I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

[Artie]

I have a customers' MIA Gibson Goldtop. (Circa 2010, if that matters.) Problems are "scratchy" 3-way, and uneven output between n/b.

The "scratchy" switch is easy. The problem is the low output of the bridge. To put this in perspective, here's a pic of my "cheap" Agile LP: (string spacing)



The height between the pickup and string is around 3/16th on neck and bridge. Good volume balance. Good tone. Here's the Goldtop:



The height between the pickup and string is a solid 5/16th for the bridge. That seems to me to be way too far away. But, if I back the P-90 mounting screws back any farther, they just screw out. The pup doesn't rise any farther. If I screw it in, the pup goes down, so I know the spring is working.

What am I missing here? And I can't just lower the saddle. It's a set-neck. The strings would be lying on the frets.

For those of you with P-90 LP's. What's your string height like?

Artie

(This guy needs this yesterday.)

P.S. Don't steal my top secret wiring diagrams in the background. I forgot to take them down.

 

[jeremy]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

longer screws bro

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

lower neck pickup to match bridge output

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

The screws back out after the pup stops rising. Stiffer springs?

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

lower neck pickup to match bridge output

Tried that. It only goes down so far. How the heck do people adjust P-90's?

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Longer springs and maybe longer screws.

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Longer springs and maybe longer screws.

That was my first thought, but did Gibson really build this thing with this mis-balance?

How did this roll out of the factory?

 

[Richard B]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Tried that. It only goes down so far. How the heck do people adjust P-90's?

on my 2014 LPMM I had the same problem. I realized (while swapping pickups) that the neck pickup screws were what was hitting. Shorter screws might be enough for the neck and longer screws for the bridge, maybe a spacer or stiffer springs if the bridge pickup is a bit wobbly.

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Thanks Rich. I'll investigate this more tomorrow. Going to bed.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

P.S. Don't steal my top secret wiring diagrams in the background. I forgot to take them down.

:wall: I was hoping it was mine up there.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

I have nearly that exact guitar (if that's a 2010, I assume it's a 50s Tribute, while I have a thinner-necked 60s Tribute from the following year) and the pickups balance pretty well. I'll send pics when I get home.

I imagine part of the problem is that Gibson uses the same pickups for both positions. They're not even RWRP, much less balanced for Output by overwinding the bridge. Add to that some degree of natural variance between the outputs of two "identical" pups and...who knows. Hey, what if you tried swapping the position of the two existing pickups? Maybe the neck pickup is just a little hotter and that, combined with the positional difference, is making it difficult to balance. I'll say this: those pickups are worth the work to get cooperating. When I ordered mine, I had plans to instantly swap out the pups for something "better." That lasted about 30 seconds when I plugged it in for the first time.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Gibson insists on installing P90s of identical output in both positions. (I have a 2006 Limited Edition.)

Compared to the photograph in the OP, I have the stock neck pickup with the plastic cover fractionally lower but the screw poles protruding more. In an attempt to achieve a level match, the stock bridge pickup was adjusted so high up on the springs that it waggles about and, from the right angle, you could see the bottom edge of the plastic cover.

The result, the neck pickup does that Neil Young swamp thang at my word of command. The bridge pickup was authentic but never entirely satisfying - not least, by comparison to my cheaper LP Junior Special. My remedy for the Goldtop was to perform the same mod that I had already made on the Junior Special.

The SP90-3n. That's right. A neck/Rhythm position pickup in the bridge/Treble position. This idea was freely stolen from the PRS McCarty Soapbar.

For haters of ceramic magnets, consider giving the stock Gibson pickup an A8 transplant.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

I thought Gibson used A5 magnets in their P90s, not ceramic.

For haters of ceramic magnets, consider giving the stock Gibson pickup an A8 transplant.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

The SP90-3n has a pair of ceramic magnets.

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

:wall: I was hoping it was mine up there.

Yours is super top secret. Film@11.

Thanks everyone for the help. I'm "messing" with it right now.

 

[Diego]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Let us know how it goes man. Intrigued by this one.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

It seems longer screws would be the most obvious solution.

I think this was a problem on a Gibson SG w/ P90's that I saw a while back. Maybe it's a common problem.

 

[Artie]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

Ok all. Happy ending. I've never actually done a P-90 LP before. The pups fit the cut-out super tight. I didn't back the screws up evenly. So it got "hung" on one side, and didn't rise any farther. (That's what I interpreted as not enough spring.) When I took it back to my luthier friend, he unscrewed the mounting screws more uniformly. The pup rose right up into position. Plenty of pup skirt, so the bottom never showed, and the b/n volume evened right out. She's a player.

These P-90's sound great.

Artie

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: I need advice and council on a customers Gibson LP Goldtop.

These P-90's sound great.

Of course they do...they're P-90s.