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Gibson P90 PU problem- Help.


Rick Doeschler

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I have a 2000 ES 330 Reissue with 2 P90 PU's. For some reason, the neck PU stopped working. I haven't done anything to the guitar to cause any problems. I can touch, with a screw driver, the individual screws on the bad PU and can clearly hear a the tapping sound but not nearly as loud as the bridge PU. I do hear a faint sound when the bad Neck PU only is on but it's almost negligent. The neck PU works fine.

 

Any thoughts or suggestion would be greatly appreciated?

WRD

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wow..it sounds like what happens when the coil breaks in the pup. but also, check the following:

depending on how it is wired, the volume controls can have an unpredictable reaction to each other depending on where they are set-if the volume is at zero for one pup, it may cut the sound to the other even when the switch is only on the one pup. play with the controls and see if that is not the case.

in a hollow body, sometimes the braided wires will touch each other. a wire could be making contact where it is not supposed to. you could probe with a pencil and try and move some of the wires around to see if anything changes. you could try it volume as well.

 

just realized also, what you are hearing through the pickup that doesn't work might be microphonics from the working pup.

 

i can't think of anything else that won't require taking the electronics out, so at the point it wouldn't make sense to guess. not to worry, it is all fixable. the worst is it would be a pup, and you can still buy the exact same one if you have to.

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Thanks so much for the responses. I'll spay some cleaner in the PU selector switch and see what happens with that. I'm pretty good with guitar "fix it up stuff" but I've never gotten into a hollow body before. I'm trying to avoid taking things out unless its the only option. Moving the wires around with a pencil is a good idea and I'll give that a shoot also. It is a weird thing because I didn't do anything to the guitar to cause cause a problem with the PU.

 

I wasn't aware that a PU (neck) could pickup the sound of the (bridge) PU, even if the only PU on - by way the selector switch- is the bridge PU. That could be what I'm I'm hearing. Why am able to hear taps from a screwdriver when I tap each poll screw on the bad PU when it doesn't work?

 

Thanks again...

WRD

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Thanks so much for the responses. I'll spay some cleaner in the PU selector switch and see what happens with that. I'm pretty good with guitar "fix it up stuff" but I've never gotten into a hollow body before. I'm trying to avoid taking things out unless its the only option. Moving the wires around with a pencil is a good idea and I'll give that a shoot also. It is a weird thing because I didn't do anything to the guitar to cause cause a problem with the PU.

 

I wasn't aware that a PU (neck) could pickup the sound of the (bridge) PU, even if the only PU on - by way the selector switch- is the bridge PU. That could be what I'm I'm hearing. Why am able to hear taps from a screwdriver when I tap each poll screw on the bad PU when it doesn't work?

Thanks again...

WRD

wasn't too clear. if you have both pickups on, as most do when tapping, you hear a softer tap from the one not on. just to double check yourself that there is actually no sound coming through as opposed to a little sound as you described.

 

it can be so easy to overlook the obvious at times, cause we get fooled. i have done this where i have the switch on one pup and i also have the volume all the way down on both. i raise the volume on the pup i have the switch on and get nothing..seems like it doesn't work. but some gibby's have this deal sometimes when even though the guitar is wired to have individual volume controls for each pup and not effect the other, when both volumes are all the way off, there is no sound anywhere.

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Just got finished messing with it some more.

Here's what I did; I turned the bridge(good) PU volume all the way off. PU selector switch was flipped to only the neck (bad) PU. I am getting volume but only about about # 2 compared to the neck PU volume. I did tap each poll screw on the bad PU (bridge - good- volume all the way off and selector switch only on the bad PU). I do hear tapping sounds but not nearly as loud as when I do it on the good PU when compared. I'm also just noticing that there is a very slight static,impedance, sound only when the bad PU is on. When I touch the metal parts of the guitar,it doesn't do it anymore. It doesn't do that when I have the good PU on.

 

Basically when the neck PU's volume is turned all the way up it is now only as loud as the good PU on 2.

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k..static and noises indicate a bad or loose connection. wiggle wires wile it is on if you can reach as they may be loose or touching. check to see if by moving wires, the static changes or makes noises. but first:

 

first, with the switch on the bad pup only, turn up the volume on the good pickup as well just to check. see if it doesnt then come on again.

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Stein,

 

I went through your suggestions but still no luck. When I switched on the bad PU only and volume all the way up on the good and bad PU's, I only get max volume on the good PU and very low volume (almost inaudible) on the bad PU. It's probably, as you say, a short somewhere in the wiring. I tried to put a pencil in the F holes and move what I could reach but the little I was able to touch didn't do anything. Question: Are PU's an all or nothing (working or not working)kind of thing. It's weird that I do get minimal volume but very low compared to a strong bridge PU.

 

I may have to take it to my guitar tech and let him give it a try. It's probably something simple and not bad, just out of my reach.

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Stein,

 

I went through your suggestions but still no luck. When I switched on the bad PU only and volume all the way up on the good and bad PU's, I only get max volume on the good PU and very low volume (almost inaudible) on the bad PU. It's probably, as you say, a short somewhere in the wiring. I tried to put a pencil in the F holes and move what I could reach but the little I was able to touch didn't do anything. Question: Are PU's an all or nothing (working or not working)kind of thing. It's weird that I do get minimal volume but very low compared to a strong bridge PU.

 

I may have to take it to my guitar tech and let him give it a try. It's probably something simple and not bad, just out of my reach.

 

Hi. I had a similar problem with my Casino some time ago. Ended up taking it for repair. The problem was sorted, I think with a new pick-up selector. I was too green then to probe the shop I went to for details in an effective way, and they hid behind the fact that they had outsourced the repair, making it hard to find out exactly what had been done. It was also impossible to find out exactly why the neck pickup had cut out so suddenly in the first place. Of course the shop found it easy to charge £45 for the repair, though. Subsequently the replacement switch developed its own problems, which still plague the guitar (and which are not really worth fixing given the likely cost and the maximum value of a Korean Casino), namely that it switches itself, poltergeist-like, to the middle position whenever I select the neck... Anyway, sorry to hear of something similar on a Gibson. But a 330 is worth rather more, making the repair more cost effective, especially if you are in the US, have a lifetime warranty, and can make use of the latter document.

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it is hard to say. i have had strat pups act that precisely that way when the coil first breaks from rubbing on the magnet, but that is not nearly as common as a pup going bad and not getting any sound at all, and you know technically the problem you are describing could be anywhere from the pup to the jack.

 

the thing is, it is obviously easy to find the problem once you access to the electronics but accessing is the hard part.

 

i suppose nothing to stop you from removing the switch and checking, and/or removing the pup and checking that as well.

 

i must admit, it is fun trying to guess what it is and see if we are right.

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The warranty will apparently not cover it. One of the limitations in the warranty states, "Any factory installed electronics after a period of one (I) year following the original date of purchase".

 

AFAIK, a 330 is easier to work on than a 335, because of the access afforded by the rather large pickup holes.

 

I have a 3-way switch that's failing, and sometimes a pickup will just cut out without my touching anything. Still the prime suspect in my book.

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Though you would think it wouldn't happen this early in a guitar's life, it sounds like it may be a pot issue.

 

The volume pot on my '68 Byrdland's bridge pickup went on me last fall. Suddenly it dropped to about 1/3 volume.

 

Had the same thing not happened a few months earlier to a friend's old Byrdland I would have had no idea what the problem was.

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Thanks cdntac.

 

Looks like it could be one several things. It's funny that the volume has dropped, as you say with no apparent reason. It still works but. I'm going to take it to friend that has done some work on my guitars before that I couldn't do myself. He's real good and has probably seen this type of thing on the guitars. Once I do get it fixed, I'll report back so I can share the information to the group.

 

Thanks again everyone for all of your input, it is very much appreciated.

WRD

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