P90's that Sound like P90's?

[mikesr1963]

Yeah, I'm misleading you. I have LP Jr., Epiphone I got 4 or 5 years ago new for $64. Good solid humbucker guitar. I want to put a HB sized P-90 in it and I've found plenty. I've also found plenty of wiring diagrams indicating anything from using a 500k volume and a 250k tone pot, two 300k pots, and two 500k pots to get a authentic P-90 sound. Old school Gibson people indicate the 500k/250k is the way to go. They also say stay the hell away from two 300k version as it just doesn't get the job done. The 500k people indicate you will get more high end but if you don't like it you can dial out that high end and that I understand.

There guitar itself is in perfect condition, so I'm not going to hack it up to put in a standard P-90. In fact I have a Agile LP with P-90's that I like. I'm just curious if someone of more P90 use and experience can guide me towards one of the HB sized P90 pickups that can do the job.

Thank you,

Mike

[Grant Harding]

I just installed a set of Anderson humbucker sized P90s (PH1 and PH2 I think) and they sound great to me. The guitar was wired for dual humbuckers before.

[mrbrown49]

I have a set of bg pure 90s that sound fantastic.  

http://bg-pups.com/pure90/

 

[mikesr1963]

8 hours ago, mrbrown49 said:

I have a set of bg pure 90s that sound fantastic.  

http://bg-pups.com/pure90/

 

Looking at the add one is almost 10k the other 7.8k.  If your guitar only had one pickup which of the two would you choose for that one?  Thanks. 

[mrbrown49]

I don't think you can go wrong with either. If you tend to like hotter pups go with the 10k.  

[onelife]

Do you want 'authentic' P90 sound or are you okay without the noise?

Chris Kinman makes a humbucker that retains the P90 sound. Chris believes that the intention behind the humbucking design was to create a noiseless P90 but, because of the interaction between the two coils, the clarity of the sound was compromised to some degree. He claims to have resolved that issue and that his P90 Bucker is what the Gibson Humbucking pickup was supposed to be.

 

https://kinman.com/model-products.php?pid=2&products=Humbucker&modelid=39&m

 

 

[badpenguin]

Here's a possible solution, and it doesn't require buying a damn thing. Wire the hums in parallel. Try that, it may give you the tone you are looking for., and it's free. (Minus about a half hour of soldering)

[daddymack]

if you want a traditional P90, tone, go with the lower resistance [7.8k]...P90s are all about tone, not output...you have an amp for that

I eschewed P90s until a few years ago when I found a Tele wired up like a Gibson with 2 P90s/2V/2T/3 way toggle...every one who has heard that guitar has said 'that is the sound'...meaning classic vintage tone from the days before humbuckers, which is what I have been chasing...although I still like my PAFs*/Classic 57s, my mini hums and even the '62 Gibson Melody Maker single coils [very P90-ish, but much lower output, like half a humbucker, but not tapped exactly], there is that je ne sais quoi...noise be damned..tone is king!

 

*my 1970/71=ish SG was originally built with P90s, but a previous owner modded it [DiMarzio PAF in the neck, and a SD in the bridge(I am okay with Larry's version of the PAF, not crazy about the SD, but I like the SDS I put in my Strat in the bridge, so ya jusnevano)]...I wish I had the original P-ups. An old friend has an SG with P90s from the same Norlin era, and that puppy sings!