P90 spacers for dog ears?

stickyfiddle

New ES330 owner seeking spacer to raise the bridge pickup a smidge. What’s the easiest way? I’m aware there are options from several of the major pickup makers, but is there a good diy solution I can’t do without waiting ages for a delivery to the desert?!

stickyfiddle

Just googled and found @TheGuitarWeasel is doing them, which may be easier than me making my own with limited tools. I might also consider a swap from nickel to plastic pickup covers while I’m at it..

OilCityPickups

To my ears nickel covers really take a bit of sparkle off P90s ... plastic covers are a good move in my book. 
My Dogear shims are laser cut to be very close to the size of the cover ... eliminating all but about  1mm of that nasty shim overhang.

WezV

the other ones you can buy are stupidly oversized.   Work great once trimmed to the size of an actual dog ear.   go for ash's and save yourself the hassle


You can use things like a cut up mouse pad as a temporary solution, but harder materials work better. 

stickyfiddle

Cheers chaps. Will drop you a mail, Ash

OilCityPickups

My spacers are vulcanised fibre ... same stuff as Tele and Strat flatwork ... so they can be glued into a 'pack' with wood glue or cyanoacrylate, sanded, lacquered painted if required ...

Funkfingers

TheGuitarWeasel said:

To my ears, nickel covers really take a bit of sparkle off P90s ... plastic covers are a good move in my book. 

Wiz duly awarded.

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

To my ears, nickel covers really take a bit of sparkle off P90s ... plastic covers are a good move in my book. 

Wiz duly awarded.

Thank you sir :-) 
That's half the issue with the Epi Casino being muddy ... that and stupidly overwound pickups, using the wrong wire ... on undersize bobbins!

TTony

Here's a dumb question from someone who's never used a dogear, but is about to put together a guitar needing one ..

Normal P90s screw into the body through the p'up, and I usually put a piece of squashy rubber/foam underneath the p'up to act as a bit of a height adjuster.  So the pickup is secured in place, and can be height-adjusted.

The dog ear cover screws directly to the body, not through the p'up.  So, how do you (a) secure the pickup to the body so that it doesn't rattle around and (b) adjust its height  within the cavity?

OilCityPickups

TTony said:

Here's a dumb question from someone who's never used a dogear, but is about to put together a guitar needing one ..

Normal P90s screw into the body through the p'up, and I usually put a piece of squashy rubber/foam underneath the p'up to act as a bit of a height adjuster.  So the pickup is secured in place, and can be height-adjusted.

The dog ear cover screws directly to the body, not through the p'up.  So, how do you (a) secure the pickup to the body so that it doesn't rattle around and (b) adjust its height  within the cavity?

Right ... the dogear base has lugs that match up to a recessed area on the underside of the cover the screws go through the cover and lug into the body, sandwiching the lugs and making everything tight and secure. And with a dogear there is no way to adjust the pickup height ... only the pole screw height ... except using proper dogear height shims. These are available from a couple of suppliers ... including me. The issue is that some ... like the Allparts ones are a lot bigger than the cover ... and look really ugly. Mine are custom cut on our laser to be only fractionally bigger all round than a cover ... and thus be practically invisible.

KKJale

WezV said:

the other ones you can buy are stupidly oversized. 

Just to mention, the Lollar ones are the perfect size, dead flush, no overhang at all. 

AndyR

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

OilCityPickups

KKJale said:

WezV said:

the other ones you can buy are stupidly oversized. 

Just to mention, the Lollar ones are the perfect size, dead flush, no overhang at all. 

I put a tiny overhang on because not all P90 Dogear covers are exactly the same size ... and with no overhang the shim can pop inside the cover when tightened. 
The Lollar shims are great ... made of the same stuff as mine ... and as far as I know, only available mail order from the US. If anyone wants shims cut to the exact size of a P90 base ... I'm happy to do that ... just send me the cover and I'll adjust the CAD file accordingly.  

OilCityPickups

AndyR said:

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

I'll get those out to you Monday :-) 
Congratulations on the ES330 ... I love em!

KKJale

TheGuitarWeasel said: 

If anyone wants shims cut to the exact size of a P90 base ... I'm happy to do that ... just send me the cover and I'll adjust the CAD file accordingly.  

Very cool... if I'd known, I'd certainly have ordered from you!

OilCityPickups

KKJale said:

TheGuitarWeasel said: 

If anyone wants shims cut to the exact size of a P90 base ... I'm happy to do that ... just send me the cover and I'll adjust the CAD file accordingly.  

Very cool... if I'd known, I'd certainly have ordered from you!

Basically anything that can be laser cut we can do ... slanted humbucker baseplates, custom bobbins, it's all done in house. 

AndyR

TheGuitarWeasel said:

AndyR said:

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

I'll get those out to you Monday :-) 
Congratulations on the ES330 ... I love em!

Nice one, many thanks :-)

I'm stunned by how much I like this ES330. I've got a 335 I'm very fond of but don't play much. I've got P90s in various guitars but tend to gravitate to either full humbucker guitars or strats/teles mot of the time.

I'd never even considered the idea of a P90 ES for myself. Then this week I nearly got sucked into the R8 feeding frenzy... just about held out, and then noticed these... I got kinda smitten by the idea of this one. We popped down to Epsom this morning, just for "a look" and WOW!

stickyfiddle

AndyR said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

AndyR said:

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

I'll get those out to you Monday :-) 
Congratulations on the ES330 ... I love em!

Nice one, many thanks :-)

I'm stunned by how much I like this ES330. I've got a 335 I'm very fond of but don't play much. I've got P90s in various guitars but tend to gravitate to either full humbucker guitars or strats/teles mot of the time.

I'd never even considered the idea of a P90 ES for myself. Then this week I nearly got sucked into the R8 feeding frenzy... just about held out, and then noticed these... I got kinda smitten by the idea of this one. We popped down to Epsom this morning, just for "a look" and WOW!

They’re great guitars. 

Out of interest, does yours rattle? Mine has a rattle noise when I dig in on an open A or G chord. I can’t work out whether it’s the switch or a wire vibrating against something inside. I’m sure enough it’s not the bridge but can work it out!

OilCityPickups

stickyfiddle said:

AndyR said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

AndyR said:

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

I'll get those out to you Monday :-) 
Congratulations on the ES330 ... I love em!

Nice one, many thanks :-)

I'm stunned by how much I like this ES330. I've got a 335 I'm very fond of but don't play much. I've got P90s in various guitars but tend to gravitate to either full humbucker guitars or strats/teles mot of the time.

I'd never even considered the idea of a P90 ES for myself. Then this week I nearly got sucked into the R8 feeding frenzy... just about held out, and then noticed these... I got kinda smitten by the idea of this one. We popped down to Epsom this morning, just for "a look" and WOW!

They’re great guitars. 

Out of interest, does yours rattle? Mine has a rattle noise when I dig in on an open A or G chord. I can’t work out whether it’s the switch or a wire vibrating against something inside. I’m sure enough it’s not the bridge but can work it out!

Usually rattles are from a harness that's not tied down properly inside.

TTony

@TheGuitarWeasel ;

Thanks for the explanation Ash - I think my mistake was assuming that I could take the cover off a soapbar P90, and fit the pickup under the dog ear cover.

Looks like a I need a pickup designed to be under the dogear cover. 

 Now ... where will I find one of those ...

stickyfiddle

TheGuitarWeasel said:

stickyfiddle said:

AndyR said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

AndyR said:

Just ordered two sets of your spacers on your website @TheGuitarWeasel

Been meaning to order a set for ages (for a Jin-Go in a Feline that is propped up with bits of ice lolly stick and blutack and god knows what at the moment!!)

What's pushed me over the edge is that I've found that I too am a "New ES330 owner", likely to want to lower the poles a bit and raise the pickups (especially when I've switched to 11s and raised the action a tad)

I'll get those out to you Monday :-) 
Congratulations on the ES330 ... I love em!

Nice one, many thanks :-)

I'm stunned by how much I like this ES330. I've got a 335 I'm very fond of but don't play much. I've got P90s in various guitars but tend to gravitate to either full humbucker guitars or strats/teles mot of the time.

I'd never even considered the idea of a P90 ES for myself. Then this week I nearly got sucked into the R8 feeding frenzy... just about held out, and then noticed these... I got kinda smitten by the idea of this one. We popped down to Epsom this morning, just for "a look" and WOW!

They’re great guitars. 

Out of interest, does yours rattle? Mine has a rattle noise when I dig in on an open A or G chord. I can’t work out whether it’s the switch or a wire vibrating against something inside. I’m sure enough it’s not the bridge but can work it out!

Usually rattles are from a harness that's not tied down properly inside.

Yeah, that was my guess. Will see if there’s anything I can do when I get the bridge pickup out to add spacers.