P90 and Strat Halps...

[sonidero]

I have a Squier Strat which sounds and feels great acoustically but turns to a pile of mushed turds when I try and play it through any amp with effects... I put some Biltoft SC P90's in there and they sound normal when it's clean but as soon as I use Overdrive or Fuzz all note definition and normal soundingness goes out the window and it sounds like muffled crap... Could it be that I need a setup or maybe the poles just aren't lining up or something??? I bought the three Biltofts already in a pickguard and they are in the correct order and I had Jero install the whole thing so I'm not sure what's going on here...

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated... If I can't figure it out I might have some P90's for sale in BST if anyone is interested...

[skullservant]

Could be the pole height/pickup height. I'd mess around with that before anything else. I personally really dig both my EGC P90's and my Phat Cat humbucker sized P90 pretty decently close to the strings, and I know that while Ancient had my Phat Cat he did some pole adjustment which really leveled out the pickup across the strings as a whole!

[sonidero]

I think I see the problem, the neck pickup is way off... I mainly use neck and middle on ANY guitar and this don't look right... I think it's meant for a different size neck...

[skullservant]

Especially on the high E string. I had that problem with a bass pickup I installed into my wooden bass once. Every string except for the G sounded perfect, the G was just so QUIET, and like you said, kind of muddy. You'd think being single coil sized P90's they'd have Fender spacing

[sonidero]

It's kinda cool clean but as soon as I kick out the jams it decides to go fishing... Constantly sounds out of tune with dirt but is ok clean, I've never come across this before... I guess cause we're both smart guys that it has to do with exact pole placement... Or Pole Position for all you arcade freaks...

[skullservant]

Maybe try raising the hi E string poles? That MIGHT help being a little farther away from the strings

[sonidero]

I'll just throw the stock pickups back in and save the P90's for a better day... No big deal, I have this Strat cause it matches my Cyclone which also needs to be put back together...

[skullservant]

CYCLONE!!

[sonidero]

CYCLONE!!

It has Tom's Triplebucker half ass thrown in and not wired up yet...

TRIPLEBUCKER!!!

Need a 5 way to make it worth my time...

[Mudfuzz]

first!

CYCLONE!!

also none of this makes sense to me.. out side of active pickups and 1/4 duncan pbass pickups I've never had a pickup bog down any dirt pedal.. and my way of setting height it the get the things as close as I can without being about to hit the strings into them... much... and I have guitars and basses were the poles and string don't line up... no big issue

[sonidero]

It's not height me thinks... The clean sound is clean but with any amount of dirt which adds harmonics and overtones it instantly takes an oxy and falls asleep... I seems to me that cause it's not an AVRI Strat which this came off of that it is just shit for Squiers... The pickups sound great and have hella snarl and I thought it was the strings breaking in or the amp I was using so I gave it time to no avail...

[Butch1970]

I think I see the problem, the neck pickup is way off... I mainly use neck and middle on ANY guitar and this don't look right... I think it's meant for a different size neck...

strat90.JPG

I had put some Duncan Duckbuckers/JB Jr. in a 94 Am Standard once and had the same issues with the polepiece spacing on the high E-string. Could come down to the spacing at the nut or bridge?

[dubkitty]

American (and in my experience Japanese) Strats have slightly wider necks and bridges than Squiers, which seem to use the same (metric) dimensions as MIM Strat hardware.

it also seems from the photo that the bridge saddles are skewed towards the bass side, and the strings thus shifted out of alignment with the polepieces. the strings aren't evenly placed on the fingerboard, either...the bass side is well closer to the edge. so as far as strings lining up, this could be remedied to some extent by re-orienting the saddles and/or notching them to move the sytrings nearer to the poles.

i suspect, though, that the magnets might be the answer...the Biltoft site says you can use/pick A2, A3, A5, or ceramic magnets. i'll bet you've got the ceramic magnets, because the ceramic PUs i've used tended not to play well with effects.

[sonidero]

Oh man, I took them off and replaced with the stock and the Biltofts are for sale in BST... They are great and in the bridge position where they actually matched the pickups were killer and added a whole new dimension to Strat but in the neck where I live they were off and weird... I don't have an American Strat anymore and just wanna pass these on for now I guess...