A couple of Prail questions..

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

I'm going to have to address the neck rail volume issue, but other than that I'm very happy. :smokin:

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Which P-Rails model did you get for the neck? Any of them other than the P-Rails Hot for the bridge already has 2 A5 magnets in it. If you want to make the Rail coil hotter (in comparison to the P-90 coil) you would either need an A8 mag next to the rail coil, an A2, A3, or A4 next to the P-90 coil, or change both magnets.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

I got the neck version. I thought it came with A2s. I didn't do my research on the neck pickup, I was assuming. I will try a few things, I have plenty of magnets on hand.

 

[Mincer]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Yeah, cool, unique, and sounds great. Win win WIN!

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Ok, so if the neck PR comes with A5s, which magnet would you swap in under the P90 side to balance the pickup? A3? A2? I've never had much luck with it but A4? I've already ripped the ribbon cable half way off a TS messing with it too much and they aren't exactly cheap. Id rather only do this once if it's possible.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Oh boy, I think I might have screwed up my Hot bridge. I swapped one of the A8s out for an A5 because after playing it a while I thought it was muddy (? not articulate enough) and now my p90 side is way lower volume. I also still have the low volume problem with the neck rail side after swapping out the mag under the p90 for an A3. I put the A5 back because it didn't help the issue.

Here are the numbers measured at the jack with everything wired up...

Bridge Hot:
P90 = 8.66k
Rail = 13.22k
HB =21.21k

Neck:
P90 = 7.01kk
Rail = 5.5kk
HB =12.28k

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Bump..

 

[FleshOnGear]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Oh boy, I think I might have screwed up my Hot bridge. I swapped one of the A8s out for an A5 because after playing it a while I thought it was muddy (? not articulate enough) and now my p90 side is way lower volume. I also still have the low volume problem with the neck rail side after swapping out the mag under the p90 for an A3. I put the A5 back because it didn't help the issue.

Here are the numbers measured at the jack with everything wired up...

Bridge Hot:
P90 = 8.66k
Rail = 13.22k
HB =21.21k

Neck:
P90 = 7.01kk
Rail = 5.5kk
HB =12.28k

I've never seen the guts of a P Rails, so I might be talking out of turn here. Assuming the P90 section uses two magnets just like a regular P90, you probably flipped the polarity of one of the magnets. This would make the magnetic fields cancel each other, and you would get little output.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

But I'm only getting little output on one side not both. On the bridge I'm wondering if the rails output should be that high, it doesn't seem like it should be the stronger side and especially by that much. ??

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

But I'm only getting little output on one side not both. On the bridge I'm wondering if the rails output should be that high, it doesn't seem like it should be the stronger side and especially by that much. ??

Unfortunately I've never had any experience with magnet changes, so I can't really comment about what may have gone wrong. I can, however, verify that on my stock Standard P-Rails set, the P-90 is DEFINITELY the stronger side on both neck and bridge... just like you would expect a "normal" P-90 to be when compared to a "normal" single coil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FleshOnGear]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Right. Again, I'm assuming the screws in the P side have two opposing magnets aimed at them, where they come out at the bottom of the bobbin. If one of those magnets gets flipped it will cancel out the magnetic field at the screws, but it wouldn't affect the magnetic field at the blade.

I'm only guessing at the construction of this pickup here, so maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Ok, that makes sense I guess, I'll flip the mag and see what happens. Thanks man!

 

[FleshOnGear]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Tap the screws with a screwdriver. If it doesn't stick, that means you put the A5 in backwards.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Unfortunately I've never had any experience with magnet changes, so I can't really comment about what may have gone wrong. I can, however, verify that on my stock Standard P-Rails set, the P-90 is DEFINITELY the stronger side on both neck and bridge... just like you would expect a "normal" P-90 to be when compared to a "normal" single coil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks man! I thought so..

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Tap the screws with a screwdriver. If it doesn't stick, that means you put the A5 in backwards.

Wow, that may be it, it doesn't stick! :34:

I'm not going to do it now, but hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to and I'll let you know if it worked.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

It doesn't matter which mag I flip does it?

 

[FleshOnGear]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

You said that you replaced a magnet in there, right? You should probably flip the one you put in there and not mess with the ones that are factory original.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

I replaced one, then put it back and replaced the other. I don't know which one I reversed. I think it was the first one because that's when I noticed it didn't sound as good, but I blamed it on the magnet so I put it back and replaced the other one. I was also experimenting with the neck pick up so I got all confused.

 

[FleshOnGear]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Ok. If you flip either one the pickup should work again, but flipping the wrong one will put the pickup out of phase with the neck pickup.

Take note of everything you do from now on, just in case you need to backtrack.

1) Flip either of the magnets, just one of them.
2) Hold a screwdriver to the screws on top of the p90 side. Does it stick? If yes, that's good.
3) Take your spare magnet and point the long edge at the screws on the top of the p90 side. Orient the magnet so the screws repel it.
4) Hold the magnet the same way, point it at the neck pickup p90 screws. It should stick. If it sticks, everything's is good. If it repels just like the bridge pickup that means your pickups will be out of phase with each other. In that case flip BOTH magnets in the bridge pickup.

The end result needs to be that you have magnetism coming from the screws, and the polarity of the bridge pickup needs to be the opposite of the neck pickup. Good luck.

 

[DirtySteve]

Re: A couple of Prail questions..

Cool man, thanks! I hope to get to this after work today.