Middle Pickup question

[eakinj]

What's the rule of thumb for guitars with three humbuckers?

For instance, I have a three humbucker guitar and If I want to put a 81 in the bridge and a 85 in the neck, would I mimic the neck pickup and put an 85 in there or the bridge and put an 81? Or should I go with some other model pickup?

(note: I am using EMG as an example, that's probably not what I'm going to put into the guitar so if there's another pickup that is great in that position feel free to let me know, please! )

I am thinking (not for hard) that I may want to put a dimebucker in this guitar, I know I'm not going to put one in the neck position, (I want something that sounds good clean there) but the middle pickup is the wild card, it doesn't seem all that useful, but if I'm going to re-wire the entire guitar, I might as well put something there, I just don't know if there's a pickup that's specifically voiced for the middel position

thanks

-Jerry

[jtr]

you'ld be better of using 89 EMG that way you'ld have 3/H ( 85) & 3/S.(SA)

[straycat]

+1 maybe go 18 volt too.

[yard dawg]

just leave the middle one and dont hook it up.. You could also get a tele pick up and use it there. Too many options to list. I have a 81/SA/81 set up that I like.

[Newc]

Get a pickup for the middle that works well with the neck pickup, and prefereably one that can be split and mixed with the split neck.

[DonP]

A problem with the 81 is that it's often not fat enough in the bridge position (many prefer the 85). By putting the 81 in the middle, it might be a perfect fit.

In a nutshell, it depends on the pickup. You wouldn't want an Invader in the middle position.

[Newc]

For example, Distortion bridge, Jazz neck, and Custom Custom middle.

Or you could swap the Jazz to the center (which would be more suited to the tones you get from the center pickup) and the Custom Custom in the neck.

However, you also have to consider the bridge pickup's tonal relationship with the other 2 pickups. What does a Dimebucker match? Didn't Dime use a Lawrence in the neck? The 250? While you can put in 3 totally different pickups and use one guitar for three totally different styles (DB for Metal, Jazz for....Jazz, and Custom Custom for AC/DC), they won't work together well in each style. You'd have to use just the one pickup (unless you're looking for the most-unique signature tone one can imagine).

[toejam]

However, you also have to consider the bridge pickup's tonal relationship with the other 2 pickups. What does a Dimebucker match? Didn't Dime use a Lawrence in the neck? The 250?

Dime used a Duncan '59 for his neck pup.

[eakinj]

The guitar (a les paul copy) has a three way and I can only select on pickup at a time (which is fine by me) I think my goal may be to get three totally different guitar sounds out of one guitar. I don't really use two pickups at once, and I rarely (if ever) change back and forth between pickups. In fact the Neck pickup in most of my guitars are probably close to brand new as I rarely use them. I do really like this guitar and want to use it a lot more, so if I can get more mileage out of it but having three guitar sounds then all the better

I think I might be sold on the SH-6 Distortion, Jazz middle Custom Custom neck. I've just never heard the SH6 in mahogany, only in poplar, which is sounds great in.

Cool, thanks for the info everyone

[Newc]

I think either GuitarElectronics.com or GuitarPartsDepot.com has a true 3-position toggle that replaces Gibby-style toggles. You get 3 totally different choices.

I bought one but haven't hooked it up, and forgot where I bought it


Alternatively, you can get a couple of push/pull pots to split and select between any two pickups (or more if you get 4 pots).

Being that it's a copy, you can add mini-toggles to it for massive switching options.

Anyhoo, a Distortion in mahogany sounds good. To me anyway

[DonP]

Anyhoo, a Distortion in mahogany sounds good. To me anyway

+1. I have the Distortion Mayhem set in my 750XL (clear finish so I know it's mahogany). I'd suggest the Distortion neck (the Seymourizer) as well.

[DonP]

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