When's the last time you saw one of THESE???

[TAorama]

Here's a pic of my latest acquisition. It's a 1990 UCMD1ST USA Custom 'Serpent', and it's in sweet condition. But the cool thing is the F3 TRIPLE COIL pickup! This is the first guitar, let alone a USAC, with a factory F3 Triple. Anybody else got a guitar with one of these? Here are a couple of pics:

http://www.oklahoma.net/~jkearns/gui...TP%20Close.jpg
http://www.oklahoma.net/~jkearns/guitar/Serpent.jpg

Let me know what you think!

Andy

[vaijem777]

VERY cool! The only other guitars that I've seen actually equipped with the triple-coil were a few of the 540PIIs. Congrats on the unique acquisition!

[TAorama]

This is the first guitar, let alone a USAC, with a factory F3 Triple.

Sorry - meant to say this is the first one I have actually run across.

Andy

[Silent_planet]

wow! what does the triple coil actually sound like? And how is everything wired?

[TAorama]

It's a really fat, full tone. Lots of crunch. It's basically a F3 humbucker with an extra coil stuck on it. I haven't had the back off yet, but the first three positions on the switch seem to be variations of the coils on the bridge, the middle is both p-up's, and fourth is the neck p-up. I think. I'll pop the back off later and check for sure.

[darren wilson]

Wow... that's very cool. Back when i was a teenager, i always loved Warren DeMartini's "Python" Charvels.

[Mark DY]

Very nice - those are cool guitars. That triple is weird, eh? I know where a NOS carotene colored 540 (standard 540) is with just the triple pup.

hmmmm......

[jeff l]

Wow, I'd love to hear what that triple coil sounds like. I never knew there was such a thing!

[Joel Lyndgohrd]

Wow, that triple-coil looks cool, but weird. I love that serpent finish!!

[Heat Miser]

hey---- wasn't there a Kramer or Washburn p/u that was called a "Motherbucker" that was a triple? one of those funky looking ones that had rails instead of pole pieces?

-H/M-

[TAorama]

I remember the "Motherbucker", but don't remember which company made it. I'm tempted to say Washburn. Seems like I remember the ads in GFTPM. I'll dig through some back issues.

[darren wilson]

Hamer introduced the triple-coil pickup on their Prototype model back in 1980.

http://www.hikarate.com/hamer/proto.html

And there was an original 540P model in the first year or two of the "Roadstar Pro" series that also had a triple-coil pickup.

http://ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1988/p_3.jpg

[TAorama]

Funny that they weren't more popular. I can't attest to the others, but mine's got a really fat, full sound to it. I wouldn't use it for everything, but for a really crunchy, driven rhythm sound, it's pretty sweet. Jazz, probably not. Metal, heck yeah.

[bduersch]

It's interesting (based on both the Hamer description and Ibanez picture) that the triple coil is really a humbucker and single coil combined. I expected all 3 of them to be wound together (that or all 3 of them to be separate).

Alvarez also used to make some guitars (was it the Scoop series?) with triple coil pickups.

--B