Triple Humbuckers

[drumsandsax05]

hey everyone. I wanted to get some advice on a guitar im putting together. Basically, I'm trying to build the most versatile guitar possible. I want to use three full sized humbuckers in a hollow strat body. Im ordering the body from Warmoth, and I can have it made out of pretty much any wood i want and any pickup configuration i want. Im putting a flame maple top on it, but im undecided on the core wood. Im thinking maybe alder or mahogany. Ive already decided on my neck and bridge pickups, the JB in the bridge and the Jazz in the neck, as i heard from many sources that it just doesnt get much better than a JB/Jazz combo. What wood would mate best with these pickups? I need a pickup suggestion for the middle, either full sized or single coil sized, as i can rout the body either way. I was thinking a stag mag in the middle, any suggestions? Im doing some major wiring mods too, 5 way switching with individual coil taps on all pickups and series/parralell switching. also, is it just overkill to put the 3rd pickup in there? should i just stick with a JB/Jazz setup? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks guys

[LucidInterval]

Maple neck? If so, I would reccomend a mahogany body and a vintage rails in the middle.

[Chi3f]

build it with all 3 so when you finish the guitar you aren't thinking to yourself this would have been so much cooler with 3 humbuckers.

show me a schematic of how your wiring it since i have the same thing going on with my ibanez 2 full sized and a mini in the middle.

[ArtieToo]

I like the idea of a Stag Mag in the middle. I get three different sounds from mine doing HB, north, or south coil.

[Duncan]

If you're going maple top and neck I think you need mahogony body to tame the brights...

[drumsandsax05]

yea im using a maple neck, and the body has a maple top, so everyone thinks mahogany is the way to go? How bout the middle pickup? im worried that putting a vintage rails in there will make the entire guitar sound like a slightly modified strat, whereas if i put the stag mag in, the whole guitar would have that full toned humbucker sound, and then i could split all the pickups and have the whole thing sound like a strat. whaddyu u guys think?

[Chi3f]

i have no idea what a stag mag sounds like in the middle position but like i said before i have always wanted a 3 humbucker guitar so theres no harm in trying it out. you can always return the stag mag if it doesn't sound how you want.

[Lewguitar]

Personally, I don't like Swiss Army Knife guitars: Every tone there is...except exactly the one I'm looking for. To me, they end up being one big uselessly complex compromise all around.

Also: the middle humbucker on a three pickup guitar gets in the way of the pick.

I'd leave it out.

One guitar with humbuckers and one guitar with Strat single coils is really all you need.

(Wish I could take my own advice sometimes!)

Lew

[flank]

split humbuckers dont really sound strat to me.......just a little more airy and chimey version of the humbucker tone....however 2 humbucker split and combined sound pretty cool to me, a somewhat close version of the in between positions on a strat, cept a little more round and smooth, not as clear, yet still a cool tone

but personally i think a phat cat in the middle would be cool........get a little P90 snarl in there he he

[drumsandsax05]

hmmm u guys all bring up interesting points. lew, thanks for the advice about the 3rd pickup, but ive always wanted a 3 full sized HB guitar, i just have to try it out. I think im gonna have the body universally rout, that way if i dont like the 3rd pup ill take it out and get a new pickguard and stick with the JB/Jazz combo. Oh and another thing, what is duncans return policy? Ive heard everything from if u put ur pickups in and dont like the sound, u can return them and get different ones, to they dont accept returns period. Whats the real deal? I gotta do a lil more research on P-90's and see what theyre all about. Everyone thinks mahogany for the core wood? i think that will not only improve sustain, but it'll look really cool when i finish the guitar, as im dyeing it red and then glossing it. I think the contrast line between the mahogany back and the flame maple top will look killer, whaddyu u guys think?

[The Don]

Heh, I have a triple humbucker Stratocaster. Instead of doing what you're planning on doing (high output bridge / lower output mid/neck) I opted to go with ALL high output pickups... a TB5 in the bridge, a Screamin Demon in the middle, and a JB in the neck.

I can't get any real amazing cleans with those. The middle position is kind of interesting though - The sound isn't muddy, but I'd call it extremely "dirty" and lacking both output and treble, compared to the other two pickups. It's not a good match.

If I were you I'd try another Jazz in the middle position, or possibly a PAF like a 59 or a PG, with output in between that of the JB and the Jazz. I think the best strategy would be to have descending output levels from bridge to neck... I can't exactly try that though with such high output pickups lol.

[flank]

the Phat Cat pickup i mentioned is essentially a P90 stuffed into humbucker size, so you wont have to worry about sizes and what not (standard P90s are totally differnt size than humbuckers)......just look into the sound of P90s, its pretty cool, somewhat of a medium between the fatness of a bucker and the clear chime of a single coil.......but with its own personality that i describe as snarl lol

[drumsandsax05]

how does a 59 sound when split? ive heard guitars with splits in the JB/Jazz combo, and i really like the tone. Kind of a full, syntha-strat sound. How bout the 59?

[RACER X]

Im glad you tryed to make this a simple question ?