Burns Tri-Sonic

Burns Tri-Sonic
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Manufacturer	Burns of London
Period	1961-
Type	Passive single-coil
Magnet type	Ceramic
Output specifications
Impedance, kΩ	7.0KΩ

The Burns Tri-Sonic is a single-coil electric guitar pickup, with ceramic magnets and a chrome cover. The advantage of the Tri-Sonic pickup is that it produces a richer harmonic sound than pickups would in the traditional manner. Tri-Sonics are wider than the more popular single-coiled pickups, such as used by Fender. Many guitarists have guitar pickups replaced with Tri-sonics to change the sound of the guitar. When replacing traditional single-coils with Tri-Sonics more involved amendments to the guitar may be required, such as routing the body or altering the mounting mechanism. The Mini TRi-Sonic requires no amendments, routing or additional wiring and will fit directly into Fender style Pick-guards.

Construction

The construction of a Tri-Sonic pickup is unique. The coil is not held in a rigid shape on a bobbin, as in most guitar pickups, but engineered into an oval shape and fitted around the magnets, joined end-to-end by their magnetic attraction, and placed onto the flat metal specially engineered magnetic base. A cover is attached which fits over magnetic flanges running either side of the base. There are six holes in the pickup cover, through which can be seen a piece of black plastic which is glued to the inside. These are simply for appearance, not being any kind of pole piece.

As a result of the random but careful hand wiring the Tri-Sonic produces a richer harmonic content than any pickup wound in a more standard manner. The TRi-Sonic gets its name from the three points where the sounds is picked up from. Unique in guitar pickup design.

History

Originally produced by and still by British guitar company Burns of London in 1960, the pickups were used in many Burns guitars in the early 1960s. A bass guitar version was also produced.

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  Comparison of the size between a Burns Tri-Sonic Brian May pickup, and a standard Stratocaster style pickup

Queen guitarist Brian May bought a set of three when he made his own guitar, the Red Special. They play a significant role in making the tone of May's guitar distinctive. A reissue edition of Tri-Sonics and Mini Tri-sonic and Brian May signature Tri-Sonic are currently produced by Burns London in the UK.