GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

[THRobinson]

Saw some older posts, mostly people asking for reviews when these just came out so, not a lot of reviews that I saw for these... looking for my next project build, and hoping to get a VOX VT40X this weekend, and thought, hey, if buying a VOX I need a Brian May guitar, of course!

I'm cheap though... those Burns of London TriSonics look good, but $200CAD for a set... not bad, but hoping for something cheaper.

Noticed GFS has Brighton Rock pickups, supposedly Brian May sounding, as well they have a prewired harnesses and a Strat pickguard with all the extra holes for the switches available making things easier... but... how do they sound?

Any Queen fans out there playing with these? any reviews/feedback/info?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I'm not sure if they are just look alikes or not? From what I understand the original Trisonics had tape wound coils. Their Filtertron repros are humbuckers with covers.

 

[THRobinson]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I saw a video on rewinding an old trisonic and looks like instead of a big magnet and metal poles, it looked like the poles were big fat magnets and there was no flat magnet at the bottom. Was a very interesting looking pickup on the insides.

That said... unlikely I'll get something built the same without spending a buttload which is why these Brian May "styled" pickups caught my eye.

http://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/6-1/2492455/images/2011/1959-burns-weill-pickup_130786854.jpg

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I saw a video on rewinding an old trisonic and looks like instead of a big magnet and metal poles, it looked like the poles were big fat magnets and there was no flat magnet at the bottom. Was a very interesting looking pickup on the insides.

That said... unlikely I'll get something built the same without spending a buttload which is why these Brian May "styled" pickups caught my eye.

http://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/6-1/2492455/images/2011/1959-burns-weill-pickup_130786854.jpg

The originals had a central segmented ceramic magnet that was surrounded by the coil (Charlie Christian Style). Instead of being wound with wire it was wound with copper tape and then formed around the magnets. The originals were badly microphonic so reproductions are potted better.

I had a set of the Dimarzio BHM pickups from the early 80's and they were poor. Instead of being tape wound they had wire coils wound on a plastic bobbin with a central ceramic bar magnet. They weren't potted either and were badly microphonic. Once you glued the magnet to the bobbin and potted the coils they became usable. They only sounded interesting when using multiple pickups in series. The problem was they didn't sound like anything else so it was hard to find a niche for them.

 

[THRobinson]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I debated about making pickups a few times, looks like something neat to try... I'm just going to assume if I did... these would NOT be the ones to start with.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I haven't used the Brightons, but the videos I've seen on YouTube they sounded good. I've thought about getting a set, but I'm one of the few people that doesn't get along with Strat style guitars.

 

[THRobinson]

Re: GFS Brighton - Trisonic Style

I have a strat style someone gave me for free... almost debating another frankenstein build. Though I need to stop doing those and start building from scratch... up my game.

Strats though are great for 1 things (well, a few things, but 1 in particular) there are so many cheap and expensive direct fit parts available for them. even the knock-offs tend to use the same pickguards and such.

I did a frankenstein for my nephew from an old Yamaha body we found in the trash... plastic parts like back plates, forget it. Neck hole needed a small modification. Even the backplate for the neck was a weird size, ended up changing that and using ferrules. Strats... way fewer headaches.