Coil tapping a p90 - what do I need and how do I do it?

[Philly Q]

Yeah, it's a bit tricky but it's safest to solder on to the side of the pot if you can. 

If you solder on the side of the switch part there are (I think) plastic parts inside, which could melt.  And if you solder on top of the pot, unless you're very careful solder can get into the switch mechanism.

You might need to figure out a way of standing the pot on its side and holding it there securely while you solder - if you try to do it with the pot in place in the guitar, the solder will run down the side of the pot and you'll get in a right mess!

[_tom_]

Cool I should be able to do that.. I need to find somewhere that does 500k push/pull pots in the smaller metric shaft sizes now

[Philly Q]

I don't think that'll be a problem - in fact I'm fairly sure all the push-pull pots I've seen are metric.

But it's a very long time since I bought any - maybe US fit ones are more widespread nowadays.

[_tom_]

The Pig 90 arrived today, it looks GREAT in the aged nickel. It doesnt fit in with my guitar as much as I thought it would though but it looks cool anyway :) Didnt wire up the tap because I dont have a push/pull yet. Anyway it sounds pretty good, very humbuckerish but with a bit of singlecoil twang/attack when you dig in :) However I've just read the wiring diagram stuff and I've wired it up wrong, I thought red was for the full sound but Tims written on that its the tap so I'm only getting half the power at the minute! It's allready great for rock in the tapped sound so I'm off to wire up the white and unleash the full beast :P

edit - in full mode its a complete beast as expected :) warranty card says its about 20k in full, 10k in tap. Quite a similar sound to my muled lp tho a bit more aggressive and metal sounding :) Its definitely twangier and more singlecoily on the tap which is good so I can get usable sounds from both modes.

[badgermark]

The Pig 90 arrived today, it looks GREAT in the aged nickel. It doesnt fit in with my guitar as much as I thought it would though but it looks cool anyway :) Didnt wire up the tap because I dont have a push/pull yet. Anyway it sounds pretty good, very humbuckerish but with a bit of singlecoil twang/attack when you dig in :) However I've just read the wiring diagram stuff and I've wired it up wrong, I thought red was for the full sound but Tims written on that its the tap so I'm only getting half the power at the minute! It's allready great for rock in the tapped sound so I'm off to wire up the white and unleash the full beast :P

edit - in full mode its a complete beast as expected :) warranty card says its about 20k in full, 10k in tap. Quite a similar sound to my muled lp tho a bit more aggressive and metal sounding :) Its definitely twangier and more singlecoily on the tap which is good so I can get usable sounds from both modes.

Dammit man we need CLIPS! I was tempted for a minute to send my MQ in for a re-wind to crazy specs, but realised i like it the way it is. more bass might be a bad thing right now.

[_tom_]

I cant have my amp very loud at the minute so it'll have to be a few days! It doesnt sound muddy or overly bassy though its got a really tight bottom end and it sounds pretty metal :D

[badgermark]

I cant have my amp very loud at the minute so it'll have to be a few days! It doesnt sound muddy or overly bassy though its got a really tight bottom end and it sounds pretty metal :D

thats not my main worry- i've decided i dont want a thick and bassey bridge pickup in dual pickup guitars, that's the necks job. Oh well, one day... Maybe in the bridge position of a single pickup sg... freaking gas!

[Philly Q]

So the colour code for the wiring turned out totally different from expectations?!

[_tom_]

Nope, turns out white is the main output, red is tap. Theres a bare and black wire which are just for ground and its not a braided wire like I thought it might be. In the full mode this thing sounds really humbuckery you have to really dig in for the twang to come out. With the tap I think it'll be really versatile as its twangier in that mode and matches well with the MQ neck :)

[Philly Q]

Ah, OK,  it's the same colour coding as Duncan.  That makes it simple! :D

[_tom_]

Tim confirmed my diagram should work (though obviously the green will be white) :) Will be ordering the push pull soon. Just wired up the tone controls again, they're actually useful with p90s! It was sounding a bit too bright/harsh on the bridge so I thought I'd give it a go, now I cant play without the tone rolled down a bit otherwise it seems too bright :lol: Gonna hook up the tone to my neck mule in the epi again though I've lost the cap - what rating do you need for a les paul?

Oh, and I've noticed this Pearl seems to have a more gradual rolloff than the tone controls in the Epiphone, which are really sudden.. why is that?

[Philly Q]

Gonna hook up the tone to my neck mule in the epi again though I've lost the cap - what rating do you need for a les paul?

Oh, and I've noticed this Pearl seems to have a more gradual rolloff than the tone controls in the Epiphone, which are really sudden.. why is that?

0.022 would be standard for an LP - and I know you don't like the neck pickup to get too dark, so that should be about right.  If it is still too dark you could try 0.015 or even 0.01.

Don't know about the tone rolloff - they could be linear taper pots rather than audio taper (or vice versa).  Or they might simply be better quality.

[_tom_]

Maybe, I think Dave/Twinfan has replaced them with something a bit better as he included the originals in the case.. The ones in there now arent branded though. Actually thats a point I could probably steal a cap from there for my Epi! Saves buying one even though they are cheap :lol:

And no I hate dark tones (well some stoner rock sounds are allright), cant think of anything worse than a dull miserable guitar sound :P

by the way if you were interested to see how the pig 90 sounds, I have one of it doing Dragonaut by Sleep in the link in my sig, theres also one with Mules so you can hear the difference.. pig 90 is much punchier in comparison but has a nice fuzzy sort of bottom end on chords. Hard to describe really. I posted it as a thread in players but no one seems to be interested and I know you dont visit there much.

[Philly Q]

I just had a listen to your clips.  I like the Pig-90 one better, even though it's a single-coil it sounds more powerful in the bass, I suppose because it's more "open" than a humbucker.  The perfect stoner pickup?  :)

You're right, I don't visit Players much - I can't play for toffee so I'll never be posting anything myself, and I don't feel qualified to comment on other people's clips.  And some of you guys are so good, it depresses me...

[WezV]

tom, for god sake - just send us a PM with your address and i will post you a bloody cap

always easier to solder fresh components anyway