tell me about p90s and replacement... can a regular p90 fit in a dog ear cover?

[mistermikev]

hello,
I'm very experienced replacing pickups, but I've never replaced/installed a p90. I know there are different heights and different spacers.
I'm looking to pick something up used on evilbay and I see a lot of regular soap bar p90s. not a lot of dog ears. my epi es295 has dog ears and I suppose I could take it apart but might be looking for a while before I find what I want.

my question: can any p90 mount in the dog ear cover? assuming I were to get the right height?

I'd really like to go with some non-stacked p90 humbuckers like the dimarzios, but then I'd have to find some corresponding dog ear covers with two sets of holes... almost doesn't seem possible. barring that, I'd like to snag some used antiquity or fralin but if I have to buy dog ear specific ones it might be a while.

educate me on p90 replacement.

 

[Gibson 1964]

Re: tell me about p90s and replacement... can a regular p90 fit in a dog ear cover?

The baseplate is different. A dogear will be wider than a soapbar by having tabs with holes in them on the sides.

You can:
A) buy a dogear p90. (Wolfetone makes my personal favorite ones)
B) Buy a soapbar, a dogear cover and baseplate and transfer the pickup. (This does require soldering) IMO the dimarzio p90 sized hbs are not something I like. A dogear cover is big enough to where you could do a cutout for a soapbar in a dogear pickup, however, I believe you would have to do this DIY. TV Jones makes a dogear pickup mount for his english Mount pickups.

 

[mistermikev]

Re: tell me about p90s and replacement... can a regular p90 fit in a dog ear cover?

The baseplate is different. A dogear will be wider than a soapbar by having tabs with holes in them on the sides.

You can:
A) buy a dogear p90. (Wolfetone makes my personal favorite ones)
B) Buy a soapbar, a dogear cover and baseplate and transfer the pickup. (This does require soldering) IMO the dimarzio p90 sized hbs are not something I like. A dogear cover is big enough to where you could do a cutout for a soapbar in a dogear pickup, however, I believe you would have to do this DIY. TV Jones makes a dogear pickup mount for his english Mount pickups.

excellent info, thank you for that. so if I understand correctly... the dog ear type - under the hood - has tabs that line up with the pickup screws. the soap bar types do not.

I've heard good things about wolftone. def would give em a shot if i come across a pair.
for me (I'm a cheap sob) you'll never know if you like it till you try it. so I try to buy used unless I'm fairly certain I'll love it.

thanks again for the advice

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: tell me about p90s and replacement... can a regular p90 fit in a dog ear cover?

No, they are not interchangeable. The coils themselves are the same, but the baseplates are different.

That said, you can pickguard mount dogear P90's with soapbar covers (like old SG Specials). This also make them adjustable in overall height, which is nice. Doesn't do you much good on a guitar without a pickguard, though.

You could also jury rig a dense foam spacer that pushes the soapbar coil firmly up into a dogear cover.

 

[mistermikev]

Re: tell me about p90s and replacement... can a regular p90 fit in a dog ear cover?

No, they are not interchangeable. The coils themselves are the same, but the baseplates are different.

That said, you can pickguard mount dogear P90's with soapbar covers (like old SG Specials). This also make them adjustable in overall height, which is nice. Doesn't do you much good on a guitar without a pickguard, though.

You could also jury rig a dense foam spacer that pushes the soapbar coil firmly up into a dogear cover.

thanks for the info, guess I'll be waiting on a dogear set then.