SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Wabash Slim

Wabash Slim

New member
Maybe this has been covered in umpteen other threads but I don't see it right off, so...

I got a SP90-1B for my 60's Tribute Goldie on Ebay, thinking that 9.3K/A5 would be just the ticket to add just a little beef without straying too far from the original. The one I got was black, but should be an easy cover swap, right? First the Gibby's creme cover wouldn't fit down over the baseplate, then when I was going to just install the SD as-is I found the baseplate was too long for the Gibson's rout. No way it's going in without some power tool work, something I won't do to either one of these pieces.

What kind of sense does this make? Could my Ebay seller have done a switcheroo with the Duncan sticker on the baseplate? The resistance reading is right on...
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Wabash Slim said:
Maybe this has been covered in umpteen other threads but I don't see it right off, so...

I got a SP90-1B for my 60's Tribute Goldie on Ebay, thinking that 9.3K/A5 would be just the ticket to add just a little beef without straying too far from the original. The one I got was black, but should be an easy cover swap, right? First the Gibby's creme cover wouldn't fit down over the baseplate, then when I was going to just install the SD as-is I found the baseplate was too long for the Gibson's rout. No way it's going in without some power tool work, something I won't do to either one of these pieces.

What kind of sense does this make? Could my Ebay seller have done a switcheroo with the Duncan sticker on the baseplate? The resistance reading is right on...
Click to expand...

That's weird. That happens when you try to put US soapbars into some Asian guitars with Asian made pickups.

I have a LP special here and they have duncan size.
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Pickup is genuine. Cover/baseplate fitting issue is known. Baseplate fouling PU cavity sometimes happens. On my LP Jnr/Spl, the fit is very tight. The PUs have to be offered up dead vertically to slide in.
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

I've had one or two problems with the current p90s and aftermarket ones. It seems that the corners are more rounded in the current p90's from gibson. I tried some other custom wound pickups and had to fit the gibsoon cover onto them as that was the only way they would fit into the cavity.
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Well, guess I'm just some kind of troublemaker but I'm of the opinion that a maker of replacement pickups would make sure his pickups could physically replace the pickups they're supposed to replace, eh? This sucks. :banghead:

Maybe TV Jones is the way to go....after I make sure they'll fit.
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

The pickups are the same size that they have always been. The problem is the dimensions of the cavity on some recent Gibsons.

To blame the pickup is the equivalent of condemning your feet for being the wrong size for your shoes. (Apologies to the late Douglas Adams.)
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Funkfingers said:
The pickups are the same size that they have always been. The problem is the dimensions of the cavity on some recent Gibsons.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true. With my LP special I can exchange the covers and the baseplates don't give me any trouble. That is true for the P100s, a set of soapbars from a R6 and my Antiquities.
 
Re: SP90-1 doesn't fit Les Paul 60s Trib

Funkfingers said:
The pickups are the same size that they have always been. The problem is the dimensions of the cavity on some recent Gibsons.
Click to expand...

Since P90's are such a close fit in the cavity you can't make the cavity shorter without also shortening the pups, but I have an old Dimarzio soapbar from the 90's or earlier and it fit in there just fine. Its cover is the same size as a LP Deluxe mini-bucker adapter ring from the 70s I have, also a pack of WD creme P90 covers and some old covers from at least 25 years ago - all the same size and interchangeable. The Gibson cover fit the Dimarzio fine. I've swapped P90s in the past, USA & imports, with no issues. That all would seem point to this Duncan as the oddball.

As for the corners, they're all the same, except the Dimarzio's original corners are just a tad sharper. It fits the LP's cavity though.

The Duncan's issue isn't just the corners, the whole baseplate is too long, by over 1 mm.
 
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