Situation: I have an ES-330 that I’ve had about 18months. It’s a beautiful and extremely resonant guitar with a fantastic neck, but the pickups are stupidly hot. It actually sounds amazing in some contexts (particularly Open G or D with a good bit of drive) but when all my other electrics have roughly similar output levels it means I can never use my amp or pedals set the same way because of the massive disparity in loudness. The spec sheet says they’re MHS P90s, which is supposed to be Memphis Historic Spec, but I’ve never played any P90 anywhere near this hot, historic or otherwise.
If I’m honest, it also doesn’t sound like all the classic P90 sounds that I know these guitars can do - Beatles/Stones type stuff, Radiohead, Interpol, even that Gilmour P90 thing (which I know was an LP into the desk, but my old Casino with Creamery re-winds did it marvellously well).
I’m therefore thinking about some lower output pickups, so... what’s good? And what should I be looking for? I’ve never bought P90’s before.
Comments
I do agree I need to measure the current ones before I jump on anything.
Talk to Marc at mojo, tell him what you are after. He makes an amazing p90 (or set).
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I have a CS330L and did not like the pickups too much. Tried a lollar but was too weak. Rewound the bridge hotter but realised I dont like bridge P90's.
I eventually unwould the neck coils to a lower dc reading and replaced the bridge with an alnico ii Creamery dog ear humbucker. Still happy with that setup and have the bridge tone wired up to gradually roll one coil to ground so I can get thinner tones where I want.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Which means I'm left thinking lighter strings would reduce output, otherwise lowering the pickups is my best bet, but I can't lower the neck because it's a non-shimmed dogear. Maybe I just don't like P90s. But they always sound really good when other people play them...
Hrumph, etc.
For reference, here are the heights on mine: