splitting a p100? Help please

[Standard]

A while back I read something about essentially hotrodding a Gibson p100 pickup by cutting one of the wires, I tried searching for information but only confused myself more with what I found. So basically what I want to know is, is there anyone out there who either has done it or knows the procedure to "hotrod" a p100? Literally what i found is that you basically just cut one wire to eliminate the lower coil, thus making it kind of a weird p90 but not really. If anyone could clear this up for me it would be most appreciated.


I am going to eventually replace the pickup with a p90 of some sort but in the mean time i want to wake up this stale sounding, boredom factory they call a pickup.

 

[EvLectric]

... but in the mean time i want to wake up this stale sounding, boredom factory they call a pickup.

What a perfect description! One of the only ways to make a P-90 suck is make it a P-100.

 

[copperheadroad]

As you can see in the link how they look
Gibson P-100 soap bar guitar pickup pair p90 replacemnt | eBay
You will just want to use the 2 wires from the top coil to have a regular p-90
But it is probably only wound to about 6-7k still it should be an improvement from the dreaded p-100
I have never had one apart but i would see if can remove the bottom coil all together

 

[Indyclone]

I thought this was interesting:

(from Zangliqun on the Duncan Boards)

The P100 I took apart once had two coils wound to about 9.5k and then wired in parallel. It really was an attempt to approximate the P90 sound without the hum, but it sounded so bad and became so unpopular that they stopped making it. My Pastor's Special came with P100's and I cut the bottom coil out of the circuit in both pickups -- whaddaya know, now it sounds like it has real P90's, complete with noise.

And no, noise is NOT part of the P90 mojo. It is the one blemish on said mojo. In taking away the noise, the P100 stack also takes away the sizzle, snarl and liveliness -- in a word, the HEART -- of a P90.

 

[copperheadroad]

I cant find any spec's on them at the moment ,but are they something like 12k
But that makes sense if its wired in parallel...cOOL

 

[Zhangliqun]

I forget how I did it, but if you know a little about P90 construction and series vs. parallel wiring, you should be able to feel your way through it by sight.

 

[Standard]

whoop i just found it, procedure seems simple enough, apparently you just cut the black wire between the coils and you're done.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f19/more-gas-and-more-pics-2001-gibson-les-paul-special-79413.html

 

[Standard]

I think I'm going to try it, hopefully I'll get a chance later today. I'll post some pics and results when I do get around to it.

 

[Standard]

well i took pics but they ended up pretty crappy. very simple procedure indeed, just cut the black wire and bam instant p90 tone.... almost. it sounds better than it did but it is not an actual p90 kind of sound. a replacement is still in the near future for this thing, now i just need to decide which one to go with.