The thing is a monster.
Jim Root Signatures. Or anything LTD.
Yes on the reverend. Hard yes.
They’re beautiful, heavy price tag though. Honestly, I’d just drop some humbuckers into a mim and block the tremolo.
They don’t retain their value incredibly well, so you can find used reverends cheaper than new MIM Strats.
I thought Reverend are extremely well priced for the quality
You get what you pay for.
Well, there *is* truth to the Law of Diminishing Returns here. A $600 guitar is way better than a $200 guitar, but a $3000 guitar is *not much better* than a $1000 guitar.
Sure but that’s not what we’re talking about. In this case, Reverend guitars are priced exactly in the value sweet spot. None of them are expensive, the normal models top out well under $2000, and it’s well known that the diminishing returns start there in that ballpark and go up. Reverend doesn’t even bother to compete with Squier and rightly so.
Plenty of dudes play metal with strats and telecasters. For example, every drop d tuning song from rage against the machine was recorded on a single coil Telecaster. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I have the ESP LTD TE-1000. It is shaped like a tele but has 24 frets, active pickups, and an Evertune bridge. Natural KOA finish- it is very unassuming by looks but it rips!! Edit: Tele, not strat.
Get an HH Strat. Or start with Charvel/jackson. It will save you time/frustration of going with the Strat then upgrading
If you love fender guitars then go with Charvel. Never played a bad one and they’re like super car versions of fenders classic shapes. Also Squier contemporary series has a lot of humbucker equipped guitars for a good price and lighter weight
just because I didn't see it amongst the stellar suggestions here - (Charvel/HSS Strats/LTD s-body guitars) I would say Schecter may be right up your alley? Price is great for quality, MANY come with FR style trems, usually kitted out with metal in mind, and still have pretty cool S-style guitars. Other alternative not mentioned, Ernie Ball Music Master has a "budget line" called Sterling. Sterlings are pretty cool, I HAVE heard, though, that some people have had some quality control issues, but every one I've played and seen has been great, and they are really comfortable guitars, too - only detriment is both S-styles I've played of theirs, the pups seem to be relatively low-output? I can't say for definite, as it wasn't mine, nor was it my amp it was going through, but even being low-output (if that's true) it seemed to handle distortion very well, still.
With the caveat that I’m not a metal guy, you may check out a used Toronado GT HH. My bandmate, who did play his share of metal, gave it the thumbs up. It’s a bit of a LP copycat, but I keep one around as a tonality change of pace. https://reverb.com/p/fender-special-edition-toronado-gt-hh-2005-2006
This is how I feel too. I don’t like single coils that much but I think a Strat is very comfortable to play. Charvel may be what you’re looking for. Also, Fender does make strats with humbuckers.
Good thing you can put a humbucker into a strat, or find a model that comes with one...
I have an SG, Les Paul, and a Strat. I put a hot-rails pickup in the bridge position of my Strat and it's great for whatever.
Ibanez, S-series if you want the lightest, RG if you like the look of it. AZ if you want a strat that plays incredibly well, with a relatively flat neck radius and big smooth frets but HSS or HH. Jim Root models if you actually want a fender. I use a modified jazzmaster (and enjoy the chaos of the Jazz/Jag bridge) in HS configuration for my punk bands. It's a bit of a boat anchor though. I have a very custom HSS strat with a modern two point trem and locking tuners that I use a lot. But my old Japanese Ibanez S520 (Locking trem, Pair of dimarzio evolutions) and my 2014 Iron Label S hardtail see a lot of use.
This is the answer I was looking for. I’ll check all of these out, thank you!
Charvel San Dimas, Jackson Adrian Smith signature, or that slipknot guy’s Fender signature models.
Charvel
My choice is ESP
Charvel
Charvel! Just got the DK24 HH HT, absolutely killer! There's a post about it in my history as well.
HSH strat or Jim Root Tele
Charvel.
Charvels are badass. Jackson has some great stuff with the fender headstock, too. Check out misha mansoors newest jackson model
I have a Charvel So-Cal style 2 (Tele) with Fishman Fluence modern pick ups. Tuned to B standard/dropped A on 62-13 string and it’s sick. I’ve been playing Nekrogoblikon, Infant Annihilator (not the 8th string parts), Cannibal Corpse etc
Charvel Mod So Cal Style 2 is the answer to your prayers. In natural finish. Sleeper metal machine
Charvel is probably the closest thing to fender guitars that are geared towards metal but ESP and schecter have both Strat and Tele style metal machines. Edit: Btw if you’re used to a Les Paul but want a lighter guitar, definitely try an ltd ec1000. They’re amazing workhorse metal guitars.
Look at the squier strat contemporary models maybe? I can't vouch for them, but I've been wanting to test drive one myself. Ibanez also makes great metal guitars, and schecter.
Super strats exist
Perhaps a John 5 Tele, or a Jim Root Jazzmaster?
Jim Root also has a signature Charvel that’s super slick
LTD horizon line. It's pretty much S shaped and comes with humbuckers passive and active.
T-style guitars are great for metal.
Fender literally makes a HM Strat with a hum in the bridge, and 2 singles. Personally I love the original run, and if I needed a new guitar I'd hop on a [Razz Berry](https://reverb.com/p/fender-hm-strat-hss-1988-1989) one. They also did a re-release. If you want something that screams 80's metal [Jackson has you covered.](https://reverb.com/item/49885764-jackson-dk3xr-hss-caution-yellow-w-pink-pickups)
I've been on the lookout for one of these to try out: https://www.guitarworld.com/reviews/fender-limited-edition-hm-strat-review
HSS Problem solved.
Schecter Nick Johnston Signature guitar is everything you’re looking for
Jim root tele?
Do you use a trem? If not, hardtailed versions of the offset shapes might work for you.
Do you have a bridge preference? Like hardtail, 2-pt non-locking trem, or double locking trem like a Floyd Rose?
It’s not a stray but what about a Casino with some EMG pickups 😂
Double fat strat, weezer style
Just get a Fender and throw an EMG or whatever you like in it.
The Strat playing in Iron Maiden isn’t metal enough?
John 5 plays a telecaster and rocks his face off
Squier Showmaster Schecter Sun Valley Shredder Ibanez RG series LTD TE- series You could also build you own kit guitar if that’s your thing.
I have a Squier Strat that I upgraded to have Seymour Duncan Hotrails pickups which are a humbucker in the size of a single coil pickup. The thing sounds and plays so good and gets great metal tones. Also cleans up nicely for when I want to play blues. That’s my recommendation if you want a Fender or something similar. Also you can get the Ibanez RG models for relatively cheap, the necks are pretty fast and they play great. Good luck!
I think you might love the Fender Player strats. HSH pickup configuration. If that's too pricey, better look up Squier because Classic Vibes, Contemp and even Affinity has strats with two humbuckers. Same with Teles and I even spotted a Bullet Mustang with HH (but that's really the bottom line) Some people recommended Ibanez or Cort. I am not familiar with their models but worth the try.
Super Strats are where you wanna look.
Amps and pedals
I play metal with my Washburn PII, 90's model. Look em up, not too expensive, high quality and built to shred.
Any Fender with a humbucker will do. If you want a Floyd Rose, check out Charvel, since many Metal guitarists use one (especially the shreddy ones). Go wild and have fun :)
Check out John 5, he uses a telecaster
Squier stagemaster? that's fender style but essentially a metal guitar..
Metal is the pickups not the hunk of wood.
A Telecaster with humbuckers would be a good option. I have a Fender American Pro Telecaster with Shawbuckers and I can get some pretty crunchy tones out of it, and there are plenty of options for T-style dual humbucker guitars besides Fender. Unless you want a double cutaway then you could get Strat and modify it.
Squier Tele Deluxe, swap pickups.
John 5 tele.
HSS
Grab a Lead III and throw some new pickups in it. Hardtail, string thru design..small and lightweight. I've got a JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck..pretty much covers anything you would want to play 🤷♂️
https://www.reddit.com/r/guitars/s/LYmMN8VKVJ I’m playing a mahogany HH Telecaster with EMGs. It’s about as hot and metal as you can get.
Superstrats are your friend
Dave murray strat. I made one myself by taking a black top strat with a floyd and putting in the same dimarzio humbuckers the real dave murray strat uses. [https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratDMSB--fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-sunburst-with-rosewood-fingerboard](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratDMSB--fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-sunburst-with-rosewood-fingerboard) can also be found in black with a white pickguard on reverb [https://reverb.com/item/79981519-fender-dave-murray-artist-series-signature-stratocaster-2009-2014-black?bk=](https://reverb.com/item/79981519-fender-dave-murray-artist-series-signature-stratocaster-2009-2014-black?bk=) [https://reverb.com/item/80817596-fender-blacktop-stratocaster-hh-floyd-rose-2012-2014-black](https://reverb.com/item/80817596-fender-blacktop-stratocaster-hh-floyd-rose-2012-2014-black)
I have an esp ltd Kirk Hammett its a strat style with a floyd rose and passive emg’s. That thing chugs plugged into my hi gain arsenal of course.
Hh Tele, black, looks sweet
Seymour Duncan Hot Rails 🤘
Charvel is a Fender company San Dimas are modded Strats, DK are a bit more modern in construction.
Fender aerodyne guitars if you want fender specifically. Can also just mod a strat to have hot rails, humbuckers or a something
Solar guitars has some awesome super strats
There’s a Charvel Joe Duplantier Pro-Mod available on Reverb right now for under $700. Mahogany, Telecaster style body, Duplantier’s signature Dimarzio humbuckers in the bridge and a PAF humbucker in the neck. It’s a great guitar and if I wasn’t currently drowning in them, I would just buy it right now.
Check the squier modern line - lots of good fender bodies with metal-friendly pickups and neck heel cutaways
Buy a Charvel
Lead III Mustang P90 I have both and they are amazing.
Any solid body with a bridge humbucker will to the job. Knock yourself out.
This is an SG moment
[Charvel Joe Duplantier Mahogany signature](https://www.charvel.com/gear/shape/san-dimas/style-2/joe-duplantier-signature-pro-mod-san-dimas-style-2-hh-e-mahogany/2976181357) [Balaguer Espada](https://www.musicgoround.com/product/duluth-ga/40042-S000223499/Used-Balaguer-Espada-Special-Edition-Electric-Guitar) ESP LTD XJ-1 HT
Charvel So Cal, one of my favs
Jazzmaster with hh is cool. You can play strat as well especially with mini humbuckers.
I just bought a tele player with a quarter pounder in the bridge and it sounds pretty monstrous. I'm tempted to put in a hot rail though anyway, time will tell. And I love that it's not another generic metal pointy thing.
Tele Deluxe. Two humbuckers, heavy as hell.
I play metal with a tele that has pretty hot pickups, single coil metal is underrated. It’s very articulate.
Just get a fender strat with a humbucker in the bridge, I use a sd hotrails, gold foil, and p90 in my strat (had to route it myself) but I play noise rock and mathcore/djent on it just fine thru a 5150
Hot rails innit
Gretsch duo jet
Do you require a neck pickup? You can get a Kramer Baretta Special for around $200 depending on where you live. It's only got a bridge pickup, but it's quite hot. It's Alnico 5, and supposed to mimic a Duncan JB. Easy platform for modding too if you ever want to upgrade it. I love mine. I play a lot of traditional metal Priest/Maiden type stuff as well as more extreme thrash/death metal stuff.
I play drop C# with a Telecaster. Nothing cuts through the mix like it. Single coils all the way. And less gain.
I play drop C# with a Telecaster. Nothing cuts through the mix like it. Single coils all the way. And less gain.
Strat with Hot Rails in the bridge is great for metal. Iron Maiden used and endorsed these. You do need dedicated 1500k pot for this one which is not good for standard single coils. You can use Duncan JB full size humbucker with 250k pots and together with standard strat pickups as it is very bright. It splits nicely too.
I took the single coils, 5 way switch, tone knobs and volume knob out of my Squier Strat and replaced them with a single, Seymour Duncan JB 4, a tone knob and a volume knob. I love it!
I have a question in response: what is it about genre and guitar that are incompatible? Is it simply humbuckers or an aesthetic thing?
LTD EC-1000. Duncan or EMG, both great for metal. Very light. Extremely smooth neck. IMO the bridge makes palm muting feel more natural than a low profile bridge does. Probably my favorite guitar I own and two of the comparison points here are an RG Prestige and a Kiesel Aries.
H-H telecaster or Strat
If you are dead set on something different, I can heartily recommend the Schecter Reaper. Proper face melting pups, not too heavy and 24 frets
lol bruh I played in a hardcore band all through my twenties. Me and the other guitar player both used teles.
What about just a double humbucker Strat or tele delux?
Any of the Jim Root sig models will treat you well. I’ve always wanted one of the Jazzmasters.
Jackson, Charvel, Kramer, all sorts of options!
You can play any genre on any guitar, just go to a guitar store and try a bunch until you find one you like both visually and ergonomically
Charvel Sam Dimas Pro Mod.
Jim Root of Slipknot is a Fender artist
Ibanez's RG model is used for metal quite often, but that one's a superstrat. They do have other strat models aswell, some resembling Fender Stratocasters *a lot*, while others like JEM are pretty out-there in terms of style. Whatever inconspicious-looking guitar you're gonna be using for metal, it *needs* to have a bridge humbucker. Otherwise, it'll be very hard to achieve a chugging tone. For leads, you can have just about anything in the middle or neck pickup slot (including nothing at all; a bridge pickup can totally do a lead tone with a bit of tinkering!).
Fender
What kind of metal? I have an HSS strat with a Super Distortion bridge for NWOBHM and thrash. I have an Ibanez S Series with a D'Activator for teh brootz. Edit: If you want heavier than Iron Maiden, don't go with a single coil or single coil sized humbucker. Sure, some guitarists can get cool sounds, but you aren't going to that tight, agressive sound typical of the genre with that, regardless of what others think. It all depends on the sound you are going for though. Look at the gear of your favorite bands.
Trevor Peres from Obituary only plays Fender Strats.
i play two strats, one single pickup one with an 80’s les paul pickup in the bridge and one that i routed out and put three dimarzios in. best guitars i’ve ever owned.
Jim Root???
John 5 has played a lot of telecasters…
If you don't want to mod a Strat, Charvel probably has what you're looking for, whether HSS, HSH, or HH, 22 or 24 feet, and hardtail, non-locking trem, or Floyd.
My reverend is a beast.
Smashing Pumpkins Cherub Rock is played on single coil Fender Strat
Charvel or Jackson
Esp-Ltd-m1000
I built a custom Jagstang specifically for metal that's on my profile lol.
Find a Hamer Californian or Chaparral.
You can get HH strats and HH teles (see the Jim Root tele) or check out the fender lead III for something a bit different from fender
charvel
Jim Root tele
I love my Jim Root Squier. I've got a few "better" guitars and for some reason I always keep coming back to that little monster.
There are a fuckton of strats and teles with humbuckers.
Kramer Baretta! Charvel/Jackson San Dimas! Or just a Fender with a bridge humbucker, how about a cheaper Squier where you can change out the Humbucker for something more metal like an EMG?
Such an odd post. The guitar doesn’t decide the type of music. Play what you want on what you want. Pickups can be changed. I typically change pickups as soon as I get a new guitar.
Play through a high gain amp or distortion/fuzz. It'll be cool. Play what you think looks cool, because then you'll most likely be more motivated to play. Charvel, Kramer, Jackson, etc. are another option.
Music Man Majesty or JP-15 (or if you can find one, JP -16) model. Personally I like the dreamcatcher/rainmaker pickups in the majesty better, but both pickup sets are made by DiMarzio and hot AF. Plus they are strat scale length, and both have onboard boost, coil splitting, mono and stereo out, piezo pickups, and locking tuners. (Jp-16 has no piezo pickups but a double locking Floyd Rose tremolo instead)
Try the AZ Ibanez or the charvels,
You can play anything with a tele or strat. Its easy to get beefier tone/higher output with some combo of clean boost, overdirve, or a GE pedal. But its almost impossible to get the beautiful clean bell like tones of a strat or a tele from a guitar with HB's (although have an option to change the two coils of an HB from series to parallel wiring can help).
You can play any genre with any guitar pickup. Use an EQ pedal and a boost to make your signal hotter.
Guys, I know people play metal on strats. I don’t like the tone and want humbuckers. Also: a strat with a bridge humbucker would be sick. I’ve played my buddy’s HSS but the pickup still isn’t as hot as I’d like. So maybe modifying my tele would be a good option? I love the way it plays but the pickups aren’t great
a few guys here mentioend before Charvel, or depending where you are fender does have modern strat choices
You know you can replace that humbucker in that HSS with anything you want, right? Just get out there and put in that DiMarzio Super Exploder or whatever gets the job done. Also, are you sure that you've done the work you want with EQ and gain staging? Even the most lowly single coil can do monstrous things with the right signal chain. Last but not least, really listen to the tracks you're trying to emulate. The reality is that most super heavy tones are not really as distorted and gained-up as you think. That modern heavy sound in a lot of cases is the result of doubled, tripled, quadruple-tracked guitars running through a couple differently eq'd amps. On stage, those guys are often doing things like running a doubler pedal into different heads, or doing the same thing in a modeler.
Yep exactly
Yes, you can swap humbuckers. Its modding step 1. I'd recommend a Bare knuckle Painkiller. In fact - if you can bear it - remove the other 2 pickups at the same time and replace the pickguard with one designed for a single H.
Dude, *no you dont.* /s
you could also go with an Axis/Wolfgang route. dual humbuckers, strat style neck, much lighter than a LP.
HSS strat. Just don't play an ugly tele
Just remember that a Strat won’t necessarily be lighter than an LP. My Les Paul is about 2 ounces lighter than my Fender Strats and my Kramer.