P90 pole piece height adjustment

digitalkettle

I'm trying to balance my SG's soapbars.

They're not height adjustable...so that was a learning point...but I've shimmed them to where I think they should be.

Now I want to fine-tune by adjusting the pole pieces: I have no problem winding them out but I can only go so far when winding them in...it gets tight and feels like it's bottomed-out (fnarr). None of the pole pieces are flush with the cover.

What's a reasonable high/low limit of adjustment?

Funkfingers

How are your P90s attached? Suspended through the pickguard via screws, springs and a metal bar or between the polepieces, directly into the body wood?

The former adjust like a humbucker. The latter require either compressible foam pads or metal springs.

The filister head polepiece screws can protrude a good few millimetres before the thread becomes visible. This is not advisable for two reasons.

1) It increases the possibility of gouging your fingers on the screw slot edges.

2) It ****s up the tone of the pickup. IMO, the distance between the strings and the bar magnets is critical to how P90s sound. 

If, after shimming, you feel the need to set the pole screws as low as they can go - if not, lower - the shims are too thick.

digitalkettle

More detail...

They're screwed straight into the wood...no foam or springs (yet).

There's no shim on the neck pickup...it sounds lovely...so I've raised the bridge.

While I was fine-tuning, I noticed that some of the neck pickup pole pieces appear to be as low as they will go.

So I was just wondering if P90 pole pieces can be wound into the pickup (like you sometimes see on a strat's B-string).

WezV

The poles should be able to go flush with the tops of the pickup cover,  with the screw head sitting directly on the bobbin. If they can't, they must be hitting the bottom of the cavity or have an obstruction in the hole

ICBM

digitalkettle said:

So I was just wondering if P90 pole pieces can be wound into the pickup (like you sometimes see on a strat's B-string).

No. The screw head is larger than the thread and comes up tight against the top of the bobbin - if you tighten it beyond that point you may (most likely will, on old ones where the plastic has become brittle) damage the bobbin.

As Funkfingers says you don't want them too high either - the maximum is just where the whole head comes clear of the cover usually. This is a fairly narrow adjustment range, so you have to do the rest with shims.

digitalkettle

Thanks for the advice chaps...I think I’ve got a handle on it now.