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Epiphone Casino pickup height question...


sbpark

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Picked up a 2008 Korean made Casino. Love it, and it's basically brand new. Neck was straight, almost with a touch of backbow and had really high action, but got it home, set it up and was able to add some relief and was able to set it up really nice. There's only one problem...Now it obviously sounds different. This most definitely due to lowering the action and getting the strings cover to the pickups. I know the general rule of thumb is to get the pickups as close to the strings with P90's, but I really preferred the way the guitar sounded with the strings further away from the pickups.

 

My question is, has anyone figured out a way to lower the P90's? Do people grind down the covers to lower them? Seems pretty drastic to do that, but man, the guitar sounded so good. Obviously I could raise the action back up to where it was (7/64" on the low E, 5/64 on the high E). Now it's 5/64" on the low E and 3.5/64" on the high E. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

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Fixed height top mounted P90's can be a challenge when setting up...

 

My ES330 runs quite low and has adjustment available to taste

 

My ES225 runs quite high...8/64" on the 6th string at the 12th fret...plays well and has great tone IMO... [thumbup]

 

Personal preference will rule

 

From my experience a high string height off the P/U seems to work best... [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here is what i notice the closer the pickup is the more output the pickup seems to have, seems louder, more gain etc.

 

With the pickups lower they sound cleaner, more detailed and i notice more sustain. Its like the magnets doesnt pull on the strings as much so they are more free to ring out longer.

 

IMO the best of both worlds is a high output pickup like 16-17K and then lower. So you get a sound more detailed and smooth like a classic 57 or something but with more sustain. The older classic pickups with lower output similar to a 57 or something need to be really close to get a good hot sound out of em but then the sustain seems to suffer.

 

just my opinion though

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When I installed a set of used Lollars (plastic covers) on my Casino, I wanted to lower the bridge PU a little. There are shorter covers for the neck PU, but the narrower pole spacing doesn't work for bridge pick ups. I bought blank covers and used the one from the Lollar as a pattern. I did a thread on this process around two years ago.

 

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Once installed, they can be shimmed up to the sweet spot. Of course, this only works if you are willing to use the plastic covers. I prefer them, but not everyone does. Lollars, at that sweet spot, make for an amazing sounding Casino.

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