magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

[appar111]

Just picked up a 2019 Gibson Les Paul Jr. Double Cutaway this weekend and I'm loving the look and feel. Stock pickup doesn't sound bad, but I want to hot rod it a bit without spending dough on a new pickup.

Does anyone know what magnets Gibson puts in their stock P90s? Also, what would be a good choice to give it a little more oomph and midrange without making it muddy? I've got the following magnets laying around: A8, A3, A2. I'm thinking of grabbing a few more from Mojotone, probably an A5, roughcast A5, unoriented A5 and an A4, just so I have lots of mix and match possibilities.

So what's a good combo? I'm thinking A4/A8, UOA5/A8 or A5/A2.

What say ye?

 

[jeremy]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

i assume gibson uses a5 magnets. id swap an a8 in and see what that does for ya

 

[Reverberocket2]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

Yes Gibson uses A5 in their current P90s

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

Yep, I'd try swapping in one A8, keeping one stock A5 (on the side nearest the bridge).
You should get noticeably more fatness and higher output.

If that's still too scooped for you, replace the remaining A5 with an A8. You'll have a monster.
I doubt it'd be muddy except maybe through a low wattage tweed-type amp.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

Yep. A5/A8

 

[appar111]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

Cool, I'll start with swapping out one of the magnets with the A8 I already have. I don't know if these 2019 models come with 300K pots or 500K, but if I feel it's a little muddy, I may swap the pots out too. They did a clean job of wiring though, so I'm going to avoid doing any soldering/unsoldering for as long as I can. I'll probably spend more time with it completely stock and mess with pickup height a bit to see where that gets me. Then swap the magnet if I feel it needs it.

thanks as always, guys!

J.

 

[blueman335]

Re: magnet recommendations for a bridge P90?

I my P-90 magnet experiments, I wanted to give the bridge slot: 1) more output & mids for a fuller sound, 2) one that would balance better with the neck in EQ and volume, and 3) to take off the excess treble. Putting an A8 in did just that (A8 positioned towards the neck). I settled on an A8/A4 pair, but an A8/A5 would be similar, with a bit more high end.

I think of it this way: HB's have 1/2 magnet per coil. P-90's have 2 magnets per coil. That's a lot more magnetic influence to the tone. Rather than replacing P-90's, it's often worth trying a different magnet or two to get what you want.