Will mag swap fix dark/loud P90 neck pickup?

[Reverberocket2]

Have an SG with 8.0k alnico 2 P90s in the neck and bridge positions. The neck is too dark, muddy and overpowers the bridge pickup. Will an alnico 3 mag swap in the neck pickup cure this or am I better off getting a lower wind say 7.0k A2 pickup for the neck position?

 

[GuitarStv]

What's currently in there? A3 magnets are noticeably weaker than A5 magnets.

 

[Reverberocket2]

Pickups currently have A2 magnets

 

[GuitarStv]

Ah, sorry I missed that in your first post. A2 is a little stronger than A3, but I'm not sure that will be enough if you want a huge volume drop.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Have you tried lowering the neck pickup?

 

[Clint 55]

A3 will make the neck pickup both brighter and quieter, but it won't be by a large amount compared to the A2. You could swap the bridge for A6 which isn't much brighter than A2 but it's more powerful.

 

[Reverberocket2]

Have you tried lowering the neck pickup?

Pickup is down as far as it will go.

 

[Reverberocket2]

Ah, sorry I missed that in your first post. A2 is a little stronger than A3, but I'm not sure that will be enough if you want a huge volume drop.

Don't need a huge volume drop. Just to ballance a bit better with the bridge

 

[Reverberocket2]

A3 will make the neck pickup both brighter and quieter, but it won't be by a large amount compared to the A2. You could swap the bridge for A6 which isn't much brighter than A2 but it's more powerful.

Brighter for the neck is definitely better, especially if it retains brightness when the volume is rolled down

 

[GuitarStv]

Brighter for the neck is definitely better, especially if it retains brightness when the volume is rolled down

If you want it to stay bright as the volume is rolled back, try either a treble bleed or 50s wiring. Both will do that (50s wiring will do some strange things to your volume/tone pot interactions, but some really like it).

 

[freefrog]

It might be interesting to try the pickup with one single magnet. It should narrow the magnetic field and make the P90 subsequently brighter (as well as less loud).

 

[AlexR]

Another issue that comes from an overly loud neck pickup and subsequent lowering all the way down is that the response of the pickup tends to be dull and lack sparkle.....the very things you really want in the neck slot.
Every time I've found this sort of situation in a guitar I have realised its just the wrong pickup combination for that instrument.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I might try it with a single A5 or A4. A2 has sweet mids but it generally has a very loose feel.
One of my P90s has one A2 and one A5; I like it but I do keep it set fairly low from the strings.

 

[jeremy]

i think a single a5 might be a good choice for the neck, or if you dont have one laying around, just pull one of the a2 bars from the neck and see what ya think

 

[frankfalbo]

I wish it didn’t need to be so, but you won’t get a resonance lift without removing turns. I wouldn’t know all the details about your existing pickup but if it’s too dark and you are using higher value pots like a 500k master V/T or a no load tone pot, you just won’t get there with a magnet swap, unless maybe it was something drastic like small sized ceramics, like the ones used in a Cool Rails. Those would still provide weak gauss combined with raising the resonant peak.

 

[jeremy]

thats actually a great idea. maybe using the little ceramic bars that are typically used as side/spacer magnets?

 

[Aceman]

I have to ask - did Gibson get the mags reversed?

Maybe the neck is in the Bridge, etc....

 

[skelt101]

In addition to the magnet swaps mentioned, you might also try shorter polepieces and/or raising the polepieces. This should brighten things up and might allow you to lower the pickup more.

 

[skelt101]

I have to ask - did Gibson get the mags reversed?

Maybe the neck is in the Bridge, etc....

I don’t think Gibson normally discriminates between neck and bridge positions in this case. A P90 is a P90.

 

[Aceman]

I don’t think Gibson normally discriminates between neck and bridge positions in this case. A P90 is a P90.

Sorry - bad brain! I read as the neck was 8.0 and the bridge 7.0. Sorry! You want an A2 to bring it to 7.0. My bad....