P-90`s wish I knew earlier

[talister106]

For over thirty years I had a Les Paul and a Strat, now to prepare for retirement and for other reasons I bought four new Fenders this year. That being the case I wanted a new Gibson to round off the collection so after much thought decided on a Les Paul Special. The main reason was the P-90`s pickups which I had never had before. The clean tone at low levels were very nice but the growl and bark at max volume are new and opens me to a new level of expression.

[pieterh]

P90s are awesome - better late than never!

[BoneDigger]

P90s are by far my favorite pickups. Congrats on the new guitar!

[raysachs]

My first electric love is the sound (more like various sounds) of a strat. My second, which sometimes competes with the first is P-90s. My third and fourth don't exist. Well, maybe a tele is third, but I don't have one - when I've had 'em I never played them.

I seem to prefer P90s in a solid body Gibson type guitar (Les Paul or similar or SG). I have 'em in an SG these days. I like playing the strat more, but quite often if I'm recording something and want to add an electric guitar part with some dirt behind it, I'll pull out the SG. P90s are amazing. I don't know why anyone bothers with hum buckers with P90s out there. Well, except for hum, but when the payoff for a little noise is such a beautiful noise, it's an easy call for me.

-Ray

[FrankHudson]

The first I heard of P90s was in the context of the being replaced by Seth Lover's PAF humbuckers which were considered the "holy grail" tone-wise in those days. The stories always made it like Seth Lover's design was on the order of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine or the electric light bulb, and if there were more Swedish guitar players back then he should have won the Nobel Prize.

Therefore I considered any guitar with P90s to be obsolete and undesirable.

I eventually settled on Telecasters as my "home" sound, so I came to appreciate single coils, but still avoided P90s.

Then I got a Squier Tele Custom with two P90s. Like the OP, I was surprised at how well they worked in crunch levels of gain and higher. More definition that many humbuckers, nice EQ bite. Now I had a P90 sound I liked!

Then just a few years back I bought a Epi 339 Pro with P90s. I noticed that they were extraordinarily responsive to changes in attack and volume. Picked gently into a clean amp some of the nicest clean sounds I'd ever heard, and add a little volume and dig in, and the clean sound would bark and growl more.

I've been a full-on fan ever since. Enjoy your Special! See if you make it do can do that sweet clean to mean thing, because it's addictive.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by raysachs

...I seem to prefer P-90s in a solid body Gibson type guitar (Les Paul or similar or SG)...P-90s are amazing. I don't know why anyone bothers with humbuckers with P-90s out there...

I'm an old Gretsch guy, but I keep two P-90 guitars on hand - a limited-edition 2011 Gibson LP Studio '60s Tribute goldtop (with the PRS-style revealed "binding") and a 2012 Godin CW II hollowbody, and if you're used to the raunchier side of things (which the LP does like no other - except perhaps a nice old SG Special like a former bandbud's '65) the CW II may come as a revelation. As I'm sure you're aware P-90's come in a variety of different flavors and, if you're inclined to explore the more refined side of the spectrum exemplified by the new generation of underwound examples (hotter pickups would drive this one into uncontrollable feedback - and not the "good" kind ), I can hardly think of a better vehicle; assembled with the usual Godin attention to QC and playability, it's constructed from exceptionally lightweight woods (mine scales in at just a tick over five pounds - comparable to the Seagull mini-jumbos from which it takes its general body dimensions and neck carve) that lend a near-acoustic airiness to the tone, to my ears reminiscent of a similarly-constructed old Brooklyn Gretsch but with the characteristic P-90 midrange response. This one's more than just a jazzbox - none of the "thud-&-mud" of the Bop-era ES-175/Epiphone Zephyr Regent that inspired the genre - and as long as you're not into death metal could easily serve as an all-around guitar: a lot going on for $1K, and if you're a P-90 fan you owe it to yourself to give the CW II an audition...

[Dru Edwards]

Congrats on the Les Paul Special. Is it the yellow or the cherry?

P-90s rock. I have them in a 2011 Les Paul Tribute Goldtop (same one that Steve D has) and also in a Gibson SG 50s Tribute (even though there were no SGs in the 50s, Gibson released this guitar as to what it would have been like).

Have fun with your Les Paul Special.

[M Sarad]

I have a 2019 LP TV Special, a 3/4 LP Jr, and a PRS McCarty Gold Top Double cut with soap bar P90s.

Saturday night gig was Tele first set and PRS second.
The P90s just sang.

[talister106]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Congrats on the Les Paul Special. Is it the yellow or the cherry?

P-90s rock. I have them in a 2011 Les Paul Tribute Goldtop (same one that Steve D has) and also in a Gibson SG 50s Tribute (even though there were no SGs in the 50s, Gibson released this guitar as to what it would have been like).

Have fun with your Les Paul Special.

It`s a TV Yellow

[talister106]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I'm an old Gretsch guy, but I keep two P-90 guitars on hand - a limited-edition 2011 Gibson LP Studio '60s Tribute goldtop (with the PRS-style revealed "binding") and a 2012 Godin CW II hollowbody, and if you're used to the raunchier side of things (which the LP does like no other - except perhaps a nice old SG Special like a former bandbud's '65) the CW II may come as a revelation. As I'm sure you're aware P-90's come in a variety of different flavors and, if you're inclined to explore the more refined side of the spectrum exemplified by the new generation of underwound examples (hotter pickups would drive this one into uncontrollable feedback - and not the "good" kind ), I can hardly think of a better vehicle; assembled with the usual Godin attention to QC and playability, it's constructed from exceptionally lightweight woods (mine scales in at just a tick over five pounds - comparable to the Seagull mini-jumbos from which it takes its general body dimensions and neck carve) that lend a near-acoustic airiness to the tone, to my ears reminiscent of a similarly-constructed old Brooklyn Gretsch but with the characteristic P-90 midrange response. This one's more than just a jazzbox - none of the "thud-&-mud" of the Bop-era ES-175/Epiphone Zephyr Regent that inspired the genre - and as long as you're not into death metal could easily serve as an all-around guitar: a lot going on for $1K, and if you're a P-90 fan you owe it to yourself to give the CW II an audition...

I did find the CW2`s on line and they do look nice with those dogeared P90`s Thx for the heads up.

[Shaneh]

Anyone try the noiseless p90s. I have guild t-50 I like with a p90 but the hum can be unbearable sometimes when not actively playing. Thinking about changing to one of the noiseless ones which I understand are not true p90s but sound the same.

[KevWind]

[Dru Edwards]

Kev (^), what wood is that? Beautiful.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Kev (^), what wood is that? Beautiful.

Malaysian Blackwood top on an Alder body, figured Maple neck, anodized black aluminum pick guard . What Fender calls J-P90 pickups

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Has a bit of a George Harrison vibe: