Review of the Seymour Duncan P-rails and Triple Shot

[curtisstetka]

I have this guitar...

The neck is from a Baja Tele. The body is something I had Warmoth make for me. It's a natural ash, semi-hollow Tele with f holes, routed for two humbuckers. The tailpiece is a Bigsby B5 with a tune-o-matic bridge. I've got a vol and tone below the bridge and a 3 way toggle in the upper bout (LP area) for pickup selection.

So, I just added the Seymour Duncan Triple Shot mounting rings along with a pair of P-rails pickups.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...iple_shot_swi/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/product.../prails_shpr1/

The Triple Shot mounting rings are a mixed bag. I love the options they allow, but I felt that the build quality was quite disappointing. The plastic was so flimsy and rubbery that I had to be careful not to overtighten the mounting screws lest the rectangular shape be deformed. I couldn't see these things withstanding any sort of serious abuse. Most pickup mounting rings are made of rigid, heavy duty plastic. For some reason, these weren't. I wish the Triple Shots were offered made of metal.

That said, having 4 switching options right there without having to drill additional holes in the guitar for switches is really, really nice. I've got series, parallel, split to P90, split to single coil. Each pickup can do this so I've got more options than I know what to do with right under my fingertips. The switches are fairly easy to access and they don't get in the way at all. Again, I have some concerns about the long-term durability of the wee plastic switches. But I'm so glad I've got the Triple Shots so I can experience all the variety the P-rails have to offer.

The P-rails pickups... wow. Just wow.

They sound so good in each and every configuration. That's what really blew me away. I thought that maybe the P90 sound would be good but the single coil by itself blah. Not so! Each coil has its own character and inspiring tone. The P90 is fatter and more aggressive, like you'd expect, but the single coil cuts nicely and has a lot to offer as well.

SD's website says that the single coils together can sound like a Strat in position 2 or 4. Not really. But it does sound GOOD. It's got it's own thing going on - very nice for surf music. In series humbucker mode, the p-rails crunch with the best. So much fun, no mud, just clear punch like a good humbucker should.

[Don]

That sounds great! When I bought my Carvin DC150 I imagined putting P-rails and Triple Shot rings on it. So far, I'm pretty happy with it the way it is so I'm not messing with it yet.

[curtisstetka]

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...g?t=1275920031

[elicross]

Curtis, you anticipated my TTIUWOP!

I like that guitar. The natural finish, maple neck, and white pup rings all go very well together.

[curtisstetka]

Thanks, elicross. I realized TTWUWOP, so I got on it.

I first built that guitar about two years ago. Initially, it had some Guitar Fetish humbucker-sized P90s in it. I liked the look, feel, and acoustic sound of the guitar, but wasn't wild about those pickups.

The guitar sort of got put aside for a while.

A few months ago, when I first saw the P-rails online, I thought of that guitar and started forming my evil schemes. I did the surgery in about an hour and a half this past Saturday. I'm a LOT happier with the guitar now.

[chuckocaster]

that's a really nice looking guitar curt. i've been interested in those pickups, seems like a really neat idea.

[elicross]

Questions about the Triple Shot: How do you change the settings? Are there just the two switches per pup? What do they control?

[chuckocaster]

http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...iple_shot_swi/

check it out.

[curtisstetka]

Two wee switches on the top part of the ring.

There are four different permutations, thus four different sounds you can get. If you reverse a couple wires, you can get phased sounds if that's your cup o' tea.

There's a tiny piece of PCB inside, you solder the leads from the pickup to that.

[Don]

There's a tiny piece of PCB inside

That ruined it for me! No tone with a PCB!

[chuckocaster]

yep, everyone knows PCB's sound like ass. thank god i bought one of those point to point tubescreamers!

[curtisstetka]

I should say that the PCB part is a little disappointing too. There's nothing physically there that actually holds the wire. There's just 5 bare solder pads for the white, red, green, black, and ground leads from the pickup. It's the solder that holds the wire in place and makes the electrical connection. I would have liked some sort of hook or a hole through the PCB.

Seriously, the Triple Shots are flimsy as hell and just look and feel cheap and fragile. Time will tell how well they hold up. I'm sure they'll do okay for me. I'm (unfortunately) not tossing the guitar 20 feet through the air to my roadie every night of the week.

[elicross]

Push the two switches towards each other for standard series wiring; away from each other for parallel wiring; and both towards one coil (either one) to shut that coil off.

That's pretty ingenious! I can see how they'd be a good match for the P-rails.

[curtisstetka]

I thought I'd update this post to let y'all know that the Triple Shot thingers have really let me down.

That Tele sat idle for a little while as other guitars got played. I picked it up again the other day and discovered that certain settings for the Triple Shots just didn't work anymore. I banged on them a bit, slid the switches many times, and they eventually came back.

I knew when I installed them that the switches looked flimsy and I think this has proven that they don't have any staying power. Nice concept, SD, but very poorly executed. I think I'll be installing some other switching apparatus in this guitar and trashing the Triple Shots.

Still love the sounds that are possible from the P-rails.