3 Humbucker Guitar?

[Smoke_Jaguar101]

Hey All!

I'm newbie to the site, but a long term fan of SD. I recently purchased a whole plethora of pickups in order to upgrade my rather underpowered strat copy and my Ibanez RG1570 (which has very nice pickups, Ibanez V7/8 and S1).

These included:
Tesla RS1 Full Set (ceramic magnet single coil sized humbucker, really awesome)
Tesla AH1 (2 Active humbuckers w/ low noise and surprisingly good clean sound)
Seymour Duncan Blackout AHB2

However, upon taking them to my local guitar shop, I discovered that to upgrade my Strat for a fat strat configuration would cost more than the guitar cost, so I installed the RS1's and gauge 13 strings (not at inconsiderable cost). And installing the AH1's into my Ibanez would void the warrantly, as the humbucker slots were not designed for the square shaped pickups (versy similar to Livewires in shape).

Following this, I decided to keep my Ibanez for pop/punk rock (which by band is currently at). The Retired DT technician at my school is an amateur (but very good) Luthier, having built several Les Paul, Strat and Tele guitars using old desks and benches, and sold them for around £2000. I spoke to him, and he said during the holidays he'd help me build one from scratch.

I was going to use an old table and make an elongated V shape, using 3 mighty humbuckers (the AH1's and the Blackout)

And for that, I need your help! xD My questions are:

1. Is there any way that i can incorporate a strat style 5 way switch, with a push pull that activates ALL the p/us for a mighty tone boost.

2. What bridge do you recommend for switching between standard and drop tunings such as B and maybe A, in a flash?

3. Is it in any way possible to make a neck through using only the desk? It's probably stupid, but it might work...

Thanks for any replies that aren't abusive, rock on! :thanks:

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: 3 Humbucker Guitar?

My questions are:

1. Is there any way that i can incorporate a strat style 5 way switch, with a push pull that activates ALL the p/us for a mighty tone boost.

Yes. This is possible. Wiring a push-pull pot in a variation of a trick that allows the neck and bridge pickups to be combined in parallel will work. In your case, use each set of three contacts on the push-pull to feed through the pickup signals from the additional pickups.

2. What bridge do you recommend for switching between standard and drop tunings such as B and maybe A, in a flash?

The Steinberger TransTrem.

3. Is it in any way possible to make a neck through using only the desk? It's probably stupid, but it might work...

Yes, it is possible. Leo Fender's pickup testbed instrument at G&L was a "breadboard" with a bridge and a neck screwed onto it. Part of Brian May's Red Special had been a mantlepiece. Your desk could become a guitar. Just remember to remove the drawer handles!

 

[blueman335]

Re: 3 Humbucker Guitar?

Have you tried a couple HHH guitars? A PU that sounds good in the bridge & neck, sounds very different in the middle. 6 coils laying side-by-side like sausages seems like a good idea on paper, but it doesn't work out that way tone-wise. Different string vibration nodes, and possibly some magnetic field conflicts. Something reduces tone quality. It's a concept that never caught on, and most HHH owners know why. Just about every manufacturer went with HSH & HSS instead, which actually works well. Gibson does HHH for 'historic' & cosmetic reasons only. Looks great to have all that gold metal.

All three HB's on at once does not give you a 'mighty tone boost'; you have 6 coils in parallel and they don't sound that good, certainly no power boost to them like that. Kind of lame. As an owner of HHH guitars, I have to say you're better off with 2 HB's & the 4-push pull Jimmy Page sytem. That will give you some great tones and a power/tone boost. More usable sounds than HHH.

I personally go with a P-90, or HB-sized P-90 in the middle, and even the neck, with a HB in the bridge.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar101]

Re: 3 Humbucker Guitar?

I have to say you're better off with 2 HB's & the 4-push pull Jimmy Page sytem. That will give you some great tones and a power/tone boost.

Oooh, care to elaborate?

 

[blueman335]

Re: 3 Humbucker Guitar?

Oooh, care to elaborate?

With the Jimmy Page system there's 21 PU combinations; you probably won't use all of them, but some are very nice. You get coil cut on both PU's, and on the bridge you can have either coil on or off. You can get the PU's out-of-phase in about any combination.

Two of the best tones are when the PU's are linked in series (instead of parallel) with the neck in coil cut and the bridge in HB; this gives a nice volume boost, and because the neck is in coil cut, it's not too dark. It's like turning on an afterburner on the bridge PU. You can also link both PU's in series, when both are in coil cut.

Another much-loved tone here is with the PU's linked in series and out-of-phase. Normally out-of-phase is has a big drop in volume, but when linked in series it gives it a boost and sounds great.

If you want a variety of usable tones and maximum versatility, go with twin HB's and the JP system. Much better than HHH, which is difficult to find space for picking and adds the weight on an extra HB.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: 3 Humbucker Guitar?

the only problem with doing the JP wiring is that it won't work with your active pickups you need 4-conductor wires for that.