P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

J

joeychickenskin

New member
Hi

I'm waiting for delivery of a bridge p-rails for an HSS Squier showmaster superstrat.

I use predominantly guitars with single coil pickups therefore I would be using the p-rails in the regular single-coil position most often and switching to the p90 or humbucker when needed.

Intuitively, I would have placed the p-rails with the regular single coil against the bride for the brightest strat-like sound however invariably I have seen pictures with the p90 against the bridge.

Is this simply preference or am I missing something in the reasoning behind this positioning?
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

My understanding is it has something to do with giving the rail enough string vibration to get a nice pickup of the string sound with tonality that can mix with the P-90 and other pickups on the guitar. I remember reading in another thread here something about when it's by the bridge there's not enough vibration and it sounds weak and thin.
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

I had one in my Yamaha Pacifica 510.

I would simply assume that a Strat sized single coil even in blade form would be entirely too bright if placed that close to the bridge in split mode.

Peavey Horizons used to split their rail humbuckers so only the coil closest to the bridge was active. The tone ended up being too bright, so an easy "mod" was to just flip the pickup 180 degrees.

*Also despite the non-symmetrical appearance, the p rails neck model should actually be flipped 180 so the blade is also closer to the neck.
 
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Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

Ah this makes sense. I'm forgetting that the P-rails need to work as a humbucker and if the two pickups were as hot as a normal p90 and single coil , it would sound hideous as a humbucker.

Thank you, I won't flip my p-rail.
 
P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

You can put them whichever way you like best. Just remove the Duncan logos with some metal polish first (something you should be doing anyhow, so as not to look like a ****** bag with logos on your pick ups).
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

The normal position is to place the rails of each pickup closest together to try and get some strat quack using both pickups split to rails. If you don't use both rails together, then try what you like. I use a flipped neck pail in the neck of a tele with a regular tele bridge.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

All great helpful answers. I also forgot how far away from the bridge Strat and Tele pickups are already placed plus how far away the bass poles are with the pickup angle.

If I did flip the pickup, I'd keep the logo because with the reverse headstock on my guitar it would like I had got it ALL wrong ;-)
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

The rail coil of the standard P-Rail bridge (haven't tried the hot yet) is really bright and rather thin as it is; I'm not sure you'd want to flip it. That being said, Itsabass is absolutely correct that P-Rails can be installed in either orientation, but you may loose a bit of quack when using both rails with rails on the outside.
 
Re: P-Rails bridge pick-up. Why is the p90 normally closest to the bridge?

You can orient the P-Rails anyway that it sounds good to you. I always mount the bridge P-Rails with the Rail coil next to the bridge. When mounted with the P-90 next to the bridge, the two coils sound too similar in tone. I really like lots of variety, but it's true that with the Rail coil next to the bridge, it sound a bit thin and weak so I put an A8 magnet next to the Rail coil. Fixes that perfectly and gives me much more tonal variety when switching back and forth between P-90 and Rail. I won't consider using it any other way.

I did a lot of experimenting with both P-Rails pups...orientation and magnets. You might want to search for the thread about that. It was called "P-Rails hot, is it supposed to sound like this?" (or something like that).
 
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