DIY Frampton Black Beauty

[Kentucky Kayak]

Thinking about making a Frampton Black Beauty from a current production Epi LP Custom. This would entail adding a third pickup and having the Phenix wiring done. No relic'ing done. Just looking to make a player's guitar, not any kind of a repro collectible. Thoughts on pickups? Can I keep the PB 2 and 3, and add a third PU (if so, what), or should I look at replacing the PJ'S also? Thoughts?

 

[Kentucky Kayak]

Thinking about making a Frampton Black Beauty from a current production Epi LP Custom. This would entail adding a third pickup and having the Phenix wiring done. No relic'ing done. Just looking to make a player's guitar, not any kind of a repro collectible. Thoughts on pickups? Can I keep the PB 2 and 3, and add a third PU (if so, what), or should I look at replacing the PJ'S also? Thoughts?

PB's, not PJ's

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

The current Frampton signature LP comes with Custombuckers, which you can buy from Gibson. Previous years of the Frampton signature LP came with a 57 Classic, 57 Classic Plus and 500T. You can buy two of those three from Gibson as well.

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

The current Frampton signature LP comes with Custombuckers, which you can buy from Gibson. Previous years of the Frampton signature LP came with a 57 Classic, 57 Classic Plus and 500T. You can buy two of those three from Gibson as well.

Maybe it's just me but I find it hard to imagine a 500T high output ceramic pickup
with some Classic 57's...
But Gibson has done some strange shit at times.
And I'm pretty sure that no 500T found itself on the original PF guitar.

I'm not disputing what you're saying by the way, just "shocked" in my "Vintage type" fiber!

 

[CB91710]

The Bonamassa Black Beauty
PB2 for neck and middle, PB3 for the bridge.
Wiring is traditional 3-pickup LPC... middle position is bridge and middle, there is no bridge/neck position. Does not incorporate a fader.

Gibson original 3-pickup wiring, requires a special 3-way switch:

 

[Kentucky Kayak]

The Bonamassa Black Beauty
PB2 for neck and middle, PB3 for the bridge.
Wiring is traditional 3-pickup LPC... middle position is bridge and middle, there is no bridge/neck position. Does not incorporate a fader.

View attachment 654108
View attachment 654107



Gibson original 3-pickup wiring, requires a special 3-way switch:

View attachment 654111

Well that would certainly be the cheapest option, just buying one more PB2.

 

[CB91710]

It is interesting that they have the middle tagged "PB2M"... The position is mildly out of phase, so I don't know if that is a function of the pickup itself, or the nature of the proximity of the two pickups with the slugs on opposite sides.

Perhaps it is actually a PB2B (bridge) and flipped, or perhaps it is reverse polarity like Greeny's neck?

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

Maybe it's just me but I find it hard to imagine a 500T high output ceramic pickup
with some Classic 57's...
But Gibson has done some strange shit at times.
And I'm pretty sure that no 500T found itself on the original PF guitar.

I'm not disputing what you're saying by the way, just "shocked" in my "Vintage type" fiber!

I know you didn't dispute what I was saying, but just for kicks, here it is right off Legacy.Gibson.com. I added the red square for emphasis.

Gibson claims that Peter picked those himself during the design phase. The 57's, yea, that's pretty close. 500T may have been because they didn't know what else to use. Who knows, besides those guys?

Peter, himself has Tom Holmes pickups in the Phenix. As you might already know, Tom Holmes designed, or was the major contributor, to the design of the original Gibson 57 Classic.

I bought this exact guitar above, new from Gibson. Still have the 3 original pickups mentioned. I replaced the 3 stock pickups. I managed to get Tom to wind me 3 pickups that match what Peter has in his guitar, as close as he could possibly come, being hand wound. Kick ass guitar.

 

[Christosterone]

I’m not an expert on Framptons setup but I’ve routed a few 3rd pups on les Paul’s…

my favorite setup tends to be a 496r or 57+ in the middle position…

preferred setup is volume/volume/volume/master tone…the switch works as normal but the middle pup is always hot…if it’s at 0, then no noise and guitar functions as a standard lester…but I can roll the volume for it up at any time, on any switch position…

my 12 string 3-pup is wired as above but with each pup splittable as well…it’s kind of crazy how many tones that one has…

i can answer most any questions on this style wiring or the routing process…im not an expert wood worker by any stretch and took a bit of learning to get it perfect (well, perfect for me)

-chris

 

[Redsquare]

i can answer most any questions on this style wiring or the routing process…im not an expert wood worker by any stretch and took a bit of learning to get it perfect (well, perfect for me)

-chris

Any tips for the routing? I have a humbucker template, but of course the carved top makes that more complicated than a flat top. Was planning on using some wedge shaped spacers to keep it stable.

 

[Christosterone]

Any tips for the routing? I have a humbucker template, but of course the carved top makes that more complicated than a flat top. Was planning on using some wedge shaped spacers to keep it stable.

u can use a template but they are kind of difficult to work unless u have a ton of clamps…

I prefer to precisely draw and simply do it…the template gives u sharper angles on the screw but the rounded look doesn’t matter once u put rings on it…

silver used template and blue is more rounded….Bryant at Charlie’s Guitars in Dallas did these for me before I was brave enough and used my template for the silver and a drawn line for the blue Iirc

u can see what I mean on the sharpness…but it doesn’t matter once the rings are on…

practice on wood and see which u are able to do...i prefer routing to a line rather than a template nowadays but I reckon I’m much less picky than most…

i truly don’t care if it’s sharp or rounded…the main thing to watch for is alignment.,,,non-parallel pups stick out like a sore thumb… The good news is even if you’re not perfect, you can cheat a little bit with the pup ring placement…

cheat small too…the little space between pups can never be reproduced…go inside of ur lines and slowly expand to the smallest opening needed to fit a pup

-chris