Dogear P90 Pickup in a humbucker cavity

[neatomic]

phat cat is basically a p90 with the bobbin slightly trimmed to fit into a humbucker shell...the caveat is that the duncan uses alnico II bar magnet..not the classic gibby alnico V....so pickup height is of importance, since the alnico II is slightly less powerfull...the screw polepieces should be used for fine tuning between strings...like a normal paf type humbucker...

but the actual pickup height is critical...lower into body..will cut some brightness and focus...

also type of strings is important...a pure nickel string will get a warmer tone out of it

luck

cheers

[lawson-stone]

Thanks. I am using TI Jazz Swing 012 which is what I use on all my archtops. I have the pickup body raised pretty high and am going to play with the pole pieces a bit.

[lawson-stone]

Here's a clip I did this afternoon playing this guitar through the Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb and recording direct via XLR. Please ignore the clams for the sake of this being a pickup demo!

[wzpgsr]

With that new P90 you now have an excuse to get ahold of an amp based on a 50s Fender tweed circuit now.

[rolijen]

I may not fit your exact situation, but here is a handy guide for setup for those who don't always remember the specs for neck relief, action, pickup height, etc. It's a no-nonsense reference I use frequently:

Home - EZ Guitar Tech

[skykomishone]

Lawson, i really wish that i had advice to give on this. I own 2 Gibson's with p90s. One, my l7, i had Mike Lull install a gold foil lollar, and I've never changed a thing, and the other is a '55 es175d. Never touched it either, and i do notice variations in the individual pole piece heights on it. The lollar looks all the same.

I'm tempted to experiment a bit, like tuning a carburetor, i think.

Your demo sounds like it's running pretty well.

[Sam Sherry]

I had the Phat Cat in one or two guitars, and plenty of P90s.

The PhatCats sound pretty good as P90s. They might not have the perfect formula for Beatles-oriented jangle, but for jazz they get much closer to P90 than a lot of the competition. Most importantly, taken on their own it's a nice sound -- I really dug the neck pickup -- and they're priced within reach, especially used.

This shootout is a few years old now but it's still useful.

+ + +

As for setup, my take -- you may disagree -- is that P90-style pickups are more sensitive to coil-height than most humbuckers. P90s each have a sweet spot which is almost entirely about the gap between the unit and the strings.

Set your pole-screws generically for your string set and move the unit around. Use cardboard shims for dogears and whatever is needed for soap-bars. It's worth the time.

[customxke]

Set all the pole pieces flat against the top of the pickup. Adjust pickup height to taste listening to the 1st and 6th string. Adjust the middle 4 pole pieces to get a consistent balance. That’s how I do it. Ymmv