Mudder
Active member
Reading the Queen thread got me thinking about Brian May's ripping lead tones. Are the trisonics in his guitar the key, or are they pretty much just like most singles and it's the treble boost on a tapped out AC30?
grooveHT
Well-known member
Mudder":r6i5y4eh said:
Besides the singles, his pickups are all wired in series, so bridge and middle = basically a humbucker in series, electrically speaking.
Mudder
Active member
Do you think wiring regular singles in series would produce the same sort of tones or are the trisonics a different animal?
grooveHT
Well-known member
Mudder":262iohf8 said:
I think the Trisonics are a bit different than the classic Fender single, however I bet you could get something from SD that's fairly close to the EQ of the Trisonic. I've never heard a Trisonic personally, so it's hard for me to tell you exactly how it sounds, you know? Maybe an SD Custom single...sorta between vintage and their Quarter Pound as far as output goes. I have had some singles wired in series before, courtesy of the Deaf Eddie switch ( http://www.deaf-eddie.net/switches.html ) and while I wasn't looking to get real close to Brian May, it was definitely a cool, usable addition.
There's a page up here talking a little bit about Trisonics: http://www.burnsguitars.com/brianmaytrisonicpickups.php . They talk about the Trisonic having a little more warmth and output than a vintage single, which seems to fit the bill for an SD Custom.
In my opinion, a bigger component than which pickup you use is going to be the wiring (in series) and the spacing you have between the pickups and where along the string they're located. Ever have a 24 fret guitar and set it up for HSS to get the neck/middle tone like a strat? It isn't quite there, and to me that's a result of pickup location (neck PU is after the 24th fret rather than 22nd) and also the spacing ( neck and middle pickups are closer together and cancel different frequencies than pickups spaced wider).
Ok, done blabbering, to summarize: if you wire it in series and make sure they're spaced correctly, I believe SD Customs would get you really close! Thanks for reading
grooveHT
Well-known member
A quick addition to my last post, I promise...in the article I linked to, they mention that maybe the Trisonic sensed string vibration of a larger portion of the string perhaps. If that's the case and you're looking to get close, perhaps looking at an SD Quarter Pound or one of the Anderson pickups might be advisable, as their poles are larger than the usual single, like the Trisonic.
Mudder
Active member
Right on...thanks for taking time out to help me. I'm not certain what I'm doing with the singles on this focus I have. I was thinking cruisers, but then trisonics sound like a cool option too.
Not that I'll ever sound like May.
Not that I'll ever sound like May.
grooveHT
Well-known member
Mudder":1rzj5b0k said:Right on...thanks for taking time out to help me. I'm not certain what I'm doing with the singles on this focus I have. I was thinking cruisers, but then trisonics sound like a cool option too.
Not that I'll ever sound like May.
No problem man! Along with the DiMarzios, I like Seymour Duncan's stuff a lot...they don't get a lot of love on this board, but I tried some of SD's Classic Stack Plus-es and liked them a lot...if you're looking to go the hum-cancelling route, maybe try some of the new Vintage Hot stacks, or the QP stacks....betcha those would get you really close to the Trisonic vibe! Also I think the Anderson SD series is known for that sort of sound, and is hum-cancelling as well.