SG / P-Rails Update

Imtxn said:
I love the p90 select from both pickups on my little burner, but switch that selects rail or p90 on the triple shot seems backward to me. Should be easy enough to exchange the position when you solder the pickup to the pc-board just exchange the position of the each and remake the solder connections.
course you wouldn’t be matching the color codes
Click to expand...

Instructions come with the Triple Shot that tell you how to wire it to get reverse results with the switches. This is the way I always wire them up to make the switches more appropriately oriented. No need to worry about the actual pickup wires and getting the colors all mixed up.
 
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GuitarDoc said:
Oh for Pete's sake!!

So you're giving me the dimensions of the outside covers?!! OMG, you've got to be kidding me. I thought you knew something profound about the pickup itself, not the size of the cover...like the actual size of the bobbins, the thickness of the coil, and the number of winds of the coil wire, etc. Something similar to the difference between a full sized humbucker and a "mini" humbucker. Or the difference between a single coil (Strat type) pickup and one single coil of a humbucker pickup.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me, I never would have guessed that SD shortened the pup to fit it in a humbucker rout. (I guess you'd have to call the Phat Cat a "mini P-90" because it too is shorter than a P-90, even though it is considerably wider...wait a minute, maybe we need to call it a "giant P-90", or rather a "giant-mini P-90", yeah, that's better).

Yes, I'm happy now. Mostly I'm happy that I've got a lot of "mini P-90s" in quite a few of my guitars (because they sound so great). Come to think of it, I've got quite a few guitars with full-sized P-90s in them as well. They sound great, too. And also several guitars with mini humbuckers in them. I guess when you've got 60 guitars, you're bound to have a few of just about everything.

Yes, I'm happy. (But I still need more guitars.)
Click to expand...

I would think it follows that the coils inside a smaller container would be, um, smaller.

And if you can accept the notion of "mini" humbuckers, say humbuckers sized to fit in Strat or Tele or whatever single coil sized spaces, what is the problem with me calling the "P90s" inside the P-Rails standard humbucker length and significantly smaller width (by virtue of the rail coil being there too) "mini"?

And no, I am not pulling 2 × $100 pickups apart to satisfy your pedantic curiosity over bobbin sizes and all the other details.:rolleyes:
 
ThreeChordWonder said:
I would think it follows that the coils inside a smaller container would be, um, smaller.

And if you can accept the notion of "mini" humbuckers, say humbuckers sized to fit in Strat or Tele or whatever single coil sized spaces, what is the problem with me calling the "P90s" inside the P-Rails standard humbucker length and significantly smaller width (by virtue of the rail coil being there too) "mini"?

And no, I am not pulling 2 × $100 pickups apart to satisfy your pedantic curiosity over bobbin sizes and all the other details.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

In case you didn't know (oh yeah, you don't), humbuckers to fit Strat are not "mini humbuckers"...they are "single coil size humbuckers". Huge difference.

I never expected you or anybody to pull a pickup apart. I just asked because I thought that you might know something about that pup that I didn't. Guess I was wrong. It happens...people come on as knowing something, but they don't.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get you upset by asking...I just wanted to learn something that I didn't know already.
 
The dimension that matters is the inside dimension of the bobbin that forms the coil size. I could add superfluous plastic to the outside of a bobbin, or snip excess plastic off and nothing wound change about the coil.

P-Rails bobbins have the exact dimension of a P90 bobbin/coil. They are not taller, although it may appear that way because of the built in spacer to balance the height against the tall rails bobbin.

But no, there’s nothing “mini” about the P bobbin other than extra plastic being omitted so it fits in the HB space, and so the Rail can hug against the magnet.

As to the rail bobbins being “just a hot rails” or whatever, the biggest difference is the Alnico magnet. A hot rails split sounds nothing like a P-Rails rail coil. It’s not a hot rails bobbin or blade either. It’s a different bobbin and blade made to the dimensions of the P-Rails.
 
frankfalbo said:
P-Rails bobbins have the exact dimension of a P90 bobbin/coil. They are not taller, although it may appear that way because of the built in spacer to balance the height against the tall rails bobbin.
Click to expand...

Huh. That's really cool . . . I never knew that the coil under the plastic of a P90 was so tiny. Probably also explains why the P90 sound is so authentic on the p-rails.
 
It is really great to have that information. I am just going by memory, since I don't have any P-Rails here anymore. The P90 coil of the P-Rails is my favorite sound out of that pickup.
 
frankfalbo said:
The dimension that matters is the inside dimension of the bobbin that forms the coil size. I could add superfluous plastic to the outside of a bobbin, or snip excess plastic off and nothing wound change about the coil.

P-Rails bobbins have the exact dimension of a P90 bobbin/coil. They are not taller, although it may appear that way because of the built in spacer to balance the height against the tall rails bobbin.

But no, there’s nothing “mini” about the P bobbin other than extra plastic being omitted so it fits in the HB space, and so the Rail can hug against the magnet.

As to the rail bobbins being “just a hot rails” or whatever, the biggest difference is the Alnico magnet. A hot rails split sounds nothing like a P-Rails rail coil. It’s not a hot rails bobbin or blade either. It’s a different bobbin and blade made to the dimensions of the P-Rails.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected, and thank you.
 
Thanks for that info, Frank. You are still the guru (still making those amazing guitars?). And that info is what I suspected was going on with the P-Rail. But I wanted a definitive answer. Now I've got it straight from the "horse's mouth", so to speak. So, the P-90 coil of the P-Rail IS a P-90 in all respects (except the size of components that have no affect on the tone or function of the pup).

Just a small word of advice to all who post here (esp. TCW), please don't argue about something that you know nothing about. It only creates contention and confusion and doesn't help anyone who is sincerely seeking answers...especially the newbes who may be silently gleaning from us.
 
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