About Rico Martinez Expertise I can answer just about any question on the repair and maintenance of electric guitars and acoustic guitars including intonation, tuning, tonal characteristics, electronics, finishes, hardware, technique, etc.
Experience Thirty years playing guitar. I was also a guitar salesman and repair person at a very popular store, working with a master luthier who taught me the standards of repair. I've been working with guitars most of my life and my repairs have run the gamut from simple to complex body rebuilding and refinish.
Education/Credentials On-the-job training. My college degree isn't related to guitar, but communication, which should be a qualification for answering a question in proper English!
Question I recently purchased an Epiphone Casino. The guitar plays like a dream, but I'm having some doubts about the pickups. The Casino came equipped with dogear p-90's and I believe they are too far away from the strings. The tone of the bridge pickup isn't very bright and the overall tone could be described as as bit bassy. I've read in several places that pickups too far away from the strings produce a weaker magnetic field and thus a weaker tone and signal. I'm no stranger to raising and lowering pickups (I adjust my LP's humbuckers all the time), but these p-90's don't adjust the same as a humbucker. I've been told to add a spacer beneath the pickups to raise them, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about doing that. Also, I've been told to change the height of the individual pole pieces for a brighter tone. I've thought about lowering the action as well. Wouldn't that be the opposite solution of raising the pickups? I'm not sure which one is the best solution and I would love some outside input.
Thanks.
Answer Hello Dan,
Very nice guitar...always reminds me of John Lennon.
You can buy shims specifically for p90 pickups or you can make them. Just make sure you make them out of a good dense material so the vibrations will travel nicely through them.
As far as changing the hight of the individual pole pieces, I wouldn't mess with that. You can really throw your guitar's balance off and it will sound like crap for playing full chords.
Definitely do not lower the action for a sound adjustment. Only lower the action for playing adjustments.
