my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

[rumblebox]

i was going to put a 3rd humbucker in my MH-350NT, but the humbuckers are too close together to fit a middle one. however, the H-401 is routed perfectly for a 3rd humbucker.

i prefer the look of only 2 humbuckers, but i love the tone from a middle humbucker and 2 close humbuckers together. i can't get that tone any other way than to add a middle humbucker. plus i can get stratty tones too with the triple shots since the 59s and custom split so well.


bridge: customX
middle: 59B
neck: 59N

i'm doing standard 5-way switching in addition to a push pull master-on for the bridge pickup so i can have infinite pickup combinations. i've done that to a few strats, and i love it.

3 humbuckers with triple shots? the only way to be more versatile would be 3 P-rails. lol but i didnt like the humbucker modes of the P-rails i had.

 

[orpheo]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

what's versatility? I've tried something similar, but I find having 2 great pickups, 2 volume 2 tone and a coiltap much more versatile cause all tones all really just work...

 

[rumblebox]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

i'm not complaining about my current setup. i love the say it sounds. i just want more.

 

[blueman335]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

I used to think HHH offered the ultimate versatility, and I had four guitars routed for middle HB's. Waste of time and money. I didn't get anything useful from any of the middle HB's. I think HH's with the Jimmy Page system is much better, and much more useful. Not only am I stuck with middle HB's in a couple guitars (I unloaded the other two), they leave almost no room for picking. I was as gung ho as you, and would never do it again.

Guitar companies copy everything that works halfway decently, the whole industry is based on imitation. It should be a major red flag when virtually no one copies features like HHH and Varitone switches. While they look good on paper, players want nothing to do with them. I think that almost all of those who find HHH's and Varitones appealing are guys who haven't owned them yet.

 

[rumblebox]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

interesting. coming from you i'm actually hesitant now. haha

 

[oilpit]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

I used to think HHH offered the ultimate versatility, and I had four guitars routed for middle HB's. Waste of time and money. I didn't get anything useful from any of the middle HB's. I think HH's with the Jimmy Page system is much better, and much more useful. Not only am I stuck with middle HB's in a couple guitars (I unloaded the other two), they leave almost no room for picking. I was as gung ho as you, and would never do it again.

Guitar companies copy everything that works halfway decently, the whole industry is based on imitation. It should be a major red flag when virtually no one copies features like HHH and Varitone switches. While they look good on paper, players want nothing to do with them. I think that almost all of those who find HHH's and Varitones appealing are guys who haven't owned them yet.

All of this...3hb guitars look cool but tonally it's just stupid...

 

[blueman335]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

interesting. coming from you i'm actually hesitant now. haha

You can wire a guitar for dozens of sounds, but when you only use a handful, you'll wonder why you spent the time and money. The Jimmy Page system has 21+ sounds, of which about half a dozen are useful, and half of those involve linking the PU's in series (1 - PU's in series w/out-of-phase, 2- bridge HB, neck coil cut, and linked in series, 3 - both PU's in coil cut in linked in series). Does your proposed system link the PU's in series? If you just have coil cut and parallel, them you're just matching up coils, and there's only so much that's interesting in that, not a lot of tonal variation.

Have you taken a good look at the JP system with HH?

 

[rumblebox]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

not really. the triple shots can do everything the JP system can do with less wiring.

i actually use a lot of different configurations with my TS system.

all 4 coil pairs i can make sound different from each other. the parallel humbucker modes make sparkly clean work without sounding totally like single coils. the only one i really dont use at all is the screw coil in the bridge pickup, but i use the slug coil all the time for teh tele toanz.

i need to make a pickup demo video for it. i'm surprised i havent yet.

 

[blueman335]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

not really. the triple shots can do everything the JP system can do with less wiring.

I didn't think it linked two PU's together in series (I'm not talking about a HB by itself with the coils in series). That's where you get some interesting stuff. You get a boost in output and warmth that way, which is great for coil cut and phase. That gives you real variety. I'd much rather have that than just matching up different combinations of 6 coils.

 

[rumblebox]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

I didn't think it linked two PU's together in series (I'm not talking about a HB by itself with the coils in series).

ohyea i see what you're saying. i've had phase switches before and didnt care for the quacky sound out of phase.... like when i put a magnet in backwards on accident.

 

[orpheo]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

a 3 humbucker-setup IS useful but not the way gibson has routed their controls. it should have a 5 way blade on top, not a 3 way toggle, or at least some push pull pots to engage the middlepickup on its own. but PREFERABLY a phat cat in the middle with alnico5's instead of alnico2's. that works best for me, when it comes to 3 pickup setups.

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

I have a 3 hum 3 trplsht 4 p/p LEs Paul and can get 190 different combos out of it. P/P's are out-of-phase, series/parallel and adding the middle pup in different ways. I personally don't like the in-series tone and like the out-of-phase sounds much better.

I use the middle pickup for mainly one thing. When all p/p's are down it's just a normal 2 hum LP with triple shots. I have own vol for the middle pickup and the master tone p/p turns just the middle pickup on. When I'm on a gain sound I can roll of the middle vol and turn it on and get a decent clean sound even on the gain sounds. Splitting the middle pickup gives nice strat-like tones. I can add the neck and bridge pickups with the middle if I want but rarely do. I can get the neck/middle and middle/bridge "in-between" strat settings but the LP sound so different that those don't sound much like strat.

 

[cheameup]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

they leave almost no room for picking.

thats what i dont get about 3 humbucker set ups. where the hell do you play ?

maybe I play guitar wrong but theres no way I can play over a pu

 

[formula73]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

they leave almost no room for picking.

thats what i dont get about 3 humbucker set ups. where the hell do you play ?

maybe I play guitar wrong but theres no way I can play over a pu

I never could do the middle pickup thing, but oddly enough, when I tremolo pick, a lot of time I just end up dragging it across the bass coil of the bridge pup.

But I can't play with a middle pup. Go figure.

 

[orpheo]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

I have no issues with 3 pickups when it comes to picking. but what Zhaggy's saying, I totally agree!

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: my quest for ultimate versatility - 3 humbuckers and triple shots

they leave almost no room for picking.

thats what i dont get about 3 humbucker set ups. where the hell do you play ?

maybe I play guitar wrong but theres no way I can play over a pu

I have my middle pickup lowered to the same level as the pickup ring for the very same reasons, as do many others I've seen. It's almost lower than the neck pickup. It does look a bit odd because it's not on the same line with the neck and bridge pups, it looks liek it doesn't belong there, out-of place. It's still somewhat high but I haven't had anny major problems with it being there. Although I have to dig in quite a bit with that guitar (I have 10,13,17,36,52,60 strings (Zakk Wylde) on it tuned to D) It usually doesn't get in the way and I can (try to) shred those hard hitting Wylde-style pentatonic licks. But it just looks so badass