P90s and me

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

...I also own a Casino and it's a fabulous guitar as well! I love P90s for that slightly fatter single coils tone.Attachment 98950Attachment 98951

Yesterday when coming back from our gig, we stopped off at my duet partners house, and when we got there, he pulled out a few year old, made in China, Epiphone Casino. It belonged to a close friend, a very good local blues player, who wanted my partner to just change out just the harness. But after hearing a set of the Wolfetones in another guitar, he told him to replace all the electronics. He went with CTS pots, switchcraft switch and jack, and some SOZO caps. The pickups he installed were a Wolfetone mean and meaner set. The guitar sounded absolutely killer. As a matter of fact, the neck pickup (which I think is the hardest to get right in most guitars) sounded great, with just the right balance of fatness and clarity, and the bridge pickup smoked. The middle position was hum cancelling. I think the Epiphone sounded better than my old $3000 Gibson Historic ES330.

[Dadzmad]

I've got 2 with P90's, a Godin Kingpin and a recent Harmony Juno. The Tele in the middle has what is to supposed to.

I had a Jr that was stolen in 1970, that got me into this.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Dadzmad

I've got 2 with P90's, a Godin Kingpin and a recent Harmony Juno. The Tele in the middle has what is to supposed to.

I had a Jr that was stolen in 1970, that got me into this.

I played and examined a Harmony Juno like that a while back, and I can tell you those pickups looks nothing like P90s, even though that's what they call them. That said, it was one of the best sounding new guitars I've heard in a log time, and it had a very unique blues sound that sounded great. I also like the big neck on it. Fantastic guitar all the way around.

[jay42]

Without preaching, my favorite band almost always chose single coil pickup.

[guitararmy]

Gotta love a P90 into a tube amp!
I used to have a Hamer Special in TV Yellow with a pair of Duncan P90’s…
I currently use DiMarzio Q100’s , pretty quiet and punchier than a regular humbucker

[Beachrunner]

The stock P90's in my 2011 Gibson Melody Maker Special rock. Hard to beat a Gibson P90.

But - I finally got tired of the sharp fret ends on this one, so I'm in the process of filing 'em down..

Other than that slight issue, though, this one's a keeper.

[abn556]

I bought an SG Special with P90s a few years ago just to fill this void. I much prefer P90s to single coil Strat or Tele pups.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by Russ C

G’day. I’d like to tell my story with P90s and why I love them. It may be of interest - maybe some of you identify too.
Something in my childhood years as a guitar enthusiast bonded to the sound of Gibson electric guitars. (There was that, and the twangy surfy stuff - which is fabulous too). I perceived magic that probably wasn’t there but I heard it anyway.
Although the first Gibson I could afford was a beat up Epiphone Casino, the amp I had at the time didn’t do it any justice and the magic didn’t happen.

It's always, always, always better to have a great amp and a passable electric guitar than a great electric guitar and a passable amp!

Originally Posted by Russ C

Then I discovered Strats and quickly sold the Epiphone - but not before the ergonomics of it had cemented themselves into my memory.
Decades and several Fenders, Gretschs and solid or semi solid Gibsons without P90’s (for practical reasons) later I bought a preloved Gibson 330 VOS (for romantic reasons) and rediscovered the sound I thought was only fantasy (now with amps capable of producing it). More recently I’ve bought a gold-top with P90’s too.

More like it!

Originally Posted by Russ C

I do not want to denigrate Gibson humbuckers because so many people who make better music than I ever will love them but P90’s do a couple of things I like better than anything else I found in 60 years.
I can get a woody acoustic quality with percussive definition and clarity on every note anywhere on the fretboard (nothing muddy, even old wound strings above the 12th fret) - and the trebles are richer than I get with anything else. I can solo clean in a band and not feel inadequate (except for the self doubt most of us know about).

Hear ya. I'm a hopelessly devoted Strat/Tele guy. But the single best-sounding pickup I've ever had was the single P90 on a 1940s ES-150. Like wow.

Originally Posted by Russ C

Of course then there’s the hum.. Well, the Les Paul HAD to be shielded (not ideal at all fellas) and that only brought it down to how my 330 and Fenders are - but after decades using single coils in bands I don’t hear it. I hear the tone above all else .. which obviously I find very important.

Tone is the end-all and be-all. Glad you know what's what!

[Russ C]

Thank you for agreeing with me Charlie 😉