im in a world of P90

[teleme01]

ok,  so here i am,  as stated in another thread,  confined into p90 routes,
now i am jumping into a hole nother pond and these are my confines.

i plan to wire with volume tone varitone wiring so hopefully that should give me a wide range of tones,  i am hoping between chime on one end of the spectrum and Pearly Gates on the other ... and i would love to sound like Julian Lage but my hands are aint quite like his .

so now i am in this new world of P90s,  what is your favorite p90s

 

[TBurst Std]

Well good luck LOL

I have a P90 guitar (Lollars).
I can have it chime when using the middle position with an AC30.
Pearly gates? Which position?
Neck, drop the midrange (counter intuitive), bridge, crank it with the tone knob slightly rolled back.

The concept of using a Varitone to do this is flawed.  If it was a great idea, all guitars would use it.

What pickups do is as much a matter of how they are constructed, if not much more so, than the value of simple caps attached to them.

 

[teleme01]

i guess what im getting at is that i have always had gibson humbucker type guitars and am new to the world of p90s,  so now i am confined to p90s,  what are the choices...

you have lollars and like them,  i am familiar with Fralin,  seen porter on instagram,  which do you like?

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

P90 routes are not a limitation.  There are many humbuckers in soapbar cases.  For the neck pickup, a mini-humbucker in a soapbar mount can be a good option.

 

[teleme01]

found this on lollar

More Pickup Options
For Guitars With P-90 Soapbar Routs

Did you know that our mini-humbucker-size pickups will fit in a P-90 soapbar rout? All you need is one of our mounting rings (sold separately) and you can install any of the following pickups:

Mini-humbucker
La Prima
Firebird
MiniBroiler

 

[TBurst Std]

You want chimey? That mini broiler will do that.  Didn’t even know they made the broiler in a mini

Think Ric tones

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I’m partial to the Duncan stacked P90’s, mainly becUse they are hum cancelling in all positions, not just the middle.

 

[teleme01]

as i dig around in this rabid whole,  i stumbled across the lollar gold foil,  kind of expensive,  very expansive? sounding,  i like them,  although i notice with all the videos,  the better the player, the better the demo,  a good player can make a shite pup sound good and a bad player can make a great pup sound like shite. hard to get objective comaparisons without using the same good players.

 

[Sadie-f]

as i dig around in this rabid whole,  i stumbled across the lollar gold foil,  kind of expensive,  very expansive? sounding,  i like them,  although i notice with all the videos,  the better the player, the better the demo,  a good player can make a shite pup sound good and a bad player can make a great pup sound like shite. hard to get objective comaparisons without using the same good players.

I'm not a spectacular guitarist. My w-strat middle position p/u is a novel foil, It sounds damn good. The layout is a single coil with magnet pole pieces to the n & s of the coil.

 

[stratamania]

as i dig around in this rabid whole,  i stumbled across the lollar gold foil,  kind of expensive,  very expansive? sounding,  i like them,  although i notice with all the videos,  the better the player, the better the demo,  a good player can make a shite pup sound good and a bad player can make a great pup sound like shite. hard to get objective comaparisons without using the same good players.

With regard to the rabbit hole, good players will always get more mileage out of a given piece of equipment. I think John Suhr has said somewhere, something like "if you have tone issues with today's gear, practice more".

You might find this thread interesting as it has a poll and discussion on the relative merits of pickups.

Pickups your view?

 

[teleme01]

ok, so as i wonder further into the hole on 90,  i am leaning towards the gold foil type pickup in the neck position, whether novak or mojo or lollar or who knows what other choices of gold foil in a p90 route.

so that is for the neck,  however at the same time i am cognizant of the fact that i have a walnut thinline,  and therefore would want to take advantage of the acoustic nature.... lots of dots ..... when i wonder this direction i think benedetto

for the bridge i am still thinking pearly gates, or Duane allman, or creamy, les paul {tone description}... so that said,  what would go well paired with a gold foil... ? or jmx, or benedetto ?  perhaps the best thing is to have matching neck and bridge pickups instead of the variants?  thats always an option.

oh yeah,  i also saw on curtic\s novak a jmx tele pickup,  so that tends to be a spectrum consideration in place of gold foil for the neck if that makes any sense,  the good thing about shopping is you dont have to buy,  its all a mind trip  ???  hope you dont mind my indulgent ocd ventures,  if you participate,  thanks,  if not, thats ok 2

lastly,  im not married to a varitone,  concensus is to foregoit

 

[stratamania]

@teleme01 I think you need to choose a pair of pickups that complement each other as trying to get both gold foil in the neck and a PAF/Pearly Gates type of thing in the bridge in P90 form is not really a thing (at least that I am aware of).

 

[TBurst Std]

If going goldfoil go Mojo.
For PAF, you reference Pearly Gates and Allman. For a PAF those are quite different tones. Ones scooped, the other mid heavy. Not to mention different mags.
Best to decide which you want.

Again pick 2 tones you’d like to do, specifically. Offer examples. If you can’t detail what you want, you’ll never achieve it.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I tend to agree with the comment to consider choosing a "Set" of pickups, even if you buy them one at a time.  If you go to a boutique winder, it should be possible to get a custom set wound with a slightly hotter bridge, or whatever requirement you have in mind.  There is still no guarantee it will do exactly what you want, so if you end up swapping one of the pickups you could end up with something interesting and unique.  Its only money, right?

I am curious where you can get a Pearly Gates in a soapbar mount. 

 

[teleme01]

If going goldfoil go Mojo.
For PAF, you reference Pearly Gates and Allman. For a PAF those are quite different tones. Ones scooped, the other mid heavy. Not to mention different mags.
Best to decide which you want.

Again pick 2 tones you’d like to do, specifically. Offer examples. If you can’t detail what you want, you’ll never achieve it.

my reference to duane allman and pearly gates... i believe they both use(D) alnico 2 magnets,  sustain,  ballsy but not distortion,  perhaps slightly overwound ... driving but not dirty ... The best way for me  to describe the tone i am looking for in the bridge is the tone i get from the pearly gates that i have in a 335 style stewmac guitar.  im not looking for distortion, i have a peavey classic 30 amp and i dont use any pedals.

in the neck position i am looking for clean,  it might help to mention that my repertoire includes danny boy, favorite things, misty, a train, just friends, watermelon man,  stormy monday, blues in a, which reminds me of a joke,  have you ever seen a stampede of 3?  they are leaving the jazz gig..  for those who know comedy,  its all in the timing ... ok ... that sucked.

lastly i reference stratamanias comment about matching pair...  very well may be where i end up and i do appreciate your input,  also thanks to sadie and tony and johnny and tburst,  sorry if i missed anyone, 

 

[stratamania]

Chirs Kinman's P90 Gen 3 pickups would be a good set I think.

https://www.mobile.kinman.com/products/bright-nasty-90pickups.php

 

[teleme01]

https://customshop.seymourduncan.com/humbucker-under-p90-soapbar/  found this on seymour duncan,  a humbucker in a p90,  choice of voicings include pearly gate.

messaged sd, "can it also be voiced for Benedetto tone?"
response ... Yes, you can put in the notes section of the Humbucker under P90 of the tone that you would like and they will try to get it as close to that tone as possible.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

The Seymour Duncan Soapbar looks interesting.  I hope it is worth the price.  The difficulty will be knowing the right specs for your guitar.

If you order Soapbar pickups, I suggest to order 4-conductor wiring.  Some vintage style soapbar pickups are made in reverse polarity.  If you choose single conductor wiring, that can end up being a problem if you decide to mix pickups from different sets.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

You could consider the Fishman Greg Koch P-90 Sigs.

 

[teleme01]

i found this stellartone https://stellartone.com/  which is a varitone knob