P90's for a Swamp Ash Strat/Wenge Neck?

C

chrisrbr

Newbie
Messages
7
Hey Everyone,
Just ordered a Swamp Ash strat body and a Wenge neck/Pau Ferro board.  Don't have any guitars with P90's so this one will be my first try.  I play a pretty wide range of material in my band.  Use a tube amp run fairly clean and pedals to push it. 
So I'm looking for P90 advice.  Lollar and Fralin seem to lead most reviews I see. 

Any ideas would be helpful,
thanks
Chris
 
Welcome to the 'boards!

I just put SD P-Rails in our frontman's strat, and he really likes it. Granted, his guitar isn't made of any of the woods yours is (-his is the standard alder/maple/rosewood), but the rig sounds similar enough: Fender tube amp/Plimsoul +/or TS808/wah to play classic/roots/southern rock and blues.

The advantage with P-Rails is that one can have a real P-90 or a HB (so long as it's no too offensive to install some sort of fancy/additional switch or push/pull pot to select one or the other); -the single coil (the "rail" part of the contraption opposite the P-90) alone is sorta thin, and not worth providing a circuit for it to come on by itself.

He can get some relatively convincing LP Jr. tones out of it, depending on pedal and amp settings, and going to heavier, more over-driven rock tones come with switching to the HB selection.

Good luck making your selection! -Pics when ya got 'er done!  :icon_thumright:
 
I actually do have a P-rail in the neck of another guitar. (Warmouth Black Korina).  Agree that the rail is really weak.  The P-rail is a fair "jack of all trades" PU. For this build I'm looking for a dynamic/touch sensitive P90 set.  Something more authentic sounding. thanks for the idea though that's a good one.
 
I've had great success going with Duncan 'vintage' & 'hot' P-90s myself...no complaints at all there. Between the Lollars and the Fralins, if those are your choices, I'd go with the Lollars, despite the expense, as his stuff is usually pretty good. The Lollars, on the other hand, have been somewhat disappointing in that they lack a certain indefinable something that results in them being short on 'personality'. Pickups are such a subjective topic, but, again, my first choice is always Duncan--I think they do everything you want them to. 
 
Suggest Roadhouse pickups.  I have strat set and humbuckers and am extremely happy with both.
 
I think Bagman put some Roadhouse P90s on one of his builds, and swears they're the best-sounding things he's ever had.
 
Well I did some searching into Roadhouse P90's here and everyone seems to love them. And I would certainly rather give my business to someone on this site rather a huge corporation.  Though I'm not even sure what to ask for in terms of specs. 
 
Cagey said:
I think Bagman put some Roadhouse P90s on one of his builds, and swears they're the best-sounding things he's ever had.
Click to expand...


Indeed.  I have a pair of showroom stock True BLue P90's from Roadhouse, and I could not be happier.  They are very responsive to your attack as a player - when you beat the hell out of your guitar, they scream, and when you lay back, they purr.
 
chrisrbr said:
Well I did some searching into Roadhouse P90's here and everyone seems to love them. And I would certainly rather give my business to someone on this site rather a huge corporation. 

Though I'm not even sure what to ask for in terms of specs.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be a problem. Just tell Ken what you want to hear, he's pretty good at coming up with the correct answer.
Good luck with your project.
:rock-on:
 
I'd look into what Cagey said. And although they are pricey I have been checking out sound samples on Chris Kinman's website and his P90's seem impressive as well as quiet.
 
Hi everyone,
Well I decided to go with Ken at Roadhouse for my P90's and I am so glad I did.  I have gigged with the guitar the last three weekends and can't stop playing it which is my real test.  Ken was correct to suggest 250k pots, had 500K's to start but was to ice picky.  To give some more versatility I used a no load for the tone control and a .047uf cap.  Band plays everything from Beatles to Def Leopard to Paramore so always need to cover many/too many sounds/tones.  Usually play a HSS strat with a S-1 switch to split the bridge humbucker.  But the P-90's give a good cross section of SC versus Humbucker.  Rolling the vol and tone a bit can go a long way.  And I like the clarity of Kens.  Not muddy like a hum can be, but can be thicker than a SC.  Keeping the tone wide open and just backing off the vol a bit yields more SC territory. 

I just wish I could hear it at "band volume" but we use in ears so by the time I hear it, it's just not the same.  (but my ears will live for another day)

I'll post some picks of the Daphne Blue Strat in the work in progress section.
Chris
 
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