Seymour Duncan triple shot rings...

hotpickups

.... anyone used them? Are they worth it ?

DiscoStu

I had one for my P-Rails. I thought it was great, it lets you choose all the configs without having to drill/fit new switches to the guitar or worry about rewiring everything. 

Funkfingers

I also use them with Duncan P-Rails pickups. They make sense with that specific pickup because all four coil permutations sound distinct from each other. This makes for a highly versatile recording guitar. I would not wish to have to make swift switching changes onstage.

One important caveat: The ribbon connector between the two PCBs on the Triple Shot is extremely vulnerable at the ends. It cannot withstand rough handling.

In my opinion, with regular humbuckers, access to every possible coil permutation is undesirable. Too many of them sound the same. Wiser, perhaps, to decide on half a dozen usable combinations and access them via a Freeway 3x3-03 toggle selector switch.

hotpickups

Funkfingers said:

I also use them with Duncan P-Rails pickups. They make sense with that specific pickup because all four coil permutations sound distinct from each other. This makes sense for a highly versatile recording guitar. I would not wish to have to make swift switching changes onstage.

One important caveat: The ribbon connector between the two PCBs on the Triple Shot is extremely vulnerable at the ends. It cannot withstand rough handling.

In my opinion, with regular humbuckers, access to every possible coil permutation is undesirable. Too many of them sound the same. Wiser, perhaps, to decide on half a dozen usable combinations and access them via a Freeway 3x3-03 toggle selector switch.

I'm basically trying to get a reasonable strat sound out of my humbuckers. I thought this way would get me closer. I don't like strats so this way is preferable for me

FelineGuitars

@peteri has them on his Feline Panther - think they work well for him

We used them on a recent Feline Lion to good effect, as the Push pull pots were being used for other functions

hotpickups

FelineGuitars said:

@peteri has them on his Feline Panther - think they work well for him

We used them on a recent Feline Lion to good effect, as the Push pull pots were being used for other functions

Nice

hotpickups

I'm taking it that the pickups will have to have 4 wires to get the combinations etc?

Sporky

I had some; they worked, but I didn't like how they worked.

To me it'd make more sense to have one of the little switches be split or not, and the other be hot or not. So in split mode the second switch gives you rail or 90, and in bucker mode the second switch gives you series or parallel.

It's perfectly doable but needs dual-pole switches, which presumably would have cost about 2p more each.

hotpickups

Sporky said:

I had some; they worked, but I didn't like how they worked.

To me it'd make more sense to have one of the little switches be split or not, and the other be hot or not. So in split mode the second switch gives you rail or 90, and in bucker mode the second switch gives you series or parallel.

It's perfectly doable but needs dual-pole switches, which presumably would have cost about 2p more each.

I'll be using these rings with my regular humbuckers do not planning to buy the p rails 

FelineGuitars

If using humbuckers other than Seymours then you need to translate the colour coding

hotpickups

FelineGuitars said:

If using humbuckers other than Seymours then you need to translate the colour coding

Bugger I knew it wouldn't be a simple task

Funkfingers

hotpickups said:

I'm taking it that the pickups will have to have 4 wires to get the combinations etc?

Affirmative.

hotpickups said:

trying to get a reasonable strat sound out of my humbuckers. I don't like strats 

That is handy because combining the inside coils of two humbuckers, in phase, in parallel, will only get you some of the way to a *proper* Fender sound.

Sporky said:

I didn't like how they worked.

To my enfeebled brain, it makes more sense if, in the single coil modes, the micro switches are both pushed towards the coil that I wish to use. 

Thinking of the series mode as *switches together* and the parallel mode as *switches apart* is analogous to how the coils are being connected.

FelineGuitars said:

Push pull pots were being used for other functions

On my P-Rails-equiped guitar, the master tone pot pulls up for phase reversal of one pickup with respect to the other. If I had used a push-pull volume pot, it would have linked the two pickups together in series. 


Everything that the Duncan Triple Shot surround micro switches offer can be achieved with push-pull pots. On guitars with two control pots, the mode switching governs both pickups simultaneously. On guitars with four pots, the mode can be determined per pickup. Schematic diagrams are available on the SD website.

hotpickups

Funkfingers said:

hotpickups said:

I'm taking it that the pickups will have to have 4 wires to get the combinations etc?

Affirmative.

hotpickups said:

trying to get a reasonable strat sound out of my humbuckers. I don't like strats 

That is handy because combining the inside coils of two humbuckers, in phase, in parallel, will only get you some of the way to a *proper* Fender sound.

Sporky said:

I didn't like how they worked.

To my enfeebled brain, it makes more sense if, in the single coil modes, the micro switches are both pushed towards the coil that I wish to use. 

Thinking of the series mode as *switches together* and the parallel mode as *switches apart* is analogous to how the coils are being connected.

FelineGuitars said:

Push pull pots were being used for other functions

On my P-Rails-equiped guitar, the master tone pot pulls up for phase reversal of one pickup with respect to the other. If I had used a push-pull volume pot, it would have linked the two pickups together in series. 


Everything that the Duncan Triple Shot surround micro switches offer can be achieved with push-pull pots. On guitars with two control pots, the mode switching governs both pickups simultaneously. On guitars with four pots, the mode can be determined per pickup. Schematic diagrams are available on the SD website.

That's why I was thinking of the triple shot as I only have two pots on the guitar I.e. More options

p90fool

hotpickups said:

FelineGuitars said:

If using humbuckers other than Seymours then you need to translate the colour coding

Bugger I knew it wouldn't be a simple task

Is this any use?

http://i63.tinypic.com/pvb49.jpg

hotpickups

p90fool said:

hotpickups said:

FelineGuitars said:

If using humbuckers other than Seymours then you need to translate the colour coding

Bugger I knew it wouldn't be a simple task

Is this any use?

http://i63.tinypic.com/pvb49.jpg

Thanks @p90fool mine are monty's humdingers but I'm sure they'll be similar to something on that chart. Thanks 

thegummy

FelineGuitars said:

@peteri has them on his Feline Panther - think they work well for him

We used them on a recent Feline Lion to good effect, as the Push pull pots were being used for other functions

That guitar is absolutely stunning!

Sporky

Funkfingers said:

Sporky said:

I didn't like how they worked.

To my enfeebled brain, it makes more sense if, in the single coil modes, the micro switches are both pushed towards the coil that I wish to use. 

Thinking of the series mode as *switches together* and the parallel mode as *switches apart* is analogous to how the coils are being connected.

Ah - that makes sense.

Not to my brain while trying to work the things, but I can at least understand that when it's written down. 

axisus

I had them with P-rails for a while but it was all too small and fiddly for my tastes/eyesight. In the end I ditched them and just went for a 3 way switch that gave HB in the bridge, P90 in the neck and SCs combined in the middle. That was perfect for me, I didn't need lots of sound variations

Dave_Vader

Have a set with my P-rails, for the amount that cost they're surprisingly flimsy.
Good though, if you can remember what all the positions mean without looking at a chart/tapping pole pieces.

Funkfingers

The Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickup was the creation of a rather talented guy named Frank Falbo. The Triple Shot mounting surround was devised as a way of extracting the P-Rails coil permutations. I suspect that its development was a team effort.

hotpickups

I would've gone with a set of p rails too but not in the 'orrible cream, black or shot plastic covers they come in. Has to be raw nickle as far as I'm concerned