Tell me about HFS pickups

[Mole351]

What are their characteristics? Compared to other pu's like 85/15 and 57/08?

I've generally not heard much about them - so assuming not one of the better liked pu's?

 

[Ovibos]

Less vintage, more modern - which, depending on your ears, can be interpreted as 'less muddy' or 'harsh'.

 

[AP515]

The HFS was a staple for the more modern models for many years. It is a high output ceramic bridge pickup. Fairly well received in high gain community. I like it and can get fairly tame tones as well by backing off on the tone control.

 

[Mole351]

Ah - great information - thank you both very much.

Tells me that is not what I'm looking for - there's a nice custom 22 I've had my eyes on with these but I don't play a lot of high gain music.

 

[AP515]

The companion to it (the Vintage) is a very good neck pickup. It is the ying to the HFS's yang. If you play the neck pup a lot you would probably like it.

 

[bodia]

The HFS was a staple for the more modern models for many years. It is a high output ceramic bridge pickup. Fairly well received in high gain community. I like it and can get fairly tame tones as well by backing off on the tone control.

I'll second this! Sounds great in a CE, IMO

 

[shinksma]

Yeah, the HFS (bridge) and VB (neck) combo on my CU24 are really nice to mess around with, especially with how they interplay via the 5-way knob. As you go from 6 to 10, the guitar becomes "more aggressive sounding", I suppose you could say.

Ah, now I want to play my CU24, but I'm at work!

 

[Michael_DK]

The companion to it (the Vintage) is a very good neck pickup. It is the ying to the HFS's yang. If you play the neck pup a lot you would probably like it.

This matches my experience as well.

I could never get along completely with the HFS - something about ceramic pickups, I imagine (based on having played one other guitar with ceramics). That said, I know there are artists that use them where I do like the sound. I just never got those tones out of them.

 

[Boogie]

Even if the HFS isn’t your cup of tea, the Vintage Bass pickup is excellent. My HFS has been swapped out many times but the VB stays, regardless. A Custom22/24 takes vintage pickups very well, so don’t discount the guitar because of the modern reputation around it. It can do just about anything.

 

[gush]

I happen to be one that doesn't care for the HFS pickup. It's attack is sharp and tone is rather harsh to me but it does change a lot when played in lower tunings. I had one in my Mccarty for a while D tuning and drop C tuning. It worked well for that. I do like the VB and would recommend it. I would describe it as "juicy" if that makes any sense.

To b e fair, there are a ton of people that get great tones out of the HFS and it really may be the amp/cab that makes the difference. I play through a 1994 5150 and they can be harsh sounding with the 5150 cabs.

I would buy the guitar and play with it a while, just might like it the way it is. A pickup swap is simple and if you go that route I would recommend a 5909 bridge pickup because they come up for sale often and are affordable. The 5909 would give you a pretty good idea of what prs vintage style pickups are all about.

 

[Boogie]

...I would recommend a 5909 bridge pickup because they come up for sale often and are affordable. The 5909 would give you a pretty good idea of what prs vintage style pickups are all about.

+1 on the description of the HFS. A 59/09 is also in the bridge of my Cu24 and like it a lot, but I’m considering going more vintage with a Seymour Duncan Antiquity. The options are endless!

 

[Korina Jack]

HFS pups are very understated.They are a great pickup!

 

[Fullmoon 1971]

Get it and if you don't like it try swapping the magnet from the ceramic one to a Alnico 8. you wont lose any of the power but it will make it all round smoother and less harsh.

 

[DarkTerrace]

I have a PRS SE custom 24 with modded USA HFS and VB. I love them, They are super clear and super heavy. I just replaced my HFS 2006 pickup but I have not gotten the guitar back. The core HSF from the older models, to my luthier, seem very dark. I think in General, the HFS needs higher treb and lower mids for it to sound right. Over all, I have two custom 24's and both of them have HFS USA pickups. The korean ones was alright but deff the USA ones are louder less boxy and way clearer.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

So I just read over the posts above...and pretty sure nobody stated what the HFS stands/stood for back in the day...Hot, Fat, Screams...unless I missed it.
That's how it was described, and usually came in Custom 24's...But I don't remember many (if any??) Custom 22's with a stock HFS???
PU's replaced already?? They (Cu 22's) usually came with Dragon I's or II's.(IIRC)

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

I never owned a PRS during a time when the newer 5X/0X pickups were not available. I always swapped out the VB/HFS combo for something else. The CU24 has gone through many changes and the CE has Dragon 1's which I actually like a bit more than the VB/HFS combo personally. A friend of mine has a CU24 all stock from that era and enjoys it. Maybe it's just me.

 

[DarkTerrace]

So I just read over the posts above...and pretty sure nobody stated what the HFS stands/stood for back in the day...Hot, Fat, Screams...unless I missed it.
That's how it was described, and usually came in Custom 24's...But I don't remember many (if any??) Custom 22's with a stock HFS???
PU's replaced already?? They (Cu 22's) usually came with Dragon I's or II's.(IIRC)

Yeah the older Cu22s and Cu24 come with either the HFS or VB and the dragon II set. Either or. They other ones too. It was more common before 2008 that it was just those but after 2008 the 57/08 and 59/09 set came out. Anyways, they are great pickups, high output, clear. They came out in 1991 and in 2018 they came out with new ones and those are legit. The output goes HFS and then dragons II. The dragon II are supposedly less modern than the HFS but more modern than the McCartys.

 

[jak3af3r]

Here's a quick thing I recorded with my McCarty and Custom 24 the McCarty starts and always trades off with the HFS. First I run clean-ish through both with exactly the same amp settings and then using the amp's drive section (it's a d-style clone) with the same settings as the clean. The only pedal is a strymon blue sky in the fx loop for a little space and all I did was make the levels sit better with the track. Otherwise it's just the differences in the guitars and pickups.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UjG_YNXUXBWJ4NAz6shHjketpJ5eqOSZ/view?usp=sharing

Hopefully that link works.

 

[DarkTerrace]

Dang man I love that. So that's the HFS in the bridge huh, in a McCarty. That sounds really good. What did you find that you liked more in the HFS vs the McCarty Pickup that made you want to switch? Really nice music man, I absolutely love it. It sounds neck pickup-ey at the end. Like you're using the neck pickup. It sounds great!

 

[jak3af3r]

Dang man I love that. So that's the HFS in the bridge huh, in a McCarty. That sounds really good. What did you find that you liked more in the HFS vs the McCarty Pickup that made you want to switch? Really nice music man, I absolutely love it. It sounds neck pickup-ey at the end. Like you're using the neck pickup. It sounds great!

That's two guitars with the stock pickups on the bridge only as a full humbucker. The McCarty is first clean then the custom 24 clean. Then the McCarty dirty and then the custom 24 dirty to finish it out.

I didn't change any amp settings or anything in the eq it's just the guitars in the amp with a little reverb in the FX loop.

The McCarty is a semi hollow and the custom 24 has a rosewood neck both guitars are at full volume and full tone the whole time. If it sounds any different timbre wise towards the end it was probably me just changing where the notes were picked without thinking about it too much. That amp is really sensitive to the lightest touch or change in picking attack.