jag w/ trisonics - opinions welcome

[HNB]

The trisonic look is really cool on a Jaguar. Especially with the chrome accents.

[Remork]

But just pretend one of those switches isn't there!

aaah. that's so much more relaxed

It's basically a Red Special standing in for the Rhythm Circuit, and with (I believe) a clearer and more mappable functionality and half as many switches.

yes! that's what i was thinking of doing on the diamond plate - three three-way switches, for the whole red special experience with half the switches.
but then i realised that (for similar reasons as the concentrics) i would never be relaxed enough to find the middle position on those switches while on stage, hahaha
so i'm still chewing on the options.

The only thing it *won't* do is parallel / out of phase. But I've personally never been a big fan of this sound on single-coil guitars, and even where I am a fan of it (on Peter Green's Les Paul) I can't help but think it would be even better if it was wired in series anyway!

hah, i have a P90 les paul with a flipped magnet for that one
it's a weird mid-70's goldtop deluxe that came with 300K vol / 100K tone pots. I KNOW.
i swapped those for 500/500 last month.. and while it sounds great, and it FINALLY sounds like the P90's i always suspected were lurking in there, i'm having a hard time getting used to it.. played it stock for about 14 years, and it's just not the same guitar anymore. but i know i'll learn to love it, it really opened up.

[Remork]

The trisonic look is really cool on a Jaguar. Especially with the chrome accents.

totally! can't wait to have some more time to really dive in.
banging up against a deadline for now, unfortunately.. more soon, hopefully!

[Veitchy]

Tangentially related, but I only just found out the Red Special is a 24 inch scale. In between that and the Jag also has a trapeze-like trem/tailpiece configuration, I'm curious to hear just how close this ends up sounding.

[HarlowTheFish]

Tangentially related, but I only just found out the Red Special is a 24 inch scale. In between that and the Jag also has a trapeze-like trem/tailpiece configuration, I'm curious to hear just how close this ends up sounding.

Something to consider if you wanna nail the construction is that the Red Special has basically no break angle, so maybe something like a Mastery or a recessed roller bridge might be a better option than a standard rocking bridge if that's the sound and feel you're going for.

[Veitchy]

Tangentially related, but I only just found out the Red Special is a 24 inch scale. In between that and the Jag also has a trapeze-like trem/tailpiece configuration, I'm curious to hear just how close this ends up sounding.

Something to consider if you wanna nail the construction is that the Red Special has basically no break angle, so maybe something like a Mastery or a recessed roller bridge might be a better option than a standard rocking bridge if that's the sound and feel you're going for.

So no break angle, short scale, and doesn't May play with 8 or 9 gauge strings? His strings must be super-loosey-goosey.

[HarlowTheFish]

Tangentially related, but I only just found out the Red Special is a 24 inch scale. In between that and the Jag also has a trapeze-like trem/tailpiece configuration, I'm curious to hear just how close this ends up sounding.

Something to consider if you wanna nail the construction is that the Red Special has basically no break angle, so maybe something like a Mastery or a recessed roller bridge might be a better option than a standard rocking bridge if that's the sound and feel you're going for.

So no break angle, short scale, and doesn't May play with 8 or 9 gauge strings? His strings must be super-loosey-goosey.

Yeah pretty much, and the entire ensemble must put out some pretty thin tone. Keep in mind though that he plays with a coin (IIRC stateside the closest thing is a dime) so the interaction between "pick" and string is pretty different -- I tried it for a bit, and it's this really interesting mix of way less grip on the string (because there's no point on a coin) and way more friction (because of the ridged edges). Kinda cool, I still go for it for huskier clean tones or sinthy kinda lines with the tone rolled all the way down because the attack is both thicker and less pronounced, but pretty particular.

[Veitchy]

Something to consider if you wanna nail the construction is that the Red Special has basically no break angle, so maybe something like a Mastery or a recessed roller bridge might be a better option than a standard rocking bridge if that's the sound and feel you're going for.

So no break angle, short scale, and doesn't May play with 8 or 9 gauge strings? His strings must be super-loosey-goosey.

Yeah pretty much, and the entire ensemble must put out some pretty thin tone. Keep in mind though that he plays with a coin (IIRC stateside the closest thing is a dime) so the interaction between "pick" and string is pretty different -- I tried it for a bit, and it's this really interesting mix of way less grip on the string (because there's no point on a coin) and way more friction (because of the ridged edges). Kinda cool, I still go for it for huskier clean tones or sinthy kinda lines with the tone rolled all the way down because the attack is both thicker and less pronounced, but pretty particular.

I played with an Australian 10c coin for a while after reading about that. The sound was interesting but I found it lacked the flexibility I needed to play quickly, but also lacked the give I wanted for strumming harder. Granted, I was playing primarily rhythm at that point - if I was more lead/runs/single note focused my experience may have been different. I'd give it another crack but who caries change these days.

[bodhi]

[ double post ]

[bodhi]

Sorry for the side-track, but

Bodhi, there might be a simpler way to do it, but the way things worked out in my schematic, it was looking like a minimum of 7 poles, and I think I used the 8th just for the sake of simplifying some of the grounding. I'm no wiring expert! But unless there's a way to do it on 4 poles, it would mean having to marry two separate switches anyway, so I settled for that.

... I think this might do it? Add volume and tone controls either as master or to each side separately depending on preference. Also didn't do anything about the typical strat tone pots per pickup specifically, so there's another section of the blade switch to play with if you'd use that...



[edit] NB. you probably need to connect the pots ground through the lug of the rhythm/lead switch (like the pickups themselves) to not cause issues, if using separate volume/tone for each side.

More on track, looking a bit closer at the plate from earlier it now feels it's probably two-way switches there? The cutouts don't seem large enough...

[bodhi]

... I think this might do it?

Nope, that won't work... minimally you'd need to disconnect the grounds from each other when toggling between sides, and having both switching outputs connected to the output jack at the same time is likely to cause issues as well...

[Remork]

well, seeing how this is a side project and i have too much stuff going on as it is, progress is devastatingly slow.
however - i bit the bullet and stripped the sunburst. sorry.
i did it to be sure my preferred neck would have a 100% fit to the body.
heat gun, scooper, done in about 45 minutes. the bulk of the surfaces went like a breeze. only slight hassle were the thinner parts (the 'side' of the body), might have something to do with the end grain on the edges.
will need some sanding and some trial and error for a new colour. fingers crossed for all trial and no error, hah.

i will probably sell off the surf green one, put in the pickups from the sunburst and consider it an upgrade - they really do sound better.

hoping to come back quicker with more news.

[Remork]

so, over 1 year later... i know.

this is what i settled on, and i'm quite happy with it!



all chrome on a matte black finish. i think it looks sweet.

i tried several switching options, even had two small pushbuttons for phase underneath neck and middle pickup for a while.. those switches died just from looking at them, so not built for the long run.

what i ended up with now is sort of confusing at first, but i'm getting used to it..
i ditched the tone control altogether, and put in a three position rotary switch that manages the phases of bridge and middle pickups against the neck pickup.
so:
_ neck pickup is always the same phase.
_ position 1 of the three way has bridge out of phase with neck, middle in phase.
_ position 2 has bridge in phase with neck, middle out of phase.
_ position 3 has both bridge and middle out of phase with neck.

so if you're not using the neck pu, pos 1 and 2 are basically the same (bridge and middle out of phase with eachother), pos 3 has them in phase.

what this all means is that the only 'red special' setting i don't have, is all three pu's in phase. the sound of that was of very limited difference to neck and middle in phase (so without bridge) to my ears, so i'm quite happily leaving the least interesting option (again, to my ears) off.. and aim for the least intrusive phase switch ever
i mainly use this rotary to 'preset' the wanted effect - and then just turning a pickup on or off can make for some very radical tonal shifts for leads etc.

i realise some of you may feel this is butchering the 3TSB, but i really am quite pleased with it.

[Embenny]

Gorgeous. I love trisonics in Jaguars. They sound great, too.

Did you end up wiring all the pickups in series like the RS?

[Unicorn Warrior]

so, over 1 year later... i know.

this is what i settled on, and i'm quite happy with it!



all chrome on a matte black finish. i think it looks sweet.

i tried several switching options, even had two small pushbuttons for phase underneath neck and middle pickup for a while.. those switches died just from looking at them, so not built for the long run.

what i ended up with now is sort of confusing at first, but i'm getting used to it..
i ditched the tone control altogether, and put in a three position rotary switch that manages the phases of bridge and middle pickups against the neck pickup.
so:
_ neck pickup is always the same phase.
_ position 1 of the three way has bridge out of phase with neck, middle in phase.
_ position 2 has bridge in phase with neck, middle out of phase.
_ position 3 has both bridge and middle out of phase with neck.

so if you're not using the neck pu, pos 1 and 2 are basically the same (bridge and middle out of phase with eachother), pos 3 has them in phase.

what this all means is that the only 'red special' setting i don't have, is all three pu's in phase. the sound of that was of very limited difference to neck and middle in phase (so without bridge) to my ears, so i'm quite happily leaving the least interesting option (again, to my ears) off.. and aim for the least intrusive phase switch ever
i mainly use this rotary to 'preset' the wanted effect - and then just turning a pickup on or off can make for some very radical tonal shifts for leads etc.

i realise some of you may feel this is butchering the 3TSB, but i really am quite pleased with it.

What do these sound like?