A triple-coil pickup is something I’ve had on my main guitar since the early 80’s. I met a guy at La Salle Music W.Htfd. Ct. who would take 2 DiMarzio humbuckers, keep one coil, and build a brass base for the triple coil. I gave up 2 ’77 DiMarzio Super Distortions.
Now that I’ve hand-wound all my pickups, I decided to make a triple-coil using AlNiCo bar magnets and a nickel silver (vs. brass) frame for the base. I won’t even go into switching for this right now, but I have my setup for every possible configuration with many tones and an extra high inductance (when in series) for a really punchy output.
This part is what is so labor intensive.
Many hours spent on this step.
Start with 2 humbucker frames – and cut off the edge on one side.
I use an old credit card to mark the lines. I drill holes in the card to line. up with the holes on the baseplate. This ensures even matchup. I use 2-56 machine screws for a good fit – then carefully remove only 1/2 the thickness of the metal for good fit.
I use a handheld rotary tool with a high speed cutter and take my time – lots of it..
A small flat file and digital calipers help find and remove high spots.
I also use a good digital caliper to check my progress – a marking pen helps too.
Use it to mark the high spots.
Match the overlap with the other half so they mate very closely.
The 2-56 stainless steel machine screws hold these together while soldering.
Use a hot soldering iron…and some extra flux – I also use 2% silver solder.
“Buck and a Half”, A humbucker with three coils.
A unique approach to this odd pickup provides many sound options.
There are 2 magnets in this 3 coil design – similar to a P90, but 3 times the coils.
I use an A8 bar on the hot side. With a A5 magnet opposing the A8 (N to S) this would normally result in the middle pickup cancelling out the magnetic pull. However, the A8’s higher strength causes it’s South to overpower the A5’s North pole.
As a result, the center and neck side of this pickup are BOTH south.
Since I wound them in the same direction, there are several humbuckers within one pickup.
Here is the above triple coil in the ‘Bridge’ position. The original aim of this guitar was to have an LP/Strat sound all in one.
The current switches are (from top to bottom) :
1. Neck HB parallel-coil split-series.
2. Neck On-Off-On for phase shift or coil selection based on switch 1.
3. Mid On-Off-On for phase shift.
4. Mid. (to the right of 3) on-on to join with neck or bridge for volume
(far left)
5. Parallel/Series relation between 7 & 8
6. Parallel/Series relation between 8 & 9
7. Bridge On Off On for coil closest to neck
8. Bridge On Off On for middle coil
9. Bridge On Off On for coil next to bridge.
When the 2 switches 5&6 are towards 7,8 &9, in the series position,
the Triple Coil is just one long series of coils. The Triple-Bucker is the most powerful pickup Ive ever heard with 42 AWG wire. Inductance is 7.3 H with over 18 K Ohms DC resistance in that configuration. These two switches made a huge difference. In parallel, output is less than 1 H.
With the Triple-Bucker pickups coils in parallel, this pickup is “just ok”. The benefit of that position is that you can turn any one or 2 of the coils to the off position and the pickup still works – great for coloring other pickups with out-of-phase compression.
That’s not the case if the coils are wired in series. That’s the reason for 2 switches….flexibility. Even so, my favorite position is all 3 coils in series.
The last major change to this guitar over the 40 year modding is the 500k blend knob for bridge to neck pickup…in the center position, both pickups are at 100%.
