Username: Password:

Author Topic: Pickup advice please  (Read 5975 times)

BloodMountain

  • Welterweight
  • ****
  • Posts: 1282
Pickup advice please
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2007, 04:11:32 PM »
hahahaha i LOVE button moon!
:twisted: CERAMIC WARPIG - GREATEST HUMBUCKER ON EARTH! :twisted:

Sailor Charon

  • Guest
Pickup advice please
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2007, 05:43:16 PM »
Button Moon? Ah yes... I remember it well. Presented by Peter Davidson wasn't it?

Philly Q

  • Light Heavyweight
  • ******
  • Posts: 18109
Pickup advice please
« Reply #17 on: January 13, 2007, 06:13:17 PM »
Narrated by Robin Parkinson, the theme song was (bizarrely) written and performed by Peter Davison and his wife Sandra Dickinson!

Sorry about that little diversion.  Any more thoughts about your pickups?
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Sailor Charon

  • Guest
Pickup advice please
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2007, 07:25:11 PM »
Quote from: Philly Q
Sorry about that little diversion.  Any more thoughts about your pickups?

I think the main question is: is it mainly single coils that can be humbucked (is that a word)  or humbuckers that can be split? (that I'm looking for). I'm slightly more inclined to the first option, but then again... Argh.
Definitely 3. Definitely any combination selectable. Almost certainly two coils per pickup, with a 5 way switch for none/coil 1/coil 2/serial/parallel (per pickup). High output, after all, you don't have to use all of it all the time and it's nice to have it if (when?) you do. Fat bottom end, but not lacking bite in the treble. But then again given the woods used that might not be a problem...

Philly Q

  • Light Heavyweight
  • ******
  • Posts: 18109
Pickup advice please
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2007, 08:25:56 PM »
Quote from: Sailor Charon
Definitely 3. Definitely any combination selectable. Almost certainly two coils per pickup, with a 5 way switch for none/coil 1/coil 2/serial/parallel (per pickup).

You want three 5-way switches, one for each pickup?  Well, if you wanted all that "switchability", you'd definitely need humbuckers.  Single-coils are just, well, single coils.  I'm not sure all the options you want there are possible; maybe with rotary switches (like PRS use), although I don't really know much about how those work.  

The problem with really complex wiring is you may have 57 different options but probably only 5 or 6 of them will be really distinct and useable.  And it's confusing!  The Jimmy Page Les Paul has dozens of sounds, but you might have to operate four push-pull pots just to get from one sound to another.

On the other hand, if you go with single-coils, you can combine them with each other in interesting ways.  Maybe you could get 3 P-90s and copy one of those Strat wiring schemes that let you get all the different combinations of the 3 pickups, in series and in parallel.  Or perhaps you could do something like the PRS 513, which uses 5 single-coils and 2 switches to give 13 different sounds.
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Sailor Charon

  • Guest
Pickup advice please
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2007, 09:00:21 PM »
Quote from: Philly Q
The problem with really complex wiring is you may have 57 different options but probably only 5 or 6 of them will be really distinct and useable.  And it's confusing!  The Jimmy Page Les Paul has dozens of sounds, but you might have to operate four push-pull pots just to get from one sound to another.

On the other hand, if you go with single-coils, you can combine them with each other in interesting ways.  Maybe you could get 3 P-90s and copy one of those Strat wiring schemes that let you get all the different combinations of the 3 pickups, in series and in parallel.  Or perhaps you could do something like the PRS 513, which uses 5 single-coils and 2 switches to give 13 different sounds.


Thanks, I do tend to get carried away at times. [I'm about to try and stitch on 60 count fabric. (Normally it's 28 or 32 count)]
I think I like the trio of P90s approach - it's certainly one I considered  and it seems a lot simpler. Which is probably a good thing :) So, probably Pig90s or ceramic Pig90s then?

[Oh, what's the advantage of coil-tapping on P90s?]

Philly Q

  • Light Heavyweight
  • ******
  • Posts: 18109
Pickup advice please
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2007, 09:33:40 PM »
Quote from: Sailor Charon
Oh, what's the advantage of coil-tapping on P90s?

Tapping a P-90 lets you get 2 different sounds from the same pickup - like a single-coil equivalent of splitting a humbucker or wiring it for series/parallel.  The tap "switches off" some of the pickup's windings so you get a slightly thinner, brighter sound.  So a tapped Pig-90 might sound like a BKP-92 or something (depending on the magnets and where in the coil it was tapped).

I think it would be most useful in a single-pickup guitar like an LP Jr, but it could work on your 3-pickup project too.  

Quote
I'm about to try and stitch on 60 count fabric. (Normally it's 28 or 32 count)

You've lost me there!!  :lol:
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Sailor Charon

  • Guest
Pickup advice please
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2007, 09:59:37 PM »
Ah. Thanks for that. I'll have a think about tapping - actually I'll probably ask Tim :)
As for the stuff to do with stitching: 60 count has 60 little holes per inch as opposed to 28 or 32. Which means its a much finer mesh. Which means its much harder to stitch on as it's harder to see the little holes. Anyway, nothing to worry about. Think of it as playing hemi-demi-semi-quavers rather than demi-semi-quavers or else some rediculous number of bpm  :)

zigmund

  • Flyweight
  • *
  • Posts: 76
Pickup advice please
« Reply #23 on: January 14, 2007, 02:28:09 AM »
I sure picked the wrong day to give up LSD.

Stunning, chaps, stunning... :P