twofeets Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Just thought I'd toss this one out there. I'm a P90 aficionado, been playing P90 guitars, especially hollowbodies, for some 25 years now. About 6 months ago I picked up a used 2003 Peerless-built Epiphone ES-295. It looks great, it plays great, and acoustically it is resonant as all get-out. The guitar sounds like it's gonna be great - until you plug it in. The electric tone is very mediocre and dull; even harsh in some ways. Not sure how to describe it other than notes would ring out very loudly at first, with a very quick decay - which isn't what the guitar sounds like at all unplugged. So I kind of put the guitar on the shelf for a while, played other things. About a week ago I had the multimeter out and thought hmm, I wonder what kind of reading I'll get out of the pickups in the ES295. Much to my surprise, they measured out to a whopping 11.4 to 11.6k, which is really hot for a P90 - typically I see them from 7.8k-ish to maybe 9 or 9.5k at the absolute most. No wonder they don't respond the way I'm used to. I don't know if these are just overwound, or maybe a run of pickups were done using a different coil wire, hence different resistance readings? I've seen some things online from people; fans of Casinos and such, whose pickups measure in the "normal" range, so I know not ALL of the Epi P90's are like this... and I recently played a Peerless-made Casino that sounds worlds better than my 295. I'm just curious to see if anyone else has had this problem (which may be a feature to some people, LOL). Meanwhile, I'm in the midst of a pickup swap this weekend... hopefully it wakes this gal up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Have you tried dropping the height of the pups a bit, being so hot maybe a bit of distance between the strings and the pups might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midiman56 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 What Rastus just said!!! In my experience, P90's can deliver a decidedly unmusical "clunk" when they are set too close to the strings. Back 'em off a little ... I bet she cleans right up! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twofeets Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 Well dogear P90's are not really height adjustable outside of using shims...and even if they were, though, I think the "clipped" nature of the tone in this case owes much to how the pickup is wound. I'd just like to know what others' experiences have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Much to my surprise, they measured out to a whopping 11.4 to 11.6k, which is really hot for a P90 - typically I see them from 7.8k-ish to maybe 9 or 9.5k at the absolute most. Well dogear P90's are not really height adjustable outside of using shims...and even if they were, though, I think the "clipped" nature of the tone in this case owes much to how the pickup is wound. I'd just like to know what others' experiences have been. Yup and Yup. My Epi P90s come in around 9K. My Gibby P90s are at 7.9k and 8k. I even have some GFS mean 90s. Just checked them. 8k and 8.8k Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Twofeets, my 2003 Peerless Casino pickups measure similar to your ES-295. I've thought about replacing the pickups or having them rewound to a lower ohm value, but haven't done it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 P90 height is not adjustable, but the pole pieces are. If they are already as low as possible then change them out, Epi pickups are notoriously inconsistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantana Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Yep, my 2001 Peerless Casino has stock P90s that measure 11-12k. I posted a thread on this a few months back but can't find it......... It's one of the reasons that most owners get them rewound, along with a serious lack of suitable chrome covered replacements that will actually fit! If on the other hand you want a hot P90, check out the Bare Knuckle 'Pig 90, the bridge model is wound to 21k :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues335 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 If on the other hand you want a hot P90, check out the Bare Knuckle 'Pig 90, the bridge model is wound to 21k :S That amount of pork would give most people a heart attack.......me included........21k P90 that is gross.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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