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Who Makes The Best Sounding P-90?


ScottR

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I intend to use a pair a P-90s in my next build. It seems like everybody builds them. I read a thread from a few years ago on this subject....but I'm asking again anyway. I want to see what the current opionions are. Would the Gibsons be considered the standard....or the best?

Thanks

Scott

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Would the Gibsons be considered the standard....or the best?

definately not!

my favorite is the BKP-91 closely followed by a lollar.

I also like the BKP manhattan - but thats an underwound humbucker sized P-90 built for jazzier moments

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i dont rate gibson pickups too highly. Often they are ok but they rarely blow me away. also, they tend to cost more than most makes people would consider an upgrade to the factory pickups so i dont think they offer value for money for us builders

the absolute best P-90 i have played was a 1960 junior pickup that got rewound by lindy fralin quite a while ago. It was pure leslie west which means its about as p-90 as a p-90 gets

THe BKP-90/91's i have used capture a lot of that.

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Soooo, The Bare Knuckle Stands uncontested as the best sounding make of P-90?

I must admit, I kind of expected one or two builders to chime in with an "I do".

If BKs are the best, how do Seymour Duncan, DeMarzio and some of the others stack up, or what are they lacking?

SR

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sorry scott - i thought you would get more replies too!

Seymour duncan custom shop stuff is awesome. The standard range isnt too bad either, definately better than Dimarzio, comparable to stock gibsons but offering differet flavours. Not tried the SD antiquity P-90's - but the other pickups i have had from that range have been great. I dont rate Dimarzio's that highly as i think you get close to what they offer from some of the budget ranges. I have never really even considered a p-90 from them, they do do a few decent humbuckers though. i did have a P-90 sized humbucker from them years ago but it just wasnt for me. It lost all characteristic p-90 flavour but wasnt quite humbuckery enough either

one i really do want to try at some point is kinman's noiseless p-90. they took an age to develop it and i was always impressed by their noisless strat pickups. As close to a strat sound as you can get without hum!

lots of other options out there though, P-90's are an easier design to do right

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Soooo, The Bare Knuckle Stands uncontested as the best sounding make of P-90?

I must admit, I kind of expected one or two builders to chime in with an "I do".

If BKs are the best, how do Seymour Duncan, DeMarzio and some of the others stack up, or what are they lacking?

SR

First up - How good a pickup is is a very biased question. From builder to builder you get completely different answers. It is probably a good idea to get one guitar and get some samples and start swapping them to get a base of what you think is a good p90 pickup.

Second - I make P90s. But I didn't think it was polite to say "I do" and very few people from this forum have shown interest in my pickups so I don't really chime in on these types of things. Also I haven't used any of the other manufacturers pickups in a few years now so I really don't know some of the builders.

Seymours, Dimarzios, and others are just ok nothing special.

Lollar and Kent Armstrong make nice P90s.

In my opinion making a good P90 is not that hard. As far as pickups go the design is conducive to good pickups. Making a great P90 takes good parts, practice, and skill.

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First up - How good a pickup is is a very biased question. From builder to builder you get completely different answers.

Exactly. I am very interested in those completely different answers from builders and players as well. I know very little about them other than I know I like the way they sound. I don't know why one sounds better or worse or different....well, I have a general understanding of what the various components are and that changes there will change the sound. But I don't know who thinks what sounds best or why.

Second - I make P90s. But I didn't think it was polite to say "I do" and very few people from this forum have shown interest in my pickups so I don't really chime in on these types of things.

The ones that do and comment on them praise them very highly indeed though. Something to explore for sure.

SR

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There are lots of good P90's out there and one of my favorites is BG-Pups. For me, a great P90 needs to be clear and articulate with great pick response. It should have angelic cleans when played with a lite touch and get rude with an attitude when you dig in.

I checked out his web site and to my unschooled eye and ear, his stuff is quite good. Oddly enough (or not) I liked the hot bridge and the vintage neck best.

I wonder how close to pure Leslie West those are.

SR

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Oddly enough (or not) I liked the hot bridge and the vintage neck best

Yea, Bryan is a talented winder and his gear is top shelf. And your selection its not odd at all really, hotter wound pickups in general will have a bit less highs which can work in a bridge position. Vintage wound in the neck will retain a bit more highs and tend to be a little more airy, a good thing in a neck. Cool thing about Bryan is he will custom wind them to taste too, just tell him what your looking for and he can dial you in ... bonus points for having realistic prices and being a good guy to deal with.

Edited by Quarter
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  • 3 weeks later...

I just loved that page posted by GEO... good laughs

In this neck of the woods I know Perry makes P90's Seen them at Mega and Kosmics

Have often been tempted to see what they're all about but always steer toward Humbuckers because of their versatility

Its also a case of having time to do things. Which I don't have lately because I've been working 7 days

It raises the question, do they have an advantage over split Humbuckers?

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Brian (of BG Pickups) made that page to counter (and make fun of) some of the more outrageous "self-hyping" boutique winders of wannabe winders that use more of less that type of language. We had a similar laughter (together with Brian) over at the pickup winder forum.

Advantage over HBs would be... the sound. A P90 doesn't sound like anything else. P90, DynaSonics, Fender Wide Range HBs, Filtertrons (and possible a few more models) are very distinct and have their own character and personality compared to the usual Fender/Gibson vein most producer of pickup caters to

Personally I think my P90s are pretty nice...

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It raises the question, do they have an advantage over split Humbuckers?

Additionally to SwedishLuthier's response, they would have an even bigger advantage over split humbuckers in that using only one coil out of the pair in an HB has considerably less output than the full HB and than a P-90 or most single coils as I understand it. RAD or SL (and many others I'm sure) can expand on the why's and wherefore's of that, but yeah, I'd say that is an advantage over a split humbucker.

SR

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I had to rewind the only P90s I have ever tried from Kent Armstrong to get a clear, open and warm P90 sound in the vein of original Gibbo P90s. But that is of cause my personal, biased opinion...

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Fralin all the way man. i put a set of his in a Paul some time ago and it is sick sounding

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