John Abbett Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 All, I'm working on a 335 build, and am starting to think about pickups. Gibson puts 57 classic pickups in their 335 builds, and I like the sound the TV Jones pickups that the Gretch uses. I also like the Burst Bucker Pro that Gibson puts in their SG's. I put the Burst Bucker in my last SG build and it sounds really good. I put made in usa gibson pickups in my Les Paul I made last year, and they sound good too, not as warm as the burst bucker pro. The pickups I have in my Epiphone Custom Les Paul sound like crap in comparison to all of the above - very thin and weak. That's the extent of my knowledge about pickups. I play blues/rock and like a deep warm tone. I imtent on putting a bigsby on this one, which I don't think matters when talking pickups. Can you recommend a pickup or two that I should research as a possible choice? There is plenty of info about pickups out there, but I could use some suggestions to narrow the possibilities. Thanks! -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Don't know if you have your mind set on HBs. If not: my all time top choice pickup is P90! They are warm with a full, quite hot output and still retain that single coil top end/edge/openness to cut through the cymbals from a drummer or a keyboard player or horns or whatever. And the gritty sound they produce is (IMHO) perfect for both rock and blues. Can’t beat a P90 for slide playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Abbett Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Don't know if you have your mind set on HBs. If not: my all time top choice pickup is P90! They are warm with a full, quite hot output and still retain that single coil top end/edge/openness to cut through the cymbals from a drummer or a keyboard player or horns or whatever. And the gritty sound they produce is (IMHO) perfect for both rock and blues. Can’t beat a P90 for slide playing. Ok, great, that's what I'm looking for - suggestions on what to research. Is there a particular brand of P90 that I should look into, read up on? -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Abbett Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Don't know if you have your mind set on HBs. If not: my all time top choice pickup is P90! They are warm with a full, quite hot output and still retain that single coil top end/edge/openness to cut through the cymbals from a drummer or a keyboard player or horns or whatever. And the gritty sound they produce is (IMHO) perfect for both rock and blues. Can’t beat a P90 for slide playing. Ok, great, that's what I'm looking for - suggestions on what to research. Is there a particular brand of P90 that I should look into, read up on? -John Hmm, I just did a search for P90, no results. It should have brought back a ton. Is the search feature broken? -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneMonkey Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 (edited) Don't know if you have your mind set on HBs. If not: my all time top choice pickup is P90! They are warm with a full, quite hot output and still retain that single coil top end/edge/openness to cut through the cymbals from a drummer or a keyboard player or horns or whatever. And the gritty sound they produce is (IMHO) perfect for both rock and blues. Can’t beat a P90 for slide playing. Ok, great, that's what I'm looking for - suggestions on what to research. Is there a particular brand of P90 that I should look into, read up on? -John Hmm, I just did a search for P90, no results. It should have brought back a ton. Is the search feature broken? -J I'm a P-90 fan too. The originals were (I think) Gibson, so google "Gibson P90". I think most pup manufactures will do a P-90. I know Bare Knuckle do two different types (BKP-90 and BKP-91) so that could be a good place to start. Edited July 10, 2008 by ToneMonkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Abbett Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Don't know if you have your mind set on HBs. If not: my all time top choice pickup is P90! They are warm with a full, quite hot output and still retain that single coil top end/edge/openness to cut through the cymbals from a drummer or a keyboard player or horns or whatever. And the gritty sound they produce is (IMHO) perfect for both rock and blues. Can’t beat a P90 for slide playing. Ok, great, that's what I'm looking for - suggestions on what to research. Is there a particular brand of P90 that I should look into, read up on? -John Hmm, I just did a search for P90, no results. It should have brought back a ton. Is the search feature broken? -J I'm a P-90 fan too. The originals were (I think) Gibson, so google "Gibson P90". I think most pup manufactures will do a P-90. I know Bare Knuckle do two different types (BKP-90 and BKP-91) so that could be a good place to start. Been looking at google for a while. Sounds like P90's are single coil, wide and thin, with non-magnetic poles sitting on top of alnico magnets. The wide and thin gives it a different sound. I'm off to the guitar center to have a listen. The search feature of this board must have a minimum number of characters for search. I can search pickup, but not p90. Not enough characters I guessing. -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneMonkey Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Someone once suggested using google to just search the forum. Bit too complicated for a computer numpty like me, but it can be done. And yeah, the search feature here isn't the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 P90's are a lot of fun, angelic cleans to raunchy bad boy attitude at the drop of the hat. I'd recommend checking out the BG-Pups offerings, hand wound, killer tone, and realistically priced http://www.bg-pups.com/p90.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneMonkey Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 I hear good things about Bulldog pups too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Abbett Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 P90's are a lot of fun, angelic cleans to raunchy bad boy attitude at the drop of the hat. I'd recommend checking out the BG-Pups offerings, hand wound, killer tone, and realistically priced http://www.bg-pups.com/p90.html Thanks, I'll check it out now. -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted July 11, 2008 Report Share Posted July 11, 2008 Is there a particular brand of P90 that I should look into, read up on? I make my own, but my first set of P90s was Gibson originals and they are really nice. Hmm, I just did a search for P90, no results. It should have brought back a ton. Is the search feature broken? The search function requires a minimum of four characters. That rules out P90… I'm a P-90 fan too. The originals were (I think) Gibson, so google "Gibson P90 Jupp, you’re right. Gibson invented the P90s. I *think* they were made as a simpler alternative to the “Charlie Christian” pickup. Been looking at google for a while. Sounds like P90's are single coil, wide and thin, with non-magnetic poles sitting on top of alnico magnets. The wide and thin gives it a different sound. Yeah. The P90 has a wider, shorter coil with much more wire than a Fender style coil. A Strat pickup is usually around 7500 turns and a P90 is 10 000 turns, resulting in a higher output. The wide shape of the coil also emphasis the midrange a bit more and pick up much more of the strings harmonics. The magnetic field is formed by using a magnetized screws going through the coil, being “activated” by two opposing Alnico5 bar magnets underneath the coil. This makes a very complex magnetic field compared to a fender style pickup. This also helps to shape the sound of the pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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