Humbucker SIZE P-90 WHICH SHOULD I GET

T

thickwood

New member
Im looking for a P-90 that has the best tone insted of overly nasty , but we all know all P-90 pups growl abit on those round low notes.

Ive found for sale a rio grande p-90 HB size,and missisippi queen p-90 then theres a few bare knuckle p-90 im looking at .
Rail hammer gnarly 90 too anyone heard these ?
Im in luv with the classic single coil tone and the way they crunch blues chording,i prefere the high bends to soar abit and i play slide some.
All my amps are tube amp,this month i could not pass up the jca2212c 2 channel jet city for $299 free shipping from MF .
I retubed the combo with great tubes and no sino tubes and but thats just me.
The T-Rex Alberta OD pedal is fantastic on that amp.
Which bridge pickup should i get , i see some folks like the duncan pickups and some dont and the same for GFS dream 90s.
Any ideas ?
Damn if i want to try out a Rail Hammer its $99 , there half rail and half poles for more definition and clarity.
 
I should mention i want the p-90 for a schecter solo 6 custom Le , it sounded very thin and lifeless with the seymore duncan HB pups it came with.
The attitude p-90s give it is fantastic i think !
 
First, It's possible that the guitar sounds thin and doesn't sustain very well if the body and neck vibrate very out of phase, or there is a strong resonance or damping that highlights an unappealing frequency range. It's impossible to predict, and that's why smart players traditionally try out different guitars and pick those with the tone/sustain qualities they like. It's also near impossible to determine the electrified sound via the acoustic qualities, as the pickups only register the string vibrations. You can't hear those apart from the guitar resonances when listening acoustically.

Secondly, the electric sound is a combination of all the components. You can alter the upper mid character of any pickup via the C (Capacitacne) and R (Resistance) load. I would not spend much money on new pickups if the guitar is a essential a “lemon”. P90's are generally high inductance ~7-8H pickups, which means they typically roll of at ~2kHz or so. I have found that by adjusting the screw poles, pickup height, and settling on ~400pF C load with 500l pots, the pickup pole screws vs height produce ideal soft “woody” bass/mid sound with a sweet and defined ~2kHz resonance from the C & R load.

Lastly, you can alter the resonance character of any pickup with a few caps and/or a low C cable. Most 12” store brand cables are ~400pF, so that should be great with a typical 7-8H inductance P90. There are hum-free P90 type pickups on the market as well. Wilde makes the hum-free L610 in 2.4H, 3.6H & 4.8H. You would need a higher C & R load to get the same results as my GFS P90, but many have discovered the versatility of a 4.2-4.5kHz “bell tone” resonance, which a Wilde 3.6H/4.8H L610 set, a ~200pF guitar cable and and 250-500k pots offers on the neck with a smooth, but articulate roll off at ~4kHz on the bridge. Either way, it will not fix a bad sounding guitar.
 
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