P90 setup

[tot_Ou_tard]

The is a single neck P90 in my new Godin 5th Avenue (no, it's not the Godin Kingpin, but an aftermarket Lollar added to the 5th Avenue).

I've never had a P90 before & would like opinions on pickup height & pole-piece adjustment.

It currently has 2 spacers underneath it (there are no pickup height adjustment screws) there is room for another one or two.

I messed with the pole piece height & I found that raising a screw brought the mids up independent of the string.

A lower height on the unwound strings sounded brighter than a higher height which surprised me.

Erick who added the P90 used CTS 300K pots, an orange drop .022 cap, & a switchcraft jack.

It sounds great to me. What would you use?


I'd like to hear more about the care & feeding of P90s.

[Bloozcat]

If this guitar is set up like most with P-90 soapbars (as opposed to the dogear P-90 type), there should be two pickup height adjustment screws that go through the pickup cover and the pickup itself. They should be screwed right into the body beneath the pickup. Look for the two screws that look different from the others.

In my experiences with P-90 pickups I've found that the neck pickup sounds best when cranked down to where the pickup cover is flush or almost flush with the pickguard/top of body. I've found the opposite to be true with the bridge pickup. It seems to sound best close to the strings. Of course, pickups will vary depending on manufacturer, and these adjustments can vary as a result.

Try a wide range of pickup heights and decide which sounds best to your ear.

I also like 300k CTS pots with P-90's, so long as they read 300k or better on my VOM. I've always thought that 250k pots sound a little too dark, and 500k pots a little bright (but not always). Another good compromise is to take a 500k pot and solder a 1 meg resistor from outside pole to outside pole on the pot. This reduces the resistance to 333k.

[poodlesrule]

A related question: Are the individual pole pieces height-adjustable, generally...?

Bloozcat, what about on yours ..?

[tot_Ou_tard]

It's a dogear Blooz.

Yes, I've found that it sounds better with the pole pieces down. It's nice to have an agreement of the 300K pots.

Poodle the pole pieces are individually adjustable.

[Bloozcat]

Yeah, the pole pieces are usually adjustable like on a humbucker, but there are some older ones that have fixed pole pieces like on a Strat pickup.

I like to use the pole screw adjustments to balance individual strings when necessary, and the pickup height as a way to regulate the tone of the pickup as a whole.

tot...

How's the pickup attached to the guitar? Are they screwed into the body?

[poodlesrule]

I like to use the pole screw adjustments to balance individual strings when necessary

Ah, cool, I just tried!

A single turn appears to move pole head by 1/16" or so on my P90.

[tot_Ou_tard]

tot...

How's the pickup attached to the guitar? Are they screwed into the body?

Yup, with two spacers between it & the body.