What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

[treyhaislip]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

I tried a Phat CatB in the middle of an SG Custom, and it was pretty weak with the stock A2's. I think that position needs more output ( in wind or magnets) with a HB or HB-sized P-90, as their magnetic fields don't seem to be in an optimal position under the string nodes.

Got to admit, HHH guitars look great, especially with gold hardware, but they never caught on with players, probably because most guys have trouble picking with all those HB's jammed together and don't want to change their right hand style, the middle PU has to be dialed in and out with it's volume control (which is slow on stage), and because the lame way Gibson/Epiphone wire them: 3-way switch, 6 coils, and no push pulls. Pitiful. No wonder why there's so little interest.

Some clever member posted last year about wiring HHH guitars with push-pulls on the volume controls so that you could combine: 1) the screw coil from the neck with the slug coil from the middle, 2) the slug coil from the bridge with the screw coil from the middle, and 3) the screw coil from the neck with the slug coil from the bridge. Those pairings create 'virtual HB's' like positions 2 and 4 on a Strat 5-way. That's a lot more versatility, probably 20 combinations between the three PU's in HB and single coil modes. If you used a push-pull on the tone pot, you could also get out of phase, adding more combinations. This would be an HHH equivalent to the Jimmy Page system on a HH.

I actually enjoy HHH Guitars–although the best luck I've had was using a Lil SD in a HSH Strat...still HHH but not full sized Humbuckers all the way.

 

[GourmetSaint]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Late 2 cents worth. I recently rebuilt my Black Beauty and installed a 6 way replacement for the 3 way switch from the UK. I also added push-pulls (parallel/series) and changed pots to 3v 1t. The push-pull on tone pot changes position 5 on switch from middle only to all 3 pickups. Very happy.

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[Demanic]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Wow. Just wow! Talk about tonal range!
I'll bet that 3 on position just sounds massive.
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[GuitarDoc]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

I have an '89 35th Anniversary Les Paul Black Beauty 3 pickup model made out of solid mahogany with an ebony fretboard.

I don't play the guitar as a main player, but more as a luxury ride now and then. I've tried a few Duncan combinations as well as the stock 57 Classics.

The positions are bridge, bridge/middle, and neck, and I'm leaving it that way, although I'd like to hear what some of you might do with the wiring.

I want to hear what pickup set you'd choose, and what type of amp rig you'd consider ideal with that pickup combo.

First of all I would make a new pickguard that would cover the middle cavity.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Knowing what I know now, I would go for a set of Pearly Gates with gold covers.

Even though the gold would likely dampen some treble.

A neck model and a bridge model for sure.

As for the middle I'd have to think about it.

Probably a bridge model for the middle.

Two identical pickups as the bridge and middle have sounded pretty awesome to me in the past on three humbucker Gibsons.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Knowing what I know now, I would go for a set of Pearly Gates with gold covers.

Even though the gold would likely dampen some treble.

A neck model and a bridge model for sure.

As for the middle I'd have to think about it.

Probably a bridge model for the middle.

Two identical pickups as the bridge and middle have sounded pretty awesome to me in the past on three humbucker Gibsons.

I would agree with you. If you are going to have 3 pups, and the bridge and neck are going to be the same models (PG bridge and neck models respectively), I would use the same pup (a PG) for the middle and use the bridge model there as well.

 

[Lysergene]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Whatever Robert Fripp used.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

I would agree with you. If you are going to have 3 pups, and the bridge and neck are going to be the same models (PG bridge and neck models respectively), I would use the same pup (a PG) for the middle and use the bridge model there as well.

Around 1970 I bought an original three pickup '58 or '59 Les Paul Custom from the lead guitarist of a local Detroit band called SRC (the Scott Richard Case).

Came with the stock fretless wonder frets which were ground flat and made it almost impossible to bend notes...but that's the way Gibson made them. Just awful.

Otherwise, the guitar sounded really great. Especially the middle setting on the three way switch which was the middle and bridge humbuckers combined.

But I never got used to those awful flat frets so I sold it eventually.

I still miss that sound, though, of the middle and bridge humbuckers combined.

Back in those days all three pickups were identical, BTW.

And, of course, the neck pickup was wound the same as the bridge pickup so it always sounded to loud and bassy compared to the bridge pickup.

So, for the most part, I just stayed in the middle/bridge and bridge positions of the 3 way switch.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Around 1970 I bought an original three pickup '58 or '59 Les Paul Custom from the lead guitarist of a local Detroit band called SRC (the Scott Richard Case).

Small world. I went to high school with Gary's sister, Martha. A friend of mine eventually wound up in one of the later versions of SRC. Unfortunately Gary passed away last year at age 67.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Small world. I went to high school with Gary's sister, Martha. A friend of mine eventually wound up in one of the later versions of SRC. Unfortunately Gary passed away last year at age 67.

Yes. Gary Quackenbush.

Those were fun times.

Late 1960's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Everyone knew everyone.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Yes. Gary Quackenbush.

Those were fun times.

Late 1960's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Everyone knew everyone.

There were a lot of good rock bands in Detroit back then. Pretty active music scene. I saw the Amboy Dukes, Bob Seger (at a high school sock hop!), MC5, the Up, Frost, Catfish, Savage Grace, Stooges, Frijid Pink, Wilson Mower Pursuit, Brownsville Station, & Stuart Avery Assemblage.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

There were a lot of good rock bands in Detroit back then. Pretty active music scene. I saw the Amboy Dukes, Bob Seger (at a high school sock hop!), MC5, the Up, Frost, Catfish, Savage Grace, Stooges, Frijid Pink, Wilson Mower Pursuit, Brownsville Station, & Stuart Avery Assemblage.

Familiar with all but the Stuart Avery Assemblage.

Never heard of 'em.

Ever see the Charging Rhinoceros of Soul?

I played with some of those guys for a while.

My own band was called Driving Sideways. Named after the Freddie King tune.

I see that there's a band in California now with that name.

Also a blues band.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

I ended up just swapping the neck and middle. Now it's Brobucker B, Brobucker B, 57 Classic N. Luckily, Duncan and Gibson gold looks so close you can't tell one is another brand.

Ironic that the discussion included the subject of Michigan. I lived in St. Claire Shores and Sterling Heights, before moving to California at age 11.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Ironic that the discussion included the subject of Michigan. I lived in St. Claire Shores and Sterling Heights, before moving to California at age 11.

I wish my parents would have bailed out to California when I was that age. Michigan winters are brutal and dreary.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

My mother came from Michigan, but she moved to Calif. before I was born.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

Ever see the Charging Rhinoceros of Soul?

I played with some of those guys for a while.

My own band was called Driving Sideways.

Neither sound familiar, but that was decades ago, so I can't say for sure.

I remember going to all day festivals at the State Fair Grounds on Woodward, north of 8 Mile, and at Cobo Hall downtown. They'd have a mix of national and local bands.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: What would you put in a 3 pickup LP Black Beauty?

First I'd rewire it so that the switch would be like on a standard 2-pup LP. Would hook the middle pu up to a push/pull to pop it in and out and from the switch directly to the jack because it don't need no stinkin' independent vol or tone anyway. It would just piggy back on the neck or bridge vol/tone.

Then for pickups -- just play it for a while and hear what the guitar wants. Then just wind up what what the guitar tells me to. More to the issue of this thread, I would NOT -- say again, NOT -- ever put a humbucker in the middle. They just sound dead wrong, murky, muddy, gassy to these ears. I would put a gold covered humbucker-sized P90 with rod magnets (no bar magnets), for two reasons. First, the bridge/middle and neck/middle positions would bring back the desired cluck and quack. Second, the narrow magnetic field of a single row of rod magnets would have far less effect on the magnetic fields of the other two humbuckers than the spread of a bar magnet and two rows of poles.