Modifying a P90 pickup for a flat cover and S/P switching

[Stealth]

Hello, gents,

two questions from me, the first one because I'm unsure whether it's a good idea, the second because I want to reassure myself about something. Suppose you had a pair of decent P-90 RWRP pickups that have standard polepieces and a single-conductor-single-shield lead, and you wanted to fit it to a closed-top cover (purely for aesthetic purposes) and wire it so you could run them in series/parallel.

1) Is it possible to swap the screw polepieces with something with a flat (or flatter) top, so the top of the bobbin would be pressed against the inside of the cover? Would the fact the polepiece is no longer a screwhead with 50% bigger diameter than the screw itself seriously affect the tone? Ultimately, is it just a better idea to drill the holes into the cover (it's a no-hole dog-ear) and mount the pickup the standard way?

2) I've had to uncover the bridge pickup to transplant it into the dog-ear cover, and I noticed that, while outside the pickup has two leads (white signal and bare ground), internally the pickups have three (white start, black end and bare ground soldered to the baseplate). Would I just need to split the black and bare the pickup wires at the baseplate on both pickups to be able to run them in series/parallel?

[David Schwab]

1) Is it possible to swap the screw polepieces with something with a flat (or flatter) top, so the top of the bobbin would be pressed against the inside of the cover? Would the fact the polepiece is no longer a screwhead with 50% bigger diameter than the screw itself seriously affect the tone? Ultimately, is it just a better idea to drill the holes into the cover (it's a no-hole dog-ear) and mount the pickup the standard way?

That shouldn't be a problem. I make a lot of pickups with no exposed poles and they work fine.

2) I've had to uncover the bridge pickup to transplant it into the dog-ear cover, and I noticed that, while outside the pickup has two leads (white signal and bare ground), internally the pickups have three (white start, black end and bare ground soldered to the baseplate). Would I just need to split the black and bare the pickup wires at the baseplate on both pickups to be able to run them in series/parallel?

Yes, separate the ground from the pickup's common lead. You can get three conductor cable so that the two leads from the coil are not part of the ground.

This is the type of wire you want:

AWG 28-Ga 2-Conductor Shielded Guitar Pickup Wire

[Peter Naglitsch]

On some P90s you can lower the screws enough to get a solid cover in place. Iv not, just grind the top part of the screw down.

[Stealth]

Yes, separate the ground from the pickup's common lead. You can get three conductor cable so that the two leads from the coil are not part of the ground.
This is the type of wire you want:
AWG 28-Ga 2-Conductor Shielded Guitar Pickup Wire

Right-o, time to make a shopping list.

On some P90s you can lower the screws enough to get a solid cover in place. Iv not, just grind the top part of the screw down.

Thanks, I'll check the bobbins themselves and see if it can be done, if not, time to hit the nearest key-maker since they usually have a grinder.