tri-sonic pickups in marquee

[kipper]

hi all i have just brought a burns marquee has anyone upgraded the pickups in one if so with what. i am thinking of putting a set of tri-sonics in anyone done this any ideas. are the newer marquees better than the earlrier ones, thanks peter

[geoff1711]

Hi Peter

I bought a Marquee Pro last year with Tri-Sonics it's a good guitar, but it doesn't sound like a Strat or a Marvin, they're warmer getting more into a P90 sound.

But of course, if you go back to some of the British early 60's sound they nail that and of course they'll do Brian May, however, we're I find them good is for Surf styles which can sound thin with a strat.

The Marquee Pro has full size Tri-Sonics which are wider than standard single coil pickups, if you're going to use the mini ones they might sound a bit thinner, but because they're wound round a bar magnet rather than individual slugs or cheaper single coils with a bar underneath and steel pole pieces they will sound different. A bit like the early Vox pickups with all over covers.

Geoff

[kipper]

thanks geoff for the reply just heard back from barry gibson at burns he says the mini will fitt straight in and give a fuller sound than the rez-omatics. it was the early sixty`s sound i am after. peter

[Bill Bowley]

Geoff,

I find your comment regarding Strats sounding thin for surf music interesting - most Australian Surf groups of the sixties used Strats, The Beach Boys used one and so did many US Surf guitar bands. 'Bombora' by The Atlantics knocked 'The Boys' off the Australian hit parade No 1 spot - using Strats. Still each to their own I guess.

[geoff1711]

Yes Bill

I should have qualified that a bit, the few Surf numbers I play are Ventures numbers and they recorded them on either Jazzmasters or Mosrite which were loaded with P90 style pickups, I've played them for years on Strats but of late playing on the Tri Sonics on the Burns or P90's on an Eastwood Sidejack or Aria DM 380 doesn't seem to get lost in the mix, more powerful without being to loud.

These days there are just the two of us playing with backing tracks, some our own, some commercial, I think the difference is if playing with a full band we all tend to adjust our sound so as not to block out others (except the drummer of course!!!) with backing tracks you're stuck with what you've got.

And of course the fatter sounding pickups are pretty close to the sound of my guitars in the early 60's.

My Strats have Hank Modern's on as well, I just prefer that slightly fuller sound, and it's kinder on my tinitus.

All the best

Geoff

[Bill Bowley]

Geoff,

I can appreciate that each of us has a different 'sound' that we wish to obtain hence the many and varied guitars I would imagine! Further though on this subject (Strats etc) reminded me that most of the lead riffs in early Beach Boys did sound more like a Jaguar than a Strat and of course the Mosrites and Jazzmaster were a big part of the Ventures sound too. Thanks for letting me know your reasoning though, much appreciated!

Regards

[cockroach]

Bill

The Beach Boys used a Jag and Strat with heavy flatwounds when playing live in the early days (including when they toured in Australia and appeared on TV here playing live- I remember seeing them using this gear on a Saturday morning pop show produced and broadcast from Sydney in about late '63- early '64, can't recall the name- was Jimmy Hannan the host?), but a lot of the playing on the records at that time was by session players like Tommy Tedesco who used a Telecaster with the 'Wrecking Crew' in the studio.

The old Burns Tri-sonics that were on my Vibra Artiste gave a very full sound for single coils, especially with heavy strings- not a lot like Fender pickups really.

[Bill Bowley]

'Roach,

I do remember that Sat Morning Jimmy Hannan show well, first time I had seen the Beach Boys 'live' (on TV anyway) and the white Strat. Not surprised that session musos were involved in BB recordings, but then again that goes for a lot of early '60's groups, not the least of which would be The Monkees for one.

Still, having owned a BURNS Short Scale Jazz Guitar (although they were 'Split Sound' versions of the 'Tri-sonics') I really didn't think that it had any more guts than the Marvin or Strat through the AC50, but that was with my settings, others obviously may obtain different sounds with their own.

[geoff1711]

The full size Tri Sonics on my Marquee Pro are certainly louder than Hank Moderns, Fender SCN or Fender vintage noiseless, but that's not where the difference is, whilst they overdrive the front end a bit more if you choose to, they have a warmer mid range.

So when you look at UK guitars in the 60's, Burns, Vox, Hofner etc the pickups were wound round a single bar magnet and enclosed in a metal cover which tended to give that different single coil sound.

Geoff

[cockroach]

Bill

A mate of mine has a Baldwin version of that Short Scale Jazz model of yours, which I played a couple of times some years ago, but neither the output or sound from the split Tri Sonics was similar to my old Vibrasonic 6 poles in line pickups, which were very full and powerful sounding.