The Accidental Telecaster...

[rgand]

That looks great! Nice job mounting the new bridge. You know, that Bigsby really completes it. My very first guitar was a lawsuit Tele with a Bigsby. Nothing feels like a Bigsby. Still like 'em.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Thanks! I agree, there is just nothing like a Bigsby. I'm not a dive bomber, I'm a subtle warbler. The Bigsby and (donning flame resistant clothing) Jazzmaster trems are my favorites!

 

[bagman67]

Great work!  Always great to see a brother or sister (well, in the rare event) on the forum showing off their latest acquisitions.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Great work!  Always great to see a brother or sister (well, in the rare event) on the forum showing off their latest acquisitions.  Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! This specimen has been a long, strange trip but I think I’m about ready to call it “finished”. Almost. There is a set of Cosmo Black tuners on the way for it, and when I put those on it will get a set of Thomastik Infeld Power Bright strings... THEN it will be finished... prolly....

 

[Verne Bunsen]

The evolution of the Accidental Telecaster continues to continue to evolve to keep on keepin' on. I wasn't entirely certain that this next iteration would be doable at all, but I had to try. The plan: TRIPLE'TRON! A third Lollar'Tron in the middle of this guitar would be... most excellent.

The first step was to procure an appropriate pickguard. In addition to a middle pickup route, I also needed one that did NOT have the pickguard mounting screw hole in the top center. It seemed pretty clear that that hole would interfere. I initially contacted Warmoth about making a standard 2-pickup guard without said mounting hole, intending to add the middle pickup route myself, but they said such a thing was impossible. So I sent an e-mail to Mary at Terrapin Guitars and she was able to hook me up with exactly what I needed. Also, Lollar had no problem selling me a third 'Tron.

I had done a fair bit of measuring and visualizing and guessing about how the additional cavity in the body would work with the lines of the pickguard and it seemed like there would be plenty of room to fit the pickup without exposing the route. But seeing is believing.

Here is the new pickguard on the body:

Here you can see how much room will be needed to fit the pickup frame.

I marked the pickup mounting holes and established where my route would begin, leaving plenty of room for the pickup but also a comfortable margin between the edge of the route and the edge of the pickguard. I scored the finish with a razor blade to prevent finish chipping during routing.

The pickup mounting screws will need holes deeper than the route to recess in to, so I drilled those now. They will provide a good reference as I'm checking fit and whatanot. I can make them bigger later if need be. You can see on top exactly how the pickup mounting hole relates to the existing pickguard mounting hole.

To prepare the body for routing, I applied some blue tape (ironically, the same roll from earlier in this thread) and layered double-stick tape on top of that. The routing template was then secured to the double-stick tape. To prepare myself for routing, I did some meditation and updated my will.

A Strat Trem template? Why not a Strat Trem template?

Thirty minutes of sheer terror later:

Without going on and on about it, I'll just take a moment here to stress that the routerbeast is a fearsome creature that will do your bidding one moment and turn on you the next. You must never relax your guard.....

Here is the pickup aligned in its spot, a nice fit. As for the little guy up on top, well lets just say I won't forget that little guy for a while (See above). It was more exciting than it looks.

Final check: pickguard vs. route.

Looking good so far!

 

[rgand]

Looking good! Nice use of the spring cavity pattern. Looking forward to seeing this one done. Are you going to enlarge the screw holes before installation?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Thanks! The holes that I made for the pickup mounting screws to recess into are technically large enough as-is. The screws pass through comfortably. I don't expect any issues as the pickguard was screwed down when I marked them, alignment should be good, but if I need to make them bigger to accomodate some kind of movement then I'll do that.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Wiring is done. I wired her up like a 7-Sound Strat with a push/pull to add the neck to positions 1 and 2, which gives Bridge + Neck and All-Three respectively.

While I find the CTS DPDT push/pulls to be a royal pain, these SPST units are really nice for a simple application like this. I like.

Looking good! Tap-tested the wiring and everything checks out.

I did have to enlarge the recess holes a bit. Needed just a little more maneuverability.

And, other than that, the pickguard fit flush with no more futzing about than normal. I'm liking the look of things!

 

[rgand]

Man, three of those look great on there! I don't think there's a better looking pickup made. Nice mod. That should give some nice tone choices, too.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Success! Feast your eyes upon.... TRIPLE'TRON!

Better pictures and some audio shall be forthcoming. I will say that the new options sound great, totally worth the effort.

Another entry on the "Things I Learned" list: tape off the F-hole before routing! I don't think I'll ever get all the sawdust out of there....

 

[rgand]

Beautiful! Congrats on making a great guitar better.

What is the output of the three pickups?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Beautiful! Congrats on making a great guitar better.

What is the output of the three pickups?

Thanks! Definitely digging it.

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for regarding the pickup output, but I'll give it a go. I measured the DC resistance of the bridge at 5.4K and the neck (middle is also a neck) at 4.49k. Inductance of the bridge was 2.77H and neck was 2.0H. As far as volume and how they interact with the amp, they are louder than what the numbers would make you think. Kind of in the neighborhood of a hot single coil. As for the three pickups all in parallel, well that is something pretty sweet. The overall output drops a bit and the tone takes on a really nice sound that I describe as "round". "Bell-like" would be another way to put it. It is less like Strat-quack and more like a derivative of the kind of formant quality you get when combining neck and bridge humbuckers or P90s. Which I guess probably makes sense. Whatever you call it, I like it a lot!

 

[Cagey]

'Tis one helluva thing you've brought to life there, Mr. Bunsen! You must be very proud, and smile to yourself every time you look at it.

 

[Great Ape]

Very fine, indeed; a helluva piece of work for sure! ENJOY!

 

[rgand]

Beautiful! Congrats on making a great guitar better.

What is the output of the three pickups?

Thanks! Definitely digging it.

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for regarding the pickup output, but I'll give it a go. I measured the DC resistance of the bridge at 5.4K and the neck (middle is also a neck) at 4.49k. Inductance of the bridge was 2.77H and neck was 2.0H. As far as volume and how they interact with the amp, they are louder than what the numbers would make you think. Kind of in the neighborhood of a hot single coil. As for the three pickups all in parallel, well that is something pretty sweet. The overall output drops a bit and the tone takes on a really nice sound that I describe as "round". "Bell-like" would be another way to put it. It is less like Strat-quack and more like a derivative of the kind of formant quality you get when combining neck and bridge humbuckers or P90s. Which I guess probably makes sense. Whatever you call it, I like it a lot!

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for and a bit more. They must really sound sweet.

 

[BigSteve22]

Congratulations Vern, enjoy your new axe! Post some clips when you can, I'm really interested in hearing how it sounds.  :icon_thumright:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Stunning!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Thanks fellas! I have definitely taken every opportunity to walk by and look at it when it can’t be in my hands, haha! Three ‘Trons is a striking look for sure.

The All-3 option is just about my favorite thing in the world right now. Which surprised me! I have a Strat wired up similarly and All-3 is ok but not all that exciting. These three however sound just awesome. Truly beautiful cleans. I will definitely get sound clips posted when I can.

I hesitate to say it, but I think this one may finally be “done”!

 

[Logrinn]

Congrats on getting it done! Looks really good!
Isn't it just the best feeling ever when you find that something sounds better than you hoped for.
Enjoy your awesome handywork!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Sounds! 14 tracks in total: 7 clean and 7 dirty. Enjoy!

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/vb-tunes/sets/tripletron[/soundcloud]