Suggestions for real good P90 pickups.

[Duffy]

My SX LP Special is not a new one. It is a few years old and a set neck, all mahogany, quite nice really.

The pickups just don't seem very good and they are not noise cancelling. My other P90, a Squier VM Tele Custom II has way better P90s - duncan designed.

I am thinking of getting some decent ones to put in but need to look around. Maybe Seymour Duncan real ones.

I have bought GFS pickups a few times and some have been good, but most have left me wishing I had spent a few extra dollars and gotten what I really wanted, like the P bass Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders I wanted. Should have gotten them but put in GFS hot P bass instead and was not much impressed. I think with GFS that they make some real good pickups, but you need to know which ones are great and get them. They have a somewhat "cult" following and you need to know which ones are real good. Not all of their pickups live up to the exuberant verbosity embellishing the web page descriptions.

The mediocre, at best, stock pickups on this LP Special copy will stay in the guitar unless I find some replacements that are going to be a big improvement. I need to do some more research on this and seek some feedback from other P90 fans.

Any P90 fans out there that might be able to suggest some good replacements for those in my LP Special copy? They are the soapbar type and I would like to get some real good sounding ones. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Tig]

The best sounding P-90's I've ever played were in an LP... Some Lindy Fralin's (http://www.fralinpickups.com/p90s.asp) that were slightly over-wound. The regular 90's run $90, and the hum canceling 90's run $130 :eek:. The Fralin youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/FralinPickups#p/u).

I know Seymour Duncan makes some highly regarded P-90's, but have no experience with them other than some "Designed By" copies that were really nice.

The other great choice would be Lollar P-90's (http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=p90-pickups).
Here are some sound files (http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=201&Category_Code=P90-pickups#mp3) that may not do them justice.

[piebaldpython]

BG-Pups P90.......Classic P90s in Vintage or Hot format:
http://www.bg-pups.com/p90.html

Or.......Humbucker size P90s....Pure90:
http://www.bg-pups.com/h90.html

I'm having a Hot90 put in the bridge of my currently being made custom lap steel. This guy is a very talented winder with a fabulous reputation.

[duhvoodooman]

I've repeatedly read good things about both Lollars and Fralins.

[MAXIFUNK]

These have peaked my interest.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/specialized/progressive/stkp1_p90_stack/

[bcdon]

My Godin came with Lollar P90s and they are awesome!
Check out http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=p90-pickups

This thread has some great Lollar P90 goodness:
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/17556-NGD-Godin-Icon-Type-3?highlight=

[Brian Krashpad]

The best sounding P-90's I've ever played were in an LP... Some Lindy Fralin's (http://www.fralinpickups.com/p90s.asp) that were slightly over-wound. The regular 90's run $90, and the hum canceling 90's run $130 :eek:. The Fralin youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/FralinPickups#p/u).

I know Seymour Duncan makes some highly regarded P-90's, but have no experience with them other than some "Designed By" copies that were really nice.

The other great choice would be Lollar P-90's (http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=p90-pickups).
Here are some sound files (http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=201&Category_Code=P90-pickups#mp3) that may not do them justice.

Fralins and Lollars seem to be the super-high-end boutique P-90's of choice.

I have Seymour Duncans in my Hamer Special and they're great.

I have Duncan Designeds in my Tempest Special and they're fine; the DD's are also the same ones Fender uses in their Squier Custom II Tele. Not sure if Duncan sells DD's separately or whether they're just in guitars as OEM stock pickups.

Fwiw I had GFS P-90's in a Frankenstrat I briefly owned, and they seemed fine for a more budget replacement pickup.

[Bloozcat]

It all depends on how much you want to spend...

If money was no object and I wanted great P90 tone but without the noise (which is a really big thing with P90's), then I'd get the Kinman P90Hx set. But, like all Kinman pickups, they are expensive @ $318.00 a set. Listen to the video/sound files on the Kinman site for an idea of how they sound - especially the Mark Mitchell video where he's playing them in his white scalloped neck Strat clone he made. What tone!

http://www.kinman.com/guitar-pickups/p90/hx90.htm

The BG's are probably the best combination of custom wounds with great tone and a reasonable price. Bryan Gunsher is a good guy to deal with as well.

There used to be a whole bunch of Korean import P-90's kicking around, but they all seemed to have disappeared. Brands like Giovanni, Artec, and several no-name that people called various names. Many of these sounded surprisingly good, especially for well less than $80.00 a pair, and many half that price.

Of the less expensive import P90's out there I can only find two right now - the GFS, and the Toneriders.

I don't really care for the tone of the GFS - not very clear/sharp/distinct or even muddy sounding. And Jay doesn't even print which Alnico magnets he uses in them (although I'm sure he'd tell you if you e-mail him).

Tonerider gives you a choice of Alnico II for a more 50's vintage tone or an Alnico V for a more 60's tone like the famous Leslie West tone. It's too bad they discontinued the Hybrid magnet P90's they used to market. With the mixture of Alnico II and Alnico V magnets they had the best of both tone worlds IMHO. But still, the current Vintage 90 version in your preference of magnet (mine's A-5) are probably the best deal out there now at $78.00 delivered from Ralph Halsey (RJHALSEY on Ebay) at RH Factor Guitars. Ralph is a regular on many guitar forums and is a good reliable source for Toneriders.

Well, that's about my $.02....

[Eric]

Well, you could give some new ones a workout. I think they're called P90X.

Hmm...

[duhvoodooman]

Well, you could give some new ones a workout. I think they're called P90X.Yeah, I figured it was only a matter of time until somebody dropped that line.... :rolleyes:

[marnold]

Premier Guitar has a review of a guitar with Lollar P90s in it. The sound clips should give you an idea anyway.
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Mar/Fano_Guitars_JM6_Electric_Guitar_Review.aspx

[Eric]

The BG's are probably the best combination of custom wounds with great tone and a reasonable price. Bryan Gunsher is a good guy to deal with as well.

There used to be a whole bunch of Korean import P-90's kicking around, but they all seemed to have disappeared. Brands like Giovanni, Artec, and several no-name that people called various names. Many of these sounded surprisingly good, especially for well less than $80.00 a pair, and many half that price.

Of the less expensive import P90's out there I can only find two right now - the GFS, and the Toneriders.

I don't really care for the tone of the GFS - not very clear/sharp/distinct or even muddy sounding. And Jay doesn't even print which Alnico magnets he uses in them (although I'm sure he'd tell you if you e-mail him).

Tonerider gives you a choice of Alnico II for a more 50's vintage tone or an Alnico V for a more 60's tone like the famous Leslie West tone. It's too bad they discontinued the Hybrid magnet P90's they used to market. With the mixture of Alnico II and Alnico V magnets they had the best of both tone worlds IMHO. But still, the current Vintage 90 version in your preference of magnet (mine's A-5) are probably the best deal out there now at $78.00 delivered from Ralph Halsey (RJHALSEY on Ebay) at RH Factor Guitars. Ralph is a regular on many guitar forums and is a good reliable source for Toneriders.
Hey Blooz, how about a drop-in replacement for humbuckers? I see they have those Rebel 90s from Tonerider -- do you know anything about them? Do your recommendations change at all when it comes to a P90-in-a-humbucker situation?

For magnets and everything, I'm mostly interested in experiencing/understanding the P90 tone without buying a new guitar, so what sort of magnet do you think would suit that? A5? A2?

How would BG pickups compare to Seymour Duncan or Tonerider? They all seem to be in roughly the same price bracket.

Sorry for all of the questions, but it seemed like a good time to piggyback on this thread...

[Duffy]

Thanks for the info.

I'm not really looking at GFS seriously at this point. I have not been totally impressed with their pickups in the past and would rather pay the premium price for some nice pickups.

I trust Seymour Duncan and like the duncan designed ones in one of my P ninety guitars, but I'm sure there are better pickups with better tone. The real SD's would most likely be a big improvement over the duncan designed ones.

I have not tried any Tonerider pickups yet but they get great recommendations everywhere I see them mentioned, like the Keystones do - that's Bill Lawrence or some other company that bought him out. I'm not sure if there are two companies but one of them is Wilde pickups or something like that and they sell Bill Lawrence designs and he supposedly has direct involvement in the mass production process.

I definitely want to go with some alnico type ones. I really like the Fender Tex Mex pickups in my Nashville tele compared to the ceramics in my MIM standard tele. I am going to replace the ceramics in the MIM std before long probably. The Nashville just sounds so much better when A/B'd, to my ear. I keep thinking about what I want to put in the MIM std - noiseless SD's or something else like the Keystones or something else. Lots of tele pickup options out there.

I would want to go with the Leslie West type tone - who wouldn't? But there is a lot more to his tone than the pickup on his guitar, ha ha. I read that he got his signature sound using a big Sunn PA power amp into his cabinets, as part of his amplifier rig. Supposedly it was an accidental discovery. Plus he plays VERY loud by any means, and that extreme volume brings out tonal aspects of the guitar and amp system that you don't get at moderate volume.

I definitely like the alnico magnets though. The guitar I want to put them in sounds very brash, and not a nice musical brash either. There is a lot of room for improvement in the pickups in this guitar and possibly the electronics as well. So I might have new pots put in too and do it following a SD schematic or other mfg schematic regarding specific capacitor options, etc. SD has real good customer service that is easily reachable by phone, along with a product I trust, but I'm not ruling out other mfg's, except for GFS.

[Bloozcat]

Hey Blooz, how about a drop-in replacement for humbuckers? I see they have those Rebel 90s from Tonerider -- do you know anything about them? Do your recommendations change at all when it comes to a P90-in-a-humbucker situation?

For magnets and everything, I'm mostly interested in experiencing/understanding the P90 tone without buying a new guitar, so what sort of magnet do you think would suit that? A5? A2?

How would BG pickups compare to Seymour Duncan or Tonerider? They all seem to be in roughly the same price bracket.

Sorry for all of the questions, but it seemed like a good time to piggyback on this thread...

Eric,

I can't comment from direct experience on the Rebel 90's, but the reviews and posts on other music forums I've read have been very positive. Many of the comments about them are about how much better they actually sound compared to Duncans, DiMarzios, etc. Some even claim that they sound as good as or close to some custom winds. That may or may not be, but they certainly seem worth trying. One comment I see a lot is that they are punchier than regular sized P90's. I believe they're made more as a rock/electric blues kind of P90 tone than a softer jazzy tone. For the money the Toneriders are certainly worth trying. If I had a need for a humbucker sized P90 I'd give them a shot, without reservation. Check out some of the You Tube videos on the Rebel 90.

I have a set of the Tonerider Pure Vintage single coils in a Strat clone and they are pretty spot on with their claim of 'vintage' tone. They're clear, sparkly, and balanced, and even the bridge pickup sounds good - no spikey harshness like a lot of Strat bridge pickups. They're made with a mix of Alnico III and V magnets.

Generally speaking, the Alnico II P90's will have a cleaner, clearer tone - particularly at higher volume/gain settings. The Alnico V sets are usually a little less clear although not that much when comparing clean volume settings. The Alnico V's get a richer, snarling tone in higher gain modes though which make them a little better for rock. That having been said, I've played/heard many Alnico II P90's that sound nice and rich, fat and snarly through a good tube amp. I like P90's for that biting, snarly tone that's sort of like a nuanced humbucker with some of the single coil tone/clarity mixed in. So for me I prefer the Alnico V's. But as with all opinions, they vary depending on the individual.

As to the custom wounds, they bring another dimension to any pickup, whether they are humbuckers, P90's or regular single coils. The good custom winder will listen to what his customer describes as his ideal tone and then he'll wind a pickup to capture that for him. There's a certain quality in the tone of a good custom wound pickup that's hard to define. It's that tone that just says "that's it, that's the tone I'm looking for". I have a set of Vintage Vibe Alnico V P90's that do this (along with a VV Tele neck pu), three sets of different humbuckers from two different winders, and three sets of custom wound Strat single coils from three different winders. I was fortunate to have found each of these winders when they were first starting out and trying to make a name for themselves, so I got them for less money than Duncans or DiMarzios would have cost.

BG's and Duncans are in roughly the same price range in which case I'd opt for the BG's. The Toneriders are the best value of the bunch with great tone at a really reasonable price. The Rebel 90's are $98.00 a set delivered from RH Factor guitars. Not a bad price for someone who's experimenting with P90 tone...:AOK

[kidsmoke]

A buddy of mine took his el cheapo chinese gold top knockoff to a good tech, and had him put Lollars and new pots in it. It's a beast. He plays it through a BJr, what tone! I have heard other P90's live, but don't know what they were, so I can't compare but that this guitar now sounds amazing.

regarding customer service, I was considering investing in a pair of Lollar Imperials (PAF clones) for a knock off 335 with VERY aged gold hardware, and sent an email off to ask about "relic'd" covers on new p'ups. I had a response in a matter of minutes. Several months later I "friended" Jason on FB, and we've had a few very friendly exchanges since then, just regular guy who fell into his passion. He still gets out with his beer drenched and tattooed buddies and tears it up on an old 335 with his imperials in it, and takes time to shoot the sh*t with a guy like me who wants to talk shop....

I'm still looking for an excuse to buy a set of his p'ups for these reasons. Over time, the 30 or 40 bucks more I spent won't matter as much as the great sound I got, and supporting a guy like that.

No doubt there are others in the same boat. Sounds to me like Bryan Gunsher falls into this category.

[Eric]

Eric,

I can't comment from direct experience on the Rebel 90's, but the reviews and posts on other music forums I've read have been very positive. Many of the comments about them are about how much better they actually sound compared to Duncans, DiMarzios, etc. Some even claim that they sound as good as or close to some custom winds. That may or may not be, but they certainly seem worth trying. One comment I see a lot is that they are punchier than regular sized P90's. I believe they're made more as a rock/electric blues kind of P90 tone than a softer jazzy tone. For the money the Toneriders are certainly worth trying. If I had a need for a humbucker sized P90 I'd give them a shot, without reservation. Check out some of the You Tube videos on the Rebel 90.

I have a set of the Tonerider Pure Vintage single coils in a Strat clone and they are pretty spot on with their claim of 'vintage' tone. They're clear, sparkly, and balanced, and even the bridge pickup sounds good - no spikey harshness like a lot of Strat bridge pickups. They're made with a mix of Alnico III and V magnets.

Generally speaking, the Alnico II P90's will have a cleaner, clearer tone - particularly at higher volume/gain settings. The Alnico V sets are usually a little less clear although not that much when comparing clean volume settings. The Alnico V's get a richer, snarling tone in higher gain modes though which make them a little better for rock. That having been said, I've played/heard many Alnico II P90's that sound nice and rich, fat and snarly through a good tube amp. I like P90's for that biting, snarly tone that's sort of like a nuanced humbucker with some of the single coil tone/clarity mixed in. So for me I prefer the Alnico V's. But as with all opinions, they vary depending on the individual.

As to the custom wounds, they bring another dimension to any pickup, whether they are humbuckers, P90's or regular single coils. The good custom winder will listen to what his customer describes as his ideal tone and then he'll wind a pickup to capture that for him. There's a certain quality in the tone of a good custom wound pickup that's hard to define. It's that tone that just says "that's it, that's the tone I'm looking for". I have a set of Vintage Vibe Alnico V P90's that do this (along with a VV Tele neck pu), three sets of different humbuckers from two different winders, and three sets of custom wound Strat single coils from three different winders. I was fortunate to have found each of these winders when they were first starting out and trying to make a name for themselves, so I got them for less money than Duncans or DiMarzios would have cost.

BG's and Duncans are in roughly the same price range in which case I'd opt for the BG's. The Toneriders are the best value of the bunch with great tone at a really reasonable price. The Rebel 90's are $98.00 a set delivered from RH Factor guitars. Not a bad price for someone who's experimenting with P90 tone...:AOK
Cool -- thanks for the input. If/when I decide to give P90s a whirl, Tonerider seems to be a strong candidate.

[Bloozcat]

I have not tried any Tonerider pickups yet but they get great recommendations everywhere I see them mentioned, like the Keystones do - that's Bill Lawrence or some other company that bought him out. I'm not sure if there are two companies but one of them is Wilde pickups or something like that and they sell Bill Lawrence designs and he supposedly has direct involvement in the mass production process.

Keystones are made by the Bill Lawrence a.k.a. Willie Stich, who designed all of the pickups marketed under the Bill Lawrence and Wilde pickups name. Bill and his former business partner had a 'falling out' and split up. Bill's partner claimed the rights to the Bill Lawrence name and a contentious, multi-year lawsuit ensued. Bill's former partner still sells pickups under the Bill Lawrence name (that Bill himself designed), and from the accounts I've heard, they're still ok. But, the pickups that Bill now sells under the Wilde name are more advanced designs of his that IMHO are way better than the older designs (except possibly for the old no longer available OBL's). He's got some great new noiseless single coils out now, the 45L's that are really close in tone to std. vintage single coils.

Anyway, Bill Lawrence is another one of those guys who's very accessible to his customers and the man's a walking library of pickup theory and design. If you call him to order pickups it's likely that Bill, his wife Becky, or his daughter will answer the phone.