GENIUS DESERVES LATITUDE: PETE TOWNSEND'S MODIFIED LES PAUL DELUXE

[toomanycats]

Who would want a triple pickup Les Paul with mini hums in the bridge and neck positions, and a humbucker in the middle?

Pete Townsend would.

This would not be the choice of most guitarists. Pete must have had a good reason for wanting this setup. This unorthodox configuration allowed him to achieve the tonal pallet he required to paint his bold yet sensitive, vulgar yet spiritual sonic landscapes. I would not presume to second guess the methodology whereby Pete achieved his ends, compelling an entire generation to see the world through his singular vision.

I don't even know what these two extra, full sized toggle switches do. I don't want to know either.

[Partscaster]

That looks odd to me. I wonder how close his min-hum is getting to sc/p90 tone.
He liked p90's, perhaps his mini's get him there without any hum.
I have a set of D'Urbano Magnetics "Phoenix" model mini's that are very sc sounding.

[mozz]

Usually easy to find info on guitars such as used by David Gilmour, Pete, info is out there though not many people trying to cop his tone except for live at leeds. Here is what i found.

DiMarzio Dual Sound humbucker pickup in middle position:
Early 1976, prototype models, with black surrounds.
Beginning August 1976, with white surrounds.
Two additional switches (only one on most prototype models): a two-way coil-tap for the Dual Sound, the other a three-way pickup selector (Dual Sound on/off or all three pickups on).
Control cavities enlarged to house extra switches with a larger custom-made backplate.
Neck at body joint shaved down.
Alan Rogan’s custom straplock system.
Specially built metal jack plates replace the stock plastic jack plate.
Grover tuners.
Gibson 340 Sonomatic .012 strings (.012, .016, .016 or .018 for G, .032, .044, .056).
Truss rod cover usually removed.
At least one guitar in 1976 had its pickups disassembled and the parts coated and sealed in resin to reduce hum and undesirable microphonics.

"They’re modified slightly: I put a DiMarzio pickup in the middle but I never use it. I don’t know why. I bloody bother doing it. I just like the way it looks. The DiMarzio is the one where you can switch between two sounds (Super Distortion). I sometimes use that in the studio; I have one Les Paul that has three of those on it and each is switchable so you can get some really interesting sounds out of that. "




Thing that caught my eye, string gauges. I know he used heavy strings. You can see .016/.016. I remember reading long time ago the Yard birds used to do that too though i think it was dual .017's or .013's maybe .010. .013,.013. Maybe the strings had a tendency to break so they used what they had? A lower tension g string would really let you bend it.
Dimarzio had the super distortion and the dual sound and another one in dual black? Can't remember the name but always wanted to save my penny's to buy a Dimarzio when i was 14, must have been the ads in Circus magazine.

[LightWingStudios]

Firefly Gold top. When I get around to it in 2023, I plan on swapping out the P-90s with a set of
Gibson Mini HBs and have a luthier install a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the center. I already
have the replacements and maybe even add a "Number" to it. The stock P-90s are quite decent
so I might just leave them in. Pete had others with that config and the Dimarzio later on. I believe
the other toggles were for Series/Parallel/Coil Tapping and pickup combination variations. I'm
even considering yanking the stock toggle switch and putting in 3 Mini ones for on/off combinations
and finally THREE separate Volumes and ONE Tone Control.

Oh yeah...paid $230 SHIPPED for it and it plays as good as most Agile LPs I have.

[golem]

I dig it.