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les paul deluxe pickup question


shredmatt

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i have a les paul deluxe with no pickups. i want to put p90s in there. any idea where i can get foam for under the pickups? i think this guitar would have originally come with some sort of metal bracket under the pickups. does anyone have any photos of this?

 

thanks!

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It depends on how the pickups are mounted (from the back, or on the top), but for the Delux, most of the time the mini humbuckers are mouted on the top with a mounting ring. In order to instal P-90s, the original p/up cavity would have to be modified (re-routed) to accomidate the size of a P-90.

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Weren't those mini humbuckers mounted on mounting rings so that they would fit the existent P-90 routing?

 

(I could be wrong... in fact' date=' I suspect I am).[/quote']

 

I'm with you, i thought they had a boat load of bodies routed for p90's and tried to figure out a humbucker to fit in the hole, and come up with the minihumbucker and the "deluxe"

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The mini uses a mounting system that's different from the full-size humbucker. On the larger pickup, the ring mounts to the body, and the pickup is attached to the ring by long spring-loaded screws that are threaded into flanges on the bottom of the pickup.

 

On the mini, instead, the screws are threaded into a metal flange attached to the floor of the pickup cavity.

 

The first method allows adjusting the pickup height without removing the pickup; the latter requires that you undo the ring screws, adjust the pickup height, and reinstall.

 

A lot of minis have nuts soldered to the screw so you have to unsolder everything to adjust them. I have heard that this was done at the factory, but the job on my Deluxe was done pretty amateurishly, so I'm inclined to think not.

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On the mini, instead, the screws are threaded into a metal flange attached to the floor of the pickup cavity.

 

On a real 1950's LP, LP special - the P90's were mounted with long wood screws to the wood guitar body with foam neoprene rubber underneath the pick up.

 

Later LP versions in 1970s and 1980s used this same " threaded into a metal flange attached to the floor of the pickup cavity" with two threaded holes - aligned to accept P90's.

 

I like to use the white shock absorbing foam used in current shipping containers for electronic gear. I keep a stash of the stuff specifically to insert under guitar pickups - to keep them stable.

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Since it has NO pickups, have you considered putting the "mini-humbuckers" into it. They're great pickups (IMHO), and

a nice cross, between P-90 clarity, and humbucker tone. Far less "Muddy" especially the neck pickup. Might consider

that, if you haven't, already? Just a thought...

 

CB

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My Deluxe has mini-HB's mounted on springs over the screws.

I put neoprene weatherstripping under them so they didn't rock around so much.

Same with the P-90's in my other guitars...

 

The plastic ring around the mini-HB is to simply fill the P-90 sized hole.

 

P-90 should drop right in, screws go straight thru the top of the cover into the floor of the cavity.

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Since it has NO pickups' date=' have you considered putting the "mini-humbuckers" into it. They're great pickups (IMHO), and

a nice cross, between P-90 clarity, and humbucker tone. Far less "Muddy" especially the neck pickup. Might consider

that, if you haven't, already? Just a thought...

 

CB[/quote']

 

That's my opinion...I love the sound of my mini-equipped LP, and in fact, it's the only Les Paul I've ever liked the sound of. Full-size humbuckers sound muddy to me, when mounted on an LP (I own a 335 and an SG with them, and they are fine). I realize this isn't mainstream accepted wisdom, but there you are. I like sounding like lpdeluxe, rather than lpdeluxe trying to sound like someone else and failing.

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