HSH Electric Guitars

The HSH pickup configuration was popularised by Ibanez in the late 80's, with the introduction of its JEM guitar for artist Steve Vai. Ibanez continues to use the flexible HSH configuration in many of its instruments, but a variety of other brands have adopted this design too.

Able to handle higher levels of gain, most players will use their HSH electric guitar's bridge and neck humbuckers in conjunction with distorted amp settings. The middle single-coil is more suited for clean tones as it has less output and a more articulate sound. However, the majority of HSH electric guitars will feature 5-way pickup selector switches that allow you to attain "in between" tones which combine their middle pickups with a coil from either humbucker. These offer Strat-like out-of-phase sounds that are also great for cleans!