PRS CU with 3 humbuckers? Why not!

James-T

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Apr 21, 2014
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Some purists may cringe at this one, but in the quest for the ultimate tone I carved out a space for a third humbucker in my 2002 CU22. It's got a few other modifications as well. I found space for an onboard unity gain buffer/ pre-amp and a battery. And I swapped out the Dragon II treble for a Bare Knukles Stormy Monday (65ish PAF clone). That's a Dimarzio Dual Sound in the middle position and the always so sweet Dragon II bass pup staying in its rightful place.


Here's the demo (also a show and tell on my Fractal Ultra - which really likes PRS guitars).


Peace,


James



 
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I like it! Three is better than two! ..... and the DII is a great sounding neck pup.
 
For many including myself, a middle pickup gets in the way of picking. A lot of people even have that issue on a strat which actually has much more free space between pickups than a 3 HB guitar. I believe thats why you don't see a lot of LP customs and other 3 HB guitars. You get all the sounds you need from 2.
 
It's like a LP Custom Black Beauty, why have 2 pickups when you can have 3? Haha...

But anyway, I'm digging the three 'buckers idea. Have always liked the older Zach Myers model, too bad it's retired from the catalogue now. :dontknow:
 
For many including myself, a middle pickup gets in the way of picking. A lot of people even have that issue on a strat which actually has much more free space between pickups than a 3 HB guitar. I believe thats why you don't see a lot of LP customs and other 3 HB guitars. You get all the sounds you need from 2.

I find myself strumming/picking over the pickups of a two-pickup guitar more often than not. I pick over the neck pup when I'm in rhythm mode, and will often move down towards the bridge pup for a bit more bite when doing leads (and of course go all the way towards the bridge for the intro to Wish You Were Here, for example). So I don't "need" that space.

I have a strat-type (Godin Freeway Classic) with two HB and a singlecoil in the middle, much like a 513, and I like the combo of sounds I can get out of that. Three HBs would be something I wouldn't mind exploring too. Sigh, too many guitars to try, too little time and money...

IMHO, YMMV.
 
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I think its called Mateo Blue. It's a super sweet colour. When I went to Legend Guitars in Tampa, a simply awesome PRS dealer I tried just about every guitar in there and was really hoping for something orange and Santana like but bonded with this one. In hind sight the blue is stunning and unique - plus I picked up a 1998 Gibson DC in tangerine orange that's truly stunning - to round out the colour palette - LOL. I also saved some $. This one was one of the few used guitars in the shop that day.

I had a bit of an issue getting used to the middle pup when picking - yep, it got in the way. After a few hours of playing I just readjusted. I don't even notice it now. I can get a lot of sounds out of this guitar. My favourite is the middle Dimarzio in single coil and the neck in humbucker mode at the same time. And that Stormy Monday in the neck position really sings.....but sounds best as a humbucker.

and thanks for the kind words!

Peace,

James

...at about 4:30 I go from the middle pup to the in-between to the Stormy Monday with some dirt.

 
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