AXofBSR

It seems as though the trisonics are made with a special bobbin. But from what I can tell Armstrong uses a ceramic bar magnet and steel rods (ala humbucker) for the trisonics though. I know that he uses 44ga wire and the ones I'm looking to sound like are wound 5000 times. I need to know what kind of material to use for the bobbins, I have no problem cutting them myself.

It is cheaper to make the bobbins yourself. Stewmac sells both forbon to make the bobbins yourself and ready made kits. Sheet of forbon costs 7,95 but a strat set of flatwork (top and bottom forbon flange with brass eyelets) is only2.40 If you are going to make only two SC style pickups: buy them, don’t make them.

Ceramic magnetic rods are something I have never seen in the correct length/diameter. And you cannot cut ceramic magnets yourself. What I have seen is steel slug poles (like the slug side of a HB) and a ceramic bar magnet under the bobbin. I am a bit curious to why you want ceramic magnets for all your pickups. What are you aiming for tonally?

I'm aiming to have Brian May inspired solos and tones. He had Burns Trisonics which are all ceramics.

I'm looking to build a thru-neck out of maple... Where do I start? What should I look for wood-wise? What sizes and how many pieces of maple should I buy? What kind of tools do I need to shape the neck?

Where do I begin with pickup making? I have a home-made winder that I made with an electric motor and a thread guide from a sewing machine. The big problem is finding parts.

Here's the low down on my project:

I want a HSS configuration with Ceramic magnets, I want chrome covers for all three pickups, and I want the singles to resemble burns trisonics. I'm going to wire them in series, plan on splitting the coils in the bucker, and have phase inversion switches for the single coils (which I'm hoping is all possible with a three way switch for each pickup, as in for the singles :Phase/On/Off and for the bucker: Split/On/Off)...

Is it cheaper or easier to buy bobbins or can I make them myself for cheaper? What materials should I use for the bobbins? Where can I find ceramic pole magnets?

From my past experience, glue purple heart as normal, dont wipe it with anything. Titebond 1 works great and Ive never had any problems with joints coming undone. As far as finish and grain filling: grain fill with epoxy, dont bother staining, and dont use minwax poly. One guitar I made I sprayed with component poly and its still great, nice bright purple and all. The other guitar I have I wiped on Minwax Gloss poly and its turning brown and the finish is cracking from shrinking.

Mike

What kind of epoxy? I've worked with several types and I don't know which one to use with wood? Also do you have a brand name on that component poly?

The lower output one is going to be the coil closer to the bridge. If you use the other one, you'll have a warmer sound.

Then that's what I'm gonna choose...

-EDIT- I think I've decided to wind my own pups based on the trisonic design....

Depends on which pickup you want as the hot coil and the dummy coil. I'd just connect the ground on the pickup closest to the bridge with the hot on the pickup next to it.

I'd want the lower output one to be the dummy....

Wire the ground wire on one pickup to the hot wire of the other one.

does it matter which one?

Ive never had a hard time with purpleheart Glueups or color loss I love purpleheart, It puts out great Tone

I know there is a few people on this forum that Hate the stuff (wes for one ) But thats just personal preference

Im working with some Purpleheart right now for an 8-string Im building and as normal all is going well, there are some things to watch out for! purplehear is Very hard on tools and Blades, also sanding can be a real pain in the back side but all in all its great stuff

!!METAL MATT!!

What kind of finish do you use? Somebody said something about UV resistant... would that work? Also the reason it's so bad on blades and such is because of it's density which is the same reason that it sounds so great...

No idea..the vox and the deacy were two completely different amps.

slightly o/t, but have you checked out the ROG May Queen pedal? http://runoffgroove.com/mayqueen.html

appears to be a hugely simple build and should help contribute towards the tone somewhat

Vox has a deacy clone now... I might get one and run it in my effects loop but it's looking doubtful right now... also... this is the build I'm doing. The Dallas is the pedal May used through a day at the races... basically the tone I'm looking for mainly came from out of phase trisonics and a trebel boost... so this should do it for me...

(Oh yeah, Burns Trisonics are overwound single coil pickups made by Kent Armstrong... they're described as having more bite than a standard single coil without the harshness of a P90)...

Also... How would I go about wiring those two trisonics into a bucker? I think I may go with a Kent Armstrong humbucker just for cost purposes...

how are you mounting them, pickguard ? rear routed ?

i had a hell of a time making a 'strat' pickguard for some trisonics (they are a weird shape like / \ so its hard to get the right size) and i couldnt find a template anywhere

Definitely rear routing... Most definitely...

Oh yeah, you know your Brian May history...kudos!

You know what'd be sweet? Put a couple TS's in the bridge position, one RWRP, wire 'em up like a 'bucker!

Is that possible?

Seriously... is it?

Would it sound like a Humbucker would if Kent Made a Trisonic Bucker? (If that made sense)

Those Adesons are also less expensive than the Burns reissues. If you gotta have those things, that'd probably be the way to go.

Keep in mind that without a modified vintage VOX Deacy and a few high-dollar Pete Cornish effects, you're better off with regular single-coils and a Digitech Brian May pedal.

I want the official ones... to quote Queen's sworn enemy "anything less than the best is a felony"...

Also... May didn't use the Pete Cornish's until after A Day at the Races...

I am working on building a replica of the clean boost pedal that he used... and the main thing is, however, having the pups wired in series and having my neck and mid out of phase...

I don't wanna be a total cop of May, that would be lame... I just wanna use tones that are reminiscent of the man when I solo...

I read somewhere that if you put a coat of ArmorAll on the wood before you finish it that it will retain it's color... Also, I have no problem with refinishing once or twice a year... maybe even once a month if really necessary...

I'm doing my first build and I think I've made a couple decisions, but not completely sure yet on what I'm going to do...

I want to incorporate some Brian May inspired tones into my band's music so I've decided to use 2 Burns Trisonic Pickups for neck and mid and I wanna use a humbucker for my bridge so I can get my high-gain tones as well...

Here's some questions...

Which Trisonics are the ones I'm looking for? I found this selection of tri-sonics and I don't know the difference between them...

Also, what 'bucker should I use? I wanna use another Armstrong pickup and the ones on that site are priced nicely in my price range... I was looking at this one...

I do plan on putting a Threeway switch on each pickup... Phase/On/Off for the Trisonics and Split/On/Off for the bucker...

And one more thing... Will mounting these be a problem since I'm back routing and not using a pick guard?

Well... I bought it for it's tonal qualities... It's hard to find something that sounds the same way it does for the same price...

I just bought some purpleheart and I'm going to be building a Neck-Thru guitar with a Carvin neck... I was wondering what kind of finish I should use on the Purpleheart. I want something slightly darker to bring out the color and give it a nice glossy finish...

YOU do realize that purple heart turns brown with age?

mk

From what I've read, If you let it cure long enough and then finish it correctly, the color will hold...

I just bought some purpleheart and I'm going to be building a Neck-Thru guitar with a Carvin neck... I was wondering what kind of finish I should use on the Purpleheart. I want something slightly darker to bring out the color and give it a nice glossy finish...