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P90 dilemma


turtle

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Hey everyone I traded some great gear to get a complete dud from Sam Ash. First sight unseen guitar I've bought....ever!! And it's got issues. Besides the badly cut bone nut and the terrible Chinese electronics and fake intermintantly working p90s and poor set up. So bummed! Anyways they only offered credit back and I actually never received a receipt or anything for my trades ect- shady. And one of the sales guys called me and offered me $100 less than the guitar- shady x2. Anyways I'll never buy a guitar unseen again EVER and never from sam ash EVER. I can explain everything if anyone curious about how they screwed me. It's a long story but I'm past all that....

Anyways New bone nut and some adjustments and the guitar plays fine now. Now here's the real issue- the electronics were a mess. I ended up getting some cts pots I had to redrill as someone put a wood blocking to fit the cheap new pots. So new pots, pio caps, wired perfectly.... so I started by buying a Seymour Antiquity bridge pup to get some nice p90 bridge goodness. Seems thin and the neck seems loud(Kent Armstrong pup). I've raised the pickup pretty high but I don't know, doesn't sound right. Also I didn't change the switch as it was the switchcraft. Are these pups so low output that they are almost tele sounding or should I try a new switch etc. thanks for the help. I'm looking to buy a set of gibsons as I've owned and loved the originals but want to see if I'll be wasting more money if there's anything that maybe I missed and you guys had some insight. Thanks again and sorry for the rant.

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Sucks about the guitar, I too had a bad experience buying a used guitar but on GC, the guy that described it to me over the phone did a pretty lousy job.

 

About the P90's, not an expert here but I have found that they are hard to match if you buy different brands. P90s are not just P90s, they come in DC resistances from like 7k to 13k, alnico 2,3,4,5 and ceramic magnets, so there is a lot of variety and if you do not have the right combo on your guitar they will not balance well.

 

Do you happen to know what exact models you have?

 

The only P90 guitar I have has a set of Pete Biltoft pickups that allow for magnet swaps without taking the pickup apart. They sound great and he wound them in a way that they balance really well.

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Thanks for info. It's a Seymour Antiquity p90 About 8.25k. But seems weak in compare to my old p90 guitar with gibsons in it. I ended up getting a used black LP and traded in my 50's tribute 2010 a DeArmond and my deville. They had it shipped from another store and I literally played the guitar in store and was like- ya this isn't right. Plus the pickups in it sounded horrible and crackly. Supposedly in excellent condition. But was messed up and other quirks. Some body damage but not a concern. Really disappointed. They wouldn't give me back my gear OR give me cash value of guitar. Never Sam Ash again. I asked, where's my gear? They said getting t back is not an option. I said ok, where's my paper work that says I signed off to sell.... no answer. Then I ended up leaving with this black guitar bc they offered me credit. So then they make more $$ on margin from other gear. Then I got a phone call from an employee on the side offering me 100$ less. They are awful and anybody reading this, I would never buy from sams again. I just didn't wanna deal so I took guitar home and started assessing stuff one by one. It's 90% now but cost me even more $$ to get right. Now I'm stuck whether to spend more on new pups or just sell it. But maybe I'm missing something electronically in the circuit that can cause that pup to not have its full 100-%. Or maybe these are weak pups? They are Antiquity so maybe they're weaker? I dunno. I've had them in my other LP but were humbuckers. Thanks again

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Sorry about your problem. But I do agree about buying from SamAss. They are usually the bottom of the pit.

Antiquities are usually pretty nice pickups and the ones I've played were not at all weak. Have you checked all the harness? Any chance there's a ground line crossed? Check all of the connections and see it there's a bad joint or something.

Good luck.

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Sam Ash has always treated me well and fair, and I happen to dearly love the one guitar from Sam Ash I'm currently using.

 

What kind of guitar is it? As in, who made it?

 

You let equipment leave your hands before getting the guitar you traded for? That doesn't sound right.

 

If it were me, and it isn't, I'd have elevated it past the sales guys on the floor of that Sam Ash, and up into the company. Where is this store? I've been to most of their stores and don't really know of anyone that would do that.

 

I'm not blaming you at all, it is the fault of the store and the people on the floor that do that.

 

rct

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