Hmm. So, I posted this here a while back. I wonder if fender drew any inspiration from it for their new Triple Bucker pickup on the Marauder.

Do they read the forums?

Not quite sure what the point is.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

What is gods name is that

Howdy V,

I'm afraid Mighty Mite released the "Mother Bucker" back in the 70's



BTW: I think your strat is cool.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Hey, good bit of knowledge, Andy! Respec'.

And V, I also would be curious to know what's going on under the hood on that white Strat of yours. Care to explain, perhaps with a wiring diagram?

Cheers - C

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Bingo - I thought of both those pickups; I remember Adrian Vandenberg had a parts strat with a solid figured maple body that had a triple-coil pickup that had to be all Mighty Mite parts used on the video for "Burning Heart". I also was a fan of the circa 1981/82 Hamer Prototype guitars (pre Steve Stevens), although like V's guitar they had a single coil and a humbucker in the same mounting ring and the 3 coils weren't mounted to the same plate.

V - that Strat is a really cool project - how about some more info or a link to your original post?

Actually, the middle jack is an input that sends signal into the bridge pickups. It's a full stereo guitar.

Basically the two lever switches are wired like 4-way tele switches. One is wired to the bridge humbucker/single coil group. The other is wired to the neck and middle pickups.

The jag plate turns two sets of pickups on and off and the third switch on there switches between a parallel or series combination of the signal from each group.

It's also in true stereo so the neck/middle group can be output through the top jack via a push pull, sent out to effects or whatever and returned through the middle jack before the signal is mixed with the bridge pickups (or goes through them if you're in series on the jag plate).

Or you can, of course, just send the neck/mid to a second amp/rig entirely.

Each group has a separate volume knob and the middle knob selects which coils of the humbucker (which is actually two handwound alnico strat pickups housed as a humbucker) are on and if they're in parallel or series, etc.

That triple bucker is pretty cool. I hadn't heard of that before. I wonder how it sounds.

Anyway, my strat's bridge single coil is actually a split-coil pickup (side by side humbucker for hum cancellation without sensing multiple locations from each string like a regular humbucker does). I find it sounds pretty much just like a single coil but noiseless.

So, I suppose technically when they're all on in series that means it's a quad coil pickup.

Good Lord! What an amazing set of features - kudos to you for being able to remember it all.

I have trouble recalling all the options on my humble S-1 switch: now I feel like such a baby.

I s'pose there's nowhere on the internet we could hear this guitar in action?

Cheers - C

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Yeah, the only thing it doesn't have is a tone knob! Ha ha. I almost never use my tone knobs, anyway.

Actually if you've got it in front of you it's very intuitive. The on/off switches for the different pickup groups are easy to remember because it's the same setup as a Jaguar bass (it's actually the same wiring scheme on that plate).

Then, if you can use a 4-way tele, the two blade selectors are also easy to use and you can kind of use them as a way to preset two sounds you like. The rotary knob is something I usually set somewhere and leave it for a live setting (generally on normal humbucker mode). For recording you can really use it to fine tweak your tones. Basically it's set up so usually you would only flip one switch or one or two sliders to get between most of the sounds you'd generally be using most of the time.

It DOES have a lot of pickup output combinations, though.

To count:
4 positions on group 2.
16 positions on group 1. (5 rotary positions x3 settings that involve the humbucker, plus the single coil by itself).
So, there's 4x16 = 64
Series or parallel combination of any of those
so double that number to 128.
Add the 16 positions on group one alone without combining with group 2 and you get 144. (One position on the rotary is the humbucker out of phase, so we could subtract that one when it's by itself because it sounds the same as in phase if it's not combined with anything, but in certain situations I suppose it might matter so maybe we should leave it.) 144
Add the four group two settings on their own: 148.

Then let's not forget that you can also do the same number of combinations as there were between the mixed groups (64) in stereo to two amps. That's 212.

Then, of course, there's the input jack and that opens up infinite possibilities, really (like I sometimes like to plug in a contact or piezo type mic into there and clip it to the headstock or a tuning machine to get that particular string's resonances off the chart) but let's just say that's one more option and call it 213.

Ha ha but really if it's in front of you it's not all that confusing. Usually, you just flip to a sound you like on one set, flip to one you like on the other and then turn those two sounds on and off/combine them with the jag plate.

i do have some clips on soundcloud but they appear to be having downtime right now

Actually, I am also making a tele version which has a different philosophy to it. It's much more straightforward and uses two split coil pickups oriented in a kind of X-pattern.

That is, if we can think of the pole pieces' winding/polarity as positive and negative, we can think of the two (four, really) pickups like this.

Neck: +++ ---
Bridge: --- +++

This way it cancels noise both within pickups and between pickups which will make more sense in a minute.

So, this guitar will have three modes.

Mode 1: Normal Noiseless Tele Mode
4-way telecaster switch controls the guitar like a 4-way tele. Very simple.

Mode 2: X-Mode
You flip a switch and the two pickups swap their lower coils. The EAD coils also simultaneously flip their phase so you retain hum cancellation. Basically, the idea is you will get these two extra pickup combinations:

Neck/Bridge

Where these coils are active:
---xxx
xxx+++

and Bridge/Neck:
xxx---
+++xxx

So, this allows you to get sharp lead sounds and deep power chords or something for example, without switching anything. You just move to different strings and your pickup is already switched to the right one. Conversely if you like smooth leads and sharp rhythm sounds the other mode will accommodate that without switching anything.

Or, if you don't play leads at all you can have deep bottom strings and bright top strings or twangy bottom strings and smooth top strings at once.


Then, of course, there's...

Mode 3: Stereo
A second 4-way tele switch is engaged and you can now send out EAD and GBE to two different amps. This is why the pickups are wound in an X-pattern. So you can still get hum cancellation in the in between modes for each set of strings.

This is very useful for droning type playing and recording or simply just playing two sets of effects/sounds in stereo. Or, for example, if you have an amp that doesn't have a good bottom end but has a great top end sound, you can send that one only the higher-pitched strings and send the lower pitched strings to another amp that's better for that (a bassman comes to mind).

ha ha, or if you're like me and are prone to flubbing a note somewhere while recording you can record to two tracks and cut out the strings where you made a mistake.

I like it. Nothing like making one all your own. I think the feature that grabs me the most is the graphic below the bridge.

V - that is an amazing axe; thanks for the description and details. You put a lot of thought into what you wanted and came up with a design to get you there. Very nice work!!!

I remember Steve Miller had an Ibanez with a triple coil back in like 79 or 80

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/fenderguitarandamp/

Okay, so who's going to report on what these 3-coil humbuckers sound like?

(Measurements on the coils would be welcome too. I'm curious as to make makes 'em tick.)

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.