3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

[Black Pearl]

I'm building my first electric guitar (have already made 4 acoustics) and was looking for advice:

Build:

semi hollow mahogany body (or Sipo)...possibly alder...all depends on what the lumberyard has
mahogany/walnut laminated neck or maple walnut laminated.....i have both blanks finished and standing by.
leaning towards an ebony fret board...but still undecided
22 stainless steel frets....which I've oddly have fallen in love with

The intent is to build a versatile sounding studio session guitar that i will be traveling with and use to occasionally perform live with many unknown musicians.... so I'm looking for as much tonal variation as i can get away with in one guitar. I don't have room to take multiple guitars this time around.

I was thinking of using a three pick up arrangement:

Neck: 'bucker
Mid: P90
Bridge: 'bucker

neck and bridge 'buckers would have a coil tap each

I'd like to add a switch that turns off the 'bucker circuit off and the P90 circuit on cause I don't see myself blending the two....or maybe I should give myself the option to blend all 3 together. Thoughts?

main question is- will the p90 sound good on its own mounted between the two humbuckers?

This won't be my last guitar build (planning on an es 335 build and strat clone beastly thing when I get back) so I'm willing to forgo true pure "traditional" guitar sounds on this one. The main intent is to build something that's fun to play, sounds good, that will give me enough tonal variation to adapt to the many types of music and musician styles I will come across on this trip.

At home, I'm a Gretsch man and own a Duo Jet and a Tennessee Rose with Hi-Lo trons....which I love and use for most my own music and general jamming. I have access to a cousin's large collection of Rickenbackers, various Gibsons, Strats, and other oddities he's collected over the years; I'm lucky enough to borrow from and indulge on his collection from time to time.

I'm at the point in the build where I need to purchase pick ups very soon. Any comments, suggestions, or constructive criticisms are welcome

Thanks!

 

[regan]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I imagine a P90 on it's own in the centre position will sound like a strat in position 3 on steroids and in a state of 'roid' rage.
Have you considered routing for 3 humbuckers and putting a phat cat in the middle?, that way if you're less than impressed with it you can drop a humbucker in there black beauty style

 

[blueman335]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I've owned some triple PU's guitars, Gibson design. Seemed like a great idea at the time, but I sold them as they really weren't anymore versatile than a 2 HB guitar.

For tonal variety, I'd recommend a bridge HB and a mini-HB neck , each with 4 leads, wired with the 4 push-pull Jimmy Page system. That'll do much more than a HB-P90-HB guitar.

 

[Black Pearl]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

Thanks Regan and Blueman335!!- I'll check both these options out before i proceed any further

 

[Demanic]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I wonder if you could get a RWRP P-90 and wire it to be with either the split neck or split bridge in positions 2 and 4? Wouldn't that be like a Strat on steroids?

 

[regan]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I wonder if you could get a RWRP P-90 and wire it to be with either the split neck or split bridge in positions 2 and 4? Wouldn't that be like a Strat on steroids?

http://www.wdmusic.com/WPU900CR.html

 

[Artie]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

If you decide to stay with the 3-pup idea, my favorite thing to do is to wire the middle with a DPDT on-on-on switch so that you can have "off" in the middle and then either the middle pup by itself in one direction, or blended in with your others in the other position. Very versatile. Not hard to wire.

 

[Mincer]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I know Orpheo here has made some guitars with very non-standard pickup combos, so you may want to ask about his experiences.

 

[Black Pearl]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

If you decide to stay with the 3-pup idea, my favorite thing to do is to wire the middle with a DPDT on-on-on switch so that you can have "off" in the middle and then either the middle pup by itself in one direction, or blended in with your others in the other position. Very versatile. Not hard to wire.

I was seriously considering this. At a local GC I played the new Gretsch 5622 (link: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...atic-center-block-semi-hollow-electric-guitar ) and the center pickup has its own on/off switch. Needless to say i was very amused by this and had a good time with it in their amp sound room. May have to put it on my short list....

the 5622 inspired the idea to try it with a P90 but after talking to a few others that confirmed what REGAN had responded with above - i may put this idea to bed...but will give it another week of research.

Mincer - I'll contact Orpheo and ask for an opinion. I'm definitely leaning towards a more unique setup.


Thanks for all the comments!!

 

[audiocheck]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

Super versatile 3 Humbucker guitar:

3 Stag Mags! Middle one flip the pickup so that the RWRP coil is opposite the outer 2. Install all three with Triple Shot Pickup rings. Have a switch that lets you add the middle pup into the standard 2 pup circuit (I also use it on a separate Volume control). I also add a kill switch to take out the outer 2 pup so as to get the middle one alone. When looking at getting Strat tones switch all triple shots to use neck facing coils! For standard humbucker the most versatile is to use standard 2 pup circuit.

As an added bonus, put a Switch to flip the Phase on one of the outer pups. With all three pups on in single coil mode (start tones) the Phase switch on the outer pup will allow for some very reasonable Brian May tones!

just my $.02 I have done such a guitar and have been using it for almost 2 years.

Only difference is, I put a Duncan Distortion in the bridge, because I didn't want to sacrifice a real deal humbucker there!

 

[orpheo]

Re: 3 Pick up Question - opinions welcome

I think I have tried almost all combinations possible. The middle p90 needs tweaks and adjustments but it can work amazingly well.

What I do, always, is use a 5way to select the pickups. I want to uncluttered my Guitars. If I use the 2 volume 2 tone setup, I can still have a volume/tone set for any pickup that's on (they get reallocated respective to the position of the switch).

If you want it really versatile, get two prails in triple shots plus a jazz master quarter pound pickup for the middle.

Because, let's think a moment about that middle pickup. Why do we want it? We want to go to a stratty, quacky tone. But for that we need single coils (prails cover the latter, p90's? Perhaps...).

But p90s are too think to quack. Even an underwound version.

The jazzmaster pickup is wider, with less string pull. Use that one to get your quack.

Or, pull the pole pieces and magnets out of your p90 And install magnetic slugs. Did that with a Phat Cat: amazing quack!

Or if you wanna use a hum, use something with an a5 (brighter than a2) and slightly underwound, too. Like a jazzN. Then, either of two things will work:

1: wire the coils in parallel and then to the switch.
2: use just one coil at the time in the 4th and 2nd positions (I.e.: bridge pickup+'coil that's closest to the neck') and vice versa. With an auto coil split or separate, whatever you choose at the end.

One last thought. Try to keep it all as clean as possible. If you have too many options, 'option paralysis' will hit. Guaranteed. For example. I try to include an auto coil split wherever I can when I select a humbucker+single cause hum full + single isn't really useful. It may give a good tone, but 9 out of 10 times I just wanna have that quack.

Prails in triple shots already push the boundaries of practicality and practical usefulness for me.