Faux middle pickup help

[djrussell]

Originally Posted by Spaceacex

There was only one helpful suggestion here.

Nothing wrong with wanting to improve the look of a guitar. Last I checked no one gave Ace Frehley shit for faking his middle pickup

We've all answered your question but what do you expect? I was as nice as I could be for such a rediculous idea... my suggestion was either do it properly or dont do it at all. Which is advice I suggest you follow, otherwise your gonna ruin your guitar and have an imitation bucker that looks tacky and serves no purpose.

Why not find a cheap guitar and add a middle humbucker and hotrod it a bit?

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by djrussell

We've all answered your question but what do you expect? I was as nice as I could be for such a rediculous idea... my suggestion was either do it properly or dont do it at all. Which is advice I suggest you follow, otherwise your gonna ruin your guitar and have an imitation bucker that looks tacky and serves no purpose.

Why not find a cheap guitar and add a middle humbucker and hotrod it a bit?

You were the one guy at that point to be helpful so why are you catching a knot in your panties

But since its ridiculous to a handful of people must make it so then huh?

[Spaceacex]

I got enough info from those that actually answered my questions about both faux and and real pickup questions. Thanks to those who chimed in.

For the others that just wanted to diss my taste...

[Spaceacex]

BTW this tobacco LP with a "faux pup middle never looked better before or after this point in time.

Best Gif image EVER.

Originally Posted by Lowdown

Kolumbian Kwazee Gloo will give youse da Noo Yawk Groooove…

[cooljuk]

Why stop at just one?

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by cooljuk

Why stop at just one?

Why not? I'm gonna go with 3 Faux pups on my triburst and declare myself master of the universe.

[djrussell]

Originally Posted by Spaceacex

You were the one guy at that point to be helpful so why are you catching a knot in your panties

But since its ridiculous to a handful of people must make it so then huh?

Because after I posted, you posted this: ... rolling your eyes? How else was I supposed to take it.

[Electric Funeral]

Originally Posted by Spaceacex

Why not? I'm gonna go with 3 Faux pups on my triburst and declare myself master of the universe.

Had to man, no diss intended.

[Nay]

I just personally dont like tri-bucker guitars, or at least LP's/SG's.

Then again the pickup would get in the way of my playing style. I'd also back up the idea of just go all the way and actually put a 3rd bucker in. If its done properly it wont look tacky, it'll actually serve a purpose and it'll barely (if at all) devalue your guitar if you wished to sell it. Unless in 50 years it becomes a stupidly desirable model for some reason.

[cooljuk]

Originally Posted by Spaceacex

Why not? I'm gonna go with 3 Faux pups on my triburst and declare myself master of the universe.

That's what I would do. One behind the tailpiece and another on the headstock.

If you think a neck pickup sounds sweet, wait until you hear one all the way behind the nut!

[Electric Funeral]

Originally Posted by cooljuk

That's what I would do. One behind the tailpiece and another on the headstock.

If you think a neck pickup sounds sweet, wait until you hear one all the way behind the nut!

I've seen some of Lee Ranaldo's Jazzmasters and some custom-made guitars that have pickups in between the bridge and tailpiece.

[EvLectric]

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

Guys, what's the best glue to use if I want to glue platforms onto my footwear? I heard that the taller I stand, the closer I am to the Space Ace.

16 penny nails.
From experience!

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by EvLectric

16 penny nails.
From experience!

But -- but -- then I won't be weightless! That's not the real Space Ace® experience.

[reedy]

Okay were is what i would suggest for attaching the middle pickup. If i'm not mistaken the pickup rings will all be touching so why not get an extra set for the real pickup and glue the fakie ring to that. At least when you screw down the real rings the fake one will be held in place firmly. Then all you have to do is figure out haw to build the fake pickup ii the middle pickup ring.
Honestly, I have to say that I agree it would be way cooler to have a 3pup silverburst for real. who has one of those? Being worried that routing for the middle pickup will change the tone is a little weak and I've hear lots of 3pup LPCs that sound awesome. Not to mention that the extra tonal variations you'll get will outweigh the loss, espeically if you can get one of the 6-way toggles like on the Jimmy page model.

[Lowdown]

BAN HIM!

Waaaay too much logic in that post,reedy.

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by reedy

Okay were is what i would suggest for attaching the middle pickup. If i'm not mistaken the pickup rings will all be touching so why not get an extra set for the real pickup and glue the fakie ring to that. At least when you screw down the real rings the fake one will be held in place firmly. Then all you have to do is figure out haw to build the fake pickup ii the middle pickup ring.
Honestly, I have to say that I agree it would be way cooler to have a 3pup silverburst for real. who has one of those? Being worried that routing for the middle pickup will change the tone is a little weak and I've hear lots of 3pup LPCs that sound awesome. Not to mention that the extra tonal variations you'll get will outweigh the loss, espeically if you can get one of the 6-way toggles like on the Jimmy page model.

Appreciate the feedback!

[NovaSDF]

Even if you don't want to hook up the extra pickup, why don't you just have a hole routered in the guitar and drop in an actual pickup. Here's my logic.

Someone with good carpentry skill could easily router the hole in the guitar without harming the finish. Even if the finish were to chip ever so slightly, the damage would be covered by the pickup ring itself. You wouldn't even need to take the guitar to a luthier, when a skilled finish carpenter (furniture maker) would probably be happy to create the hole for you for a couple of bucks. You'll also have to drill 4 holes for the screws from the pickup ring.

Pick up a very cheap-ass Dragonfire pickup off Ebay for $20. (They actually don't sound all that bad, but you're not hooking them up so it won't even matter what the pickup sounds like.)

Install the pickup with the pickup ring, and you are good to go.

Your cost is going to be $20 for a cheap pickup (unless you have an extra kicking around) a couple of bucks for a pickup ring and the cost of cutting the hole.

By doing it this way, you never have to worry about the pickup falling off if the glue/tape lets go. You also have the option of hooking the pickup up in the future if the mood possesses you. You also do minimal harm to the resale value of the instrument, and it might even be a plus to the right buyer.

If I were buying a guitar, I'd personally be much more open to someone who had installed a working pickup (or created the possibility of one if all I had to do was to hook it up.) than a fake one.

You also have to consider that the time and effort expended on creating a fake pickup and mounting it is going to be more or less the same as making a hole and dropping an actual pickup in.

And then, up close, a real pickup that isn't hooked up will look better than a fake, no matter how much you try to make the fake look real.

How do you know Ace didn't just have a hole cut in the guitar and an extra pickup dropped in? A pickup in place that is not hooked up is still a "fake" pickup after all.

[Spaceacex]

Does anyone know a ballpark figure on getting a 3rd pickup routed and installed?

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by NovaSDF

Even if you don't want to hook up the extra pickup, why don't you just have a hole routered in the guitar and drop in an actual pickup. Here's my logic.

Someone with good carpentry skill could easily router the hole in the guitar without harming the finish. Even if the finish were to chip ever so slightly, the damage would be covered by the pickup ring itself. You wouldn't even need to take the guitar to a luthier, when a skilled finish carpenter (furniture maker) would probably be happy to create the hole for you for a couple of bucks. You'll also have to drill 4 holes for the screws from the pickup ring.

Pick up a very cheap-ass Dragonfire pickup off Ebay for $20. (They actually don't sound all that bad, but you're not hooking them up so it won't even matter what the pickup sounds like.)

Install the pickup with the pickup ring, and you are good to go.

Your cost is going to be $20 for a cheap pickup (unless you have an extra kicking around) a couple of bucks for a pickup ring and the cost of cutting the hole.

By doing it this way, you never have to worry about the pickup falling off if the glue/tape lets go. You also have the option of hooking the pickup up in the future if the mood possesses you. You also do minimal harm to the resale value of the instrument, and it might even be a plus to the right buyer.

If I were buying a guitar, I'd personally be much more open to someone who had installed a working pickup (or created the possibility of one if all I had to do was to hook it up.) than a fake one.

You also have to consider that the time and effort expended on creating a fake pickup and mounting it is going to be more or less the same as making a hole and dropping an actual pickup in.

And then, up close, a real pickup that isn't hooked up will look better than a fake, no matter how much you try to make the fake look real.

How do you know Ace didn't just have a hole cut in the guitar and an extra pickup dropped in? A pickup in place that is not hooked up is still a "fake" pickup after all.

Thanks for the feedback. I made this thread to see if it would be worth it going the fake route or not. But yes I've decided, if anything will be done at all then it will be a real pickup routed and installed.

I wanted to hear the pros and cons but some people were acting like its a sin to look cool lol.

Thanks again.

[Nay]

Originally Posted by Spaceacex

Does anyone know a ballpark figure on getting a 3rd pickup routed and installed?

Can't give you a figure but it can vary dramatically from place to place.

I say this as there are a few luthiers/repair guys round by me and quotes on things like rewiring new pickups varied massively. It all depends on the person/place.

Find anyone with a router and some form of woodworking trade and I'm sure that they could cut a fine hole if you give them a diagram of a humberbucker routing and where to put it.

Could range anywhere from £10 to £100...

[bugg]

Originally Posted by reedy

Okay were is what i would suggest for attaching the middle pickup. If i'm not mistaken the pickup rings will all be touching so why not get an extra set for the real pickup and glue the fakie ring to that.

I thought this too, but unfortunately, they don't touch.

[Spaceacex]

Yeah they don't touch. My 70's reissue didn't touch at all.

I'm going to go with a real middle pup.

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by bugg

I thought this too, but unfortunately, they don't touch.

Now thats a beauty. When I get mine done its gonna have exposed chrome top Super D's

[Lowdown]

Ask the angry-ant what he thinks.

[Shawn Lutz]

Just add one. I personally thing a fake pickup is pretty silly really for both you and Ace

Just get it routed and install one. The tone isn't going to be drastically changed by the small amount of wood there. Any tech with his weight can route that no problems whatsoever and will not ruin the paint job. They have templates and the only place the router really touches where the router needs to go to route the cavity. I've been thinking about adding a 3rd pickup tom my Trad + too.

[bugg]

I personally see no problem with temporarily tacking a "faux" on there...

It's your guitar, make it look how you want. It's really not that much different from pulling one of your pickup covers off, removing/installing a pickguard, or changing knobs....

That said, if you know you'd USE the 3rd pickup, by all means, add one that functions.

I am curious about one thing though, how does the pickup selector act on a 3 pickup LP?

[NovaSDF]

Assuming you have 4 pots on the LP, then you could wire it so that the middle pickup activates when you turn on the neck pickup. You would wire 1 pot each as a volume control for each pot, and then 1 master tone control. That way, if you don't want to isolate the neck pickup you would just roll off the volume on the middle pickup to "0".

That would be my guess.

[bugg]

From the sounds of it, the tone is going to be affected more by the electrical changes than the physical removal of wood.

[NovaSDF]

I would think that any change in tone to the guitar caused by the removal of wood would pale in comparison to changes in tone crated by a 3rd pickup and all the electrical possibilities.

If you're not wanting to change the tone, leave it the way it is. If you want to add pickups and so forth, then be open to the new tone of the instrument. There is no "right" and "wrong" tone as it's all about preference. By adding the 3rd pickup, you are creating a new instrument that will have a new personality.

You would also have to look at what type/rating of capacitor you would want to use on your one remaining tone control. Sometimes you have 2 different sizes for both bridge and neck pickup. In this case, you would only have 1 capacitor as you would be down to 1 tone control.

The other option might possibly be some type of push/pull pot to control whether the middle pickup is activated or not. Don't know much about wiring those though. Sure someone here can answer that question.

The only other possibility is to wire the 2nd pickup to the same volume/tone pot as the neck or bridge pickup and then add a small micro switch on the guitar to give the new middle pickup a simple on/off function.

If it were me, I'd sacrifice the tone controls to give each pickup its own independent volume, as I think you could do more with tone using that arrangement.

[Spaceacex]

Originally Posted by NovaSDF

I would think that any change in tone to the guitar caused by the removal of wood would pale in comparison to changes in tone crated by a 3rd pickup and all the electrical possibilities.

If you're not wanting to change the tone, leave it the way it is. If you want to add pickups and so forth, then be open to the new tone of the instrument. There is no "right" and "wrong" tone as it's all about preference. By adding the 3rd pickup, you are creating a new instrument that will have a new personality.

You would also have to look at what type/rating of capacitor you would want to use on your one remaining tone control. Sometimes you have 2 different sizes for both bridge and neck pickup. In this case, you would only have 1 capacitor as you would be down to 1 tone control.

The other option might possibly be some type of push/pull pot to control whether the middle pickup is activated or not. Don't know much about wiring those though. Sure someone here can answer that question.

The only other possibility is to wire the 2nd pickup to the same volume/tone pot as the neck or bridge pickup and then add a small micro switch on the guitar to give the new middle pickup a simple on/off function.

If it were me, I'd sacrifice the tone controls to give each pickup its own independent volume, as I think you could do more with tone using that arrangement.

Thanks a bunch for all the info much appreciated.

I do like the idea of having the each pickup have its own volume. A push pull pot to activate the middle pickup or not sounds pretty damn nifty too. Things I gotta look into with whoever I work with to get this done.

Thanks again!