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Topic: P-90 Question |
Blake Wilson
From:
Boulder CO, USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 2:57 pm |
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Dave Zirbel just posted a pic of his Gibson BR-6's P-90 with the pole pieces adjusted waaaaay out. I have my poles on the same guitar/pickup waaaaay in; the heads of the screws are (for the most part) barely above the pickup body. He says his is quiet; mine buzzes like a stepdown transformer! I lined the pickup and control cavity with copper tape, which did nothing. I know, the obvious answer is: screw em back down and see what happens...any thoughts before I do that? And if I do, and it still hums, is there any other remedy? The hum is the old "turn the guitar 90 degrees and it stops" type hum, which of course renders it unplayable...however, New Years Celebrations have begun, and maybe it's time to deny gravity's influence on all things steel....;^)
Regards,
Blake |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 3:26 pm
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Those poles were waaaaay out when I got the guitar. I've had it for two days. I'll be experimenting with the adjustment screws. Also I only played it through a low wattage tube amp in the house. I won't know how quiet it really is until I take it out on a job. 
Dave |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Blake Wilson
From:
Boulder CO, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2009 5:56 am
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Mark, you bought yours new, or maybe NOS? How do you know the poles were factory adjusted to that height on such an old guitar? Just asking...
Blake |
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Ulric Utsi-Åhlin
From:
Sweden
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Posted 4 Jan 2009 6:47 am P 90´s...
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Those P-90`s can be pretty unpredictable ; I have
a stock -63 Gibson SG Junior,and the original P-90
is...resting...in a secure place,while a stand-in is
doing the job ; the other day a customer brougt an
electric sporting new P-90`s ; he claimed it works
flawlessly on 98 % of the venues,but on some stages
it´s absolutely impossible to use it...magnetic
fields,insufficient house grounding etc are common-
place nuisances,but P-90´s are extra tricky
under certain circumstances.McUtsi
Last edited by Ulric Utsi-Åhlin on 4 Jan 2009 12:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 4 Jan 2009 7:20 pm
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| Some of the old bakelites had the ground lead from the coil wrapped around and covering the winding a number of times before going to the jack ground. Maybe that was to shield the winding (?) Sounds logical. |
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Blake Wilson
From:
Boulder CO, USA
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Posted 6 Jan 2009 7:41 am
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| Mark Mansueto wrote: |
| Blake Wilson wrote: |
Mark, you bought yours new, or maybe NOS? How do you know the poles were factory adjusted to that height on such an old guitar? Just asking...
Blake |
I knew the original owner and neither of us adjusted the poles. |
Neat, nice to know the history of your guitar. For the record, I adjusted the pup as low as it would go, which isn't very far, and brought up the pole pieces. I can't determine any sonic differences, and it didn't do a thing to the hum. It's one those "turn the guitar sideways and it goes away" type hums. Mark, how is the hum on your BR-6?
Regards,
Blake |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 6 Jan 2009 9:48 am
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Blake, I have two lapsteels with P90 pickups and both have about the same level of noise. The BR-9 has the stock pup and the other has a cusom made Vintage Vibe P90 by Pete Biltoft. I generally use a Mesa Boogie F50, 50 watt 2 channel amp. When using the clean channel the noise level is reletively low and about the same as a typical single coil. When I use the high gain channel the noise level is aweful and I use a volume pedel to lower the volume when I'm not playing. The thing is though, I really like the P90 so I'm willing to put up with some buzzing which, when using the volume pedal, really isn't a big deal.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 6 Jan 2009 2:58 pm
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| In general, moving the pickup closer to the strings improves the signal to noise (60 cycle hum) ratio. The volume of the hum doesn't change of course. But the signal is stronger, which allows you to turn the amp volume lower, which reduces the hum. But the ideal way to achieve this is to raise the whole pickup. If you just screw the pole pieces way out, you get the thin sound Tom P. mentions. |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 7 Jan 2009 5:53 am
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No thin sound from my BR-9 P90. Generally when pole screws are raised the tone gets brighter and thinner so I suspect that the pole screws in some of these old P90's are longer because there's no way I could get away with that sort of adjustment on any of my other pickups. When I want a bit more brightness on a humbucker it usually only takes a couple turns.
When I get a chance I'll remove a pole screw to find out.
David, good point about the distance to string noise ratio. I generally adjust pickup height for tone but with single coils I will also consider the noise factor.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
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