three pickups

[jxe]

anyone know why a guitar would need a middle humbucker? was going to ask frehley and frampton but they are so bitchy when you get them together. all other triple players are, i think, deceased? thanks in advance for any insights.

jxe
ne portland, or

 

[veinbuster]

You get a very different flavour with that pickup position. I have three guitars with a middle humbucker. I use the middle and neck a fair bit. One of the guitars is wired to blend the neck or bridge in with the neck - I really like that and would do it again.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Elliot]

Why not add 2 single coils on either side of the middle pup. Solid pickups from bridge to neck

 

[veinbuster]

Why not add 2 single coils on either side of the middle pup. Solid pickups from bridge to neck

Because Tosca wouldn’t have room for all the mini toggles.

 

[jxe]

thanks for the replies. and fair enough, i always wondered if they were under a harmonic or something. i do like the way a triple pickup looks tho, ‘one more’ and all that.

which reminds me: what is the story with these ‘compensated nuts’? i’ve seen these lately on music man guitars and custom builds. how does that help without compensated frets?

 

[Shizzrock]

I always thought Stephen Carpenter's ESP was interesting, it has a treble and middle humbucker but no neck. There's gotta be a reason he liked it. And to answer your compensated nut question, it helps with open chords.

 

[jxe]

seems like a compensated nut would only help with the one open chord. in which case, why not adjust the saddles?

i do like a picky looking bar of machined brass.

 

[Elliot]

Because Tosca wouldn’t have room for all the mini toggles.

tosca would love more mini toggles. he could figure it out

 

[László]

Here’s why, demonstrated by Tom Quayle on a Swamp Ash Special with 3 Narrowfield 57/08 humbuckers. Have a listen:

I have a PRS with two Paul’s 408 humbuckers and a 57/08 Narrowfield, and it’s probably the most unique and pretty sounding guitar I own.

So yeah, there are reasons!

 

[jxe]

i see what you’re saying, but as he says those narrowfields come across pretty ‘strat-like’ and looking at a triple humbucker sg i don’t know if they were going for the same sound.

guess what i’m saying is i want 3 pickups (and a compensated nut) but i have no good excuse.

 

[jxe]

don’t know about the minitoggles tho.

 

[67King]

all other triple players are, i think, deceased?

Gary Clark, Jr., Brittany Howard, Rich Robinson.......

 

[jxe]

i’m thinking of making a tensioned six-cam compensated slide to get perfect open tuning intonation, but it will be heavy.

any triple bucker prs guitars oot thur?

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Why not add 2 single coils on either side of the middle pup. Solid pickups from bridge to neck

I think Nigel Tufnel did this already!

 

[Matte82]

(snip)

guess what i’m saying is “I WANT” 3 pickups (and a compensated nut) but i have no good excuse.

Seems like a good enough excuse to me.

And about the compensated nut. It’s the goal of perfection that keeps things like these being invented. Due to physics, I kind of understand but don’t dare try to explain, it’s impossible to make a fretted instrument 1000% percent perfectly in tune with itself everywhere on the fretboard. Guitars are to the point any imperfections are basically unnoticeable. But they’re there. So great minds keep working on it. Basically it’s some that gets the guitar .03% closer to perfection.

The reason I don’t worry about it too much, is you can vary the pitch just by how hard you press down. And I think over time we learn to compensate at least a little, without even thinking about it.

 

[brado]

any triple bucker prs guitars oot thur?[/QUOTE]
Check out the Chris Henderson model.

 

[11top]

anyone know why a guitar would need a middle humbucker?

I think it’s there to screw up where my pick wants to land.

 

[Shizzrock]

 

[László]

i see what you’re saying, but as he says those narrowfields come across pretty ‘strat-like’ and looking at a triple humbucker sg i don’t know if they were going for the same sound.

The NFs are just an example; even PAF style humbuckers will sound different in the middle, and do an out-of-phase thing in positions 2 and 4, to a surprising degree (if you have that switching choice available).

But yeah, of COURSE you need a guitar with triple humbuckers once you post about them!

 

[bodia]

Because Tosca wouldn’t have room for all the mini toggles.

Belly laugh at this one!