Advice for pickup height on P90's???

[Jethro]

Just picked up a Gibson SG Special 60's Tribute with the stock P90's. I understand these are Alnico V with 42 awg. I have played around with the height on each to find a balance but surprisingly having to drop the neck pu way down and the bridge quite high to get any sort of volume balance. Tweaked the individual pole's to see if that helps but surprisingly not seeing a lot of difference. These are my first P90's so thought I'd try and get some insight here.

Any tips are much appreciated.

Cheers,
Jethro

 

[uriah1]

You are on. The neck P90 have always been bolder. I tweak individual screws
like you did following the radius.. Press down on one of the last frets,
and get as close as you can for bridge..and back down neck.
Keep bridge bass side screws down a tad, or they will flab out..
Neck..bright side up.
have fun

 

[Jethro]

^^^^

Thanks Uriah. That's pretty much what I was thinking....was just surprised that the neck seems so much more prominent/powerful. I've done lots of tweaking on SC's and HB's over the years, but never have seen such a difference before this. I'll keep fiddling

 

[wallis222]

You are on. The neck P90 have always been bolder. I tweak individual screws
like you did following the radius.. Press down on one of the last frets,
and get as close as you can for bridge..and back down neck.
Keep bridge bass side screws down a tad, or they will flab out..
Neck..bright side up.
have fun

This is correct. Although, sometimes following the radius of the neck doesn't even out the volume. Due to the cheap pot metal bridge and tailpiece, some strings can ring out abnormally loud or quiet. I follow neck radius as a starting point and then adjust each polepiece individually based on how loud it is afterwards. Usually I end up with something similar to the polepiece levels of a Strat p/up, but less dramatic. I find raising the middle two pole piece (strings D and G when tuned standard) higher than the rest is really the only adjustment that never changes. This really enhances the balance of a guitar, leveling out the excessive bass and treble that happens with flat pole pieces.

Basically just adjust it how you think it sounds best - it could look crazy.

A wise man once told me that adjusting the entire p/up bobbin changes the clarity (ie. the lower, the more clear) and adjusting pole pieces changes the volume of each string. Theoretically you could adjust the p/up down x amount, and adjust the pole pieces to maintain the same height and your volume won't change but the guitar will become more articulate.

 

[wallis222]

Also, if one of your reasons for adjusting the pickup height is that you find the guitar muddy, lifeless, and lacking the open tone/airiness of a vintage LP - I would recommend ordering a lightweight tailpiece and top wrap the strings. By top wrapping the strings you can lower the tailpiece down all the way so that it contacts the guitar body. A lightweight tailpiece alone will make a bit of a difference, but as soon as you top wrap the strings the tailpiece comes in contact with the body and the full extent of what an aluminum tailpiece can do will be heard. My Les Paul sounds completely different after this easy and cheap upgrade.

(link removed)

 

[Jethro]

Basically just adjust it how you think it sounds best - it could look crazy.

A wise man once told me that adjusting the entire p/up bobbin changes the clarity (ie. the lower, the more clear) and adjusting pole pieces changes the volume of each string. Theoretically you could adjust the p/up down x amount, and adjust the pole pieces to maintain the same height and your volume won't change but the guitar will become more articulate.

That's an interesting explanation....I'd never heard that about the volume vs clarity, but I did notice that somewhat. Thus far it does look a wee bit crazy with one so low and the other so high....don't really care though, as long as she has some balance. I did start following the radius with the individual poles, but soon noticed that the G string is super bold on the neck so I dropped that to suit my ear more. I would have thought that they might put a hotter wind in the bridge vs the neck, but after reading the specs it looks as though they're both the same.

Thanks for all the tips guys...as I say, I'll keep tweaking until I find some sweet spots

 

[fezz parka]

Use your ears. Best tool for measuring pickup height.

 

[Jethro]

Use your ears. Best tool for measuring pickup height.

Agreed....I always trust my ears

 

[JohnS]

I always start at 1/8" away from the strings both bass and treble. I have also found an 1/8 of a turn goes a long way when adjusting pups.

 

[Joe-Bob]

I like my P-90s way up high. I fret the highest fret, and set the pickups about 1/8" away from the strings. I've found this to be a good starting point. This will make the neck pup "seem" way lower, but it works.

 

[refin]

My experience with MANY P-90s is that they need to have each individual string balanced and mixed,especially the high E string.

 

[Jethro]

My experience with MANY P-90s is that they need to have each individual string balanced and mixed,especially the high E string.

The more I tweak these P90's, the more I notice this to be true. Like Fezz mentioned, I'm adjusting to suit my ears....however odd it may look. I am also finding that the low side of the neck pickup is pretty much bottomed out (both bobbin and poles). I almost wish I could dial it down slightly more....pretty hot p/u