Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

[Aceman]

Obviously my influence/interest here is from Ace Frehley. I know he really only used the bridge. Still, I'd like a three HB Les Paul (or two, or three...) with some flexibility. My ideal middle pup would be (apologies) something in the 12k range with an eq something like 7/8/5. That way I could mix in mids with the neck or bridge of a scooped pup, or add bass to the bridge, and a bunch of other sounds. But how do those of you out there with three HB LP's use them? One pup at a time, bridge/mid or neck, all three?

 

[DML]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Why not put a SC-sized-HB in the middle position? Like the Les Paul Lite M3.
Soundwise I don't think a third full size HB will give you more flexibility.

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I have a mate who pretty much wires it up like a strat, but with push/pull tone/volume nobs. Each pickup can be turned on/off, and you can just use the 3 way toggle switch as normal. I'm thinking of doing a 3 phat cat with an SG

 

[yeti]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Here's how my 3 HB Epi Black Beauty is wired up:
Neck-APH1
Middle-Pearly Gates(b)
Bridge-Custom
3 volume pots (one for each pup)
1 master tone
all 4 pots are push/pull
Bridge Vol pulls to Bridge in Parallel
Neck Vol pulls to Neck in Parallel
Mid Vol pulls to Neck North/Mid South coil splits
Master Tone pulls to Mid North/ Bridge South coil splits
when both coil splits are pulled, Mid pup is in parallel

I just A/B'd my guitar last week with a buddie's Squire Strat (with okay sounding neck and mid pups and a wretched sounding bridge HB). I was VERY surprised how close the neck/mid and mid/bridge coil splits came to his neck/mid and mid/bridge(split). Did it sound like a top of the line Strat decked out with nice Duncans? Hell no! But it definitely puts out some serviceable sounds for funk, or country twang that you just don't get from a "normal" LP. I think it might have to do with the spacing. If you split the neck and bridge on a regular LP, its sounds cool, but thats a good 5-6" spread between coils. By splitting with a middle pup you're closer to the "normal" strat spacing of single coils.
Plus i have a huge variety of clean tones to pick from.
I'm open to trying some different pups out over the next year, maybe a 59/Custom hybrid in bridge, who knows . But I'm definitely very pleased with the versatility I have now, and will stick with this wiring scheme for as long as I have this guitar. About the only only change I might try is a 5 way rotary switch in the 3 way toggle spot that goes neck/neck-mid/all/mid-bridge/bridge, or something like that. For now my soldering iron is put away awhile .

 

[Frebnedzo]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I am about to do a 3 pup LP. My plan is

neck and bridge Seth Lover
middle Fred

5-way rotary (n, n+m, 3, m+b, b)

the 3 setting can either be middle OR n+b.

All pickups have coil cutters.

Goal is to have vintage 2 pup LP sounds, an additional dramatic HB
tone (Fred) and a variety of ersatz strat/tele sounds from
combinations of cut coils.

 

[yeti]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

BTW Frebnedzo thanks again for ironing out that wiring problem. Works great (as you can see) .

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Obviously my influence/interest here is from Ace Frehley. I know he really only used the bridge. Still, I'd like a three HB Les Paul (or two, or three...) with some flexibility.

Depends which position you're going to use for the smoke bomb. :bigthumb:

 

[Aceman]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Thanks guys! That DiMArzio FRED has always been on my mind for the middle. Duncan just doesn't seem to have quite the right pup for that - 10-12k, mid spike, low treble, etc. And the smoke bomb goes in the neck - where else! I plan on doing the three volume master tone for switching, and am not sure about the push pulls.

 

[Loserchief]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I use an EMG HHH setup with:
81 bridge-89 middle- 60 neck
wired with 3 indipendent Volumes, master tone and 3 on/off miniswitches to switch each pup on individually.
Alle combinations are possible and with the three pretty different pups and the ability to split the 89 about any sound is possible.

 

[yeti]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Thanks guys! That DiMArzio FRED has always been on my mind for the middle. Duncan just doesn't seem to have quite the right pup for that - 10-12k, mid spike, low treble, etc. And the smoke bomb goes in the neck - where else! I plan on doing the three volume master tone for switching, and am not sure about the push pulls.

I'm actually considering trying a Brobucker in the middle, and using PG and Custom to do a hybrid (I read somewhere a PG is pretty much a 59 with an A2 mag). Thoughts like this scare me when I JUST got it working the way i like :smack: .

 

[Jeroen]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I used to have three humbuckers in my Jackson DK2. A CC in the bridge position, and two Little '59's (a B in de middle and an N in the neck), with two separate coilsplit push pull pots (one for the CC and one for the '59's) and standard 5-way switching. Was really nice and very versatile, but the singlecoiltone wouldn't cut it. Sounded thin and weak. The humbuckertone of especially the '59's was brilliant though

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Although I love the tone of a bridge HB and middle HB combined (ala the 50's LP Custom I owned for a while) that middle pickup really gets in the way of the pick. If you haven't tried a guitar with three HB's you should...you may not like it either. But if you're gonna do it, I'd wire it for Neck/Middle & Bridge/Bridge. Lew

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I used to like the way Pete Townshends 3 pick up Les Pauls... I still don't understand how those things are wired.... The Gibson Custom Shop lists the controll layout but i have no idea how to wire it...

 

[Aceman]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

I pick in a spot that would be between the two pups, lew, so I believe I'll do ok. I really like the bridge/neck combo on my CC/PG setup. But, for the three pups lately I'vebeen thinking just plain loud. Maybe three black/white zebra customs? But for rock mode, I never use the neck/bridge combo, but I couldmaybe see the bridge middle and then neck only. Maybe Gibson did know what they were doing in 57 w/ that black beauty wiring! I'd still like ALL ON, though...

 

[jdm61]

Re: Who plays with three humbuckers and how?

Who uses a 3 pup LP? Listen to Framptom Comes Alive for a very good example. Ad a Leslie speaker (or a similar digitasl effect0 and you got it