2 P90 wiring ideas with 5 way switch

toneseeker911

toneseeker911

Experienced
I’m going to replace 2 HH in a Suhr guitar with 2 Fralin humbucker sized P90 pickups. It has a 5 way switch currently with one tone and one volume.

Other than position 1 and 5, which are neck/bridge pickups only, what are useful combinations for the other 3 positions ?

Also, if you have links to wiring diagrams, that’ll be really helpful. First time attempting to replace pickups without going to a guitar tech.

Thanks!
 
Most of my Teles have the following choices on the 5-way:
Neck
Both, series
Both, parallel
Both, parallel, 1/2 OOP
Bridge

Only the red one, which has the middle pickup and neck HB, is slightly different, losing the N+B series for N+B 1/2 OOP to make room for M+B next to the Bridge only selection....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Most of my Teles have the following choices on the 5-way:
Neck
Both, series
Both, parallel
Both, parallel, 1/2 OOP
Bridge

Only the red one, which has the middle pickup and neck HB, is slightly different, losing the N+B series for N+B 1/2 OOP to make room for M+B next to the Bridge only selection....
Click to expand...
Thanks !
Just to clarify, can I do the out of phase thing with a 5 way switch without modifying the pups ? I did not order any of them as RWRP.

Also, is it worth it to have 2 P90 in series ? Or maybe just keep it out of phase ?
 
toneseeker911 said:
Thanks !
Just to clarify, can I do the out of phase thing with a 5 way switch without modifying the pups ? I did not order any of them as RWRP.
Click to expand...

If the pickups have 2+shield wiring, yes. If not, no. RWRP has more to do with them cancelling hum when both are used than with wiring variations. Are they humbucker sized regular P90s or humbucker sized hum cancelling P90s? I have their hum cancelling P90 sized P90s in my triple P90 Custom 22 PRS. Great sounding pickups!

toneseeker911 said:
Also, is it worth it to have 2 P90 in series ? Or maybe just keep it out of phase ?
Click to expand...

If they are hot P90s, series will likely sound like mud. Sadly, there is no 4 way super switch to let the switch offer an OOP option along with Neck/Both/Bridge. Their Alnico Pole P90 would be a good candidate for a series wiring, but probably at the upper limit of the range of pickups that work well with series. Not sure if that comes in a humbucker size, tho....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
If the pickups have 2+shield wiring, yes. If not, no. RWRP has more to do with them cancelling hum when both are used than with wiring variations. Are they humbucker sized regular P90s or humbucker sized hum cancelling P90s? I have their hum cancelling P90 sized P90s in my triple P90 Custom 22 PRS. Great sounding pickups!



If they are hot P90s, series will likely sound like mud. Sadly, there is no 4 way super switch to let the switch offer an OOP option along with Neck/Both/Bridge. Their Alnico Pole P90 would be a good candidate for a series wiring, but probably at the upper limit of the range of pickups that work well with series. Not sure if that comes in a humbucker size, tho....
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the information. Yes, they do have 2 wires and a third outer shield. They aren’t hum canceling, just the regular humbucker sized p90.

I think that means I have 4 options at least. B, N, B+N parallel, B+N parallel out of phase. Maybe it’s possible to have a B+N parallel half out of phase for the 5th position and just forego the series connection.
 
Series OOP could be fun, as it is a bit louder and honkier/cocked-wah-ish than parallel 1/2 OOP. Usually sounds best without the cap, i.e., full OOP. That would fill the series spot in with a sound that won't be hot mud.

If not RWRP, the OOP sounds will be hum cancelling....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Series OOP could be fun, as it is a bit louder and honkier/cocked-wah-ish than parallel 1/2 OOP. Usually sounds best without the cap, i.e., full OOP. That would fill the series spot in with a sound that won't be hot mud.

If not RWRP, the OOP sounds will be hum cancelling....
Click to expand...
Against my better judgement, I tried doing what this guy below did. Add a dummy coil and put it either in series or parallel with the P90. Parallel sounds good, series doesn’t even work. Thinking about it, I increased the resistance and inductance, it should never have worked right ? I still don’t understand how he got these sounds.

 
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