Got Lollar P90s for my PRS SE

Rocker

As the title says, I got a pair of Lollar P90s fitted on my PRS SE today.  Before anyone shouts PICS, the guitar looks exactly the same as with the original pickups.  But I have the Lollar box and the originals if anyone wants a pic of those.....

Sound wise the SE with the Lollars is in a different league.  The original pickups were shrill and lacking definition, the Lollars are clear, midrangey and powerful.  Playing power chords through the shop amp [I forget the name but it is a boutique US amp and speaker and the owner Owen told me was not for sale], sounded great.

The shop fitted the pickups for me as my eyes are not as good as they used to be.  SomeNeckGuitars is the shop and Owen sells vintage guitars, amps etc.  He had two vintage Binson Echorecs and a jaw dropping rack of guitars.  As well as vintage amps.  It is difficult to get in or out of the shop, there is that much kit.  More info on the shop here http://www.someneckguitars.com/

Andy is a top guy.  Highly recommended by me [for what that is worth].

guitargeek62

PICS!

impmann

Soundclips!!!

Lixarto

Nice one

Rocker

@guitargeek62, I have just returned from a funeral so no chance of pics today. Tomorrow perhaps.

@impmann, I have no easy way of recording sound clips. I could possibly do it but who would want to listen to me anyway when there are so many fellow formites who can actually play...

@Lixarto, thanks for your comment.

JohnPerry

Lollar's P90s are hard to beat. I have some in a LP Special. I have another identical (bare the colour) LP Special with BKP P90s. The Bare Knuckles are great, the Lollars fantastic.

johnnyurq

They look to be well tasty.

MtB

Did the PRS SE come with P90s originally, or was it humbuckers?

Rocker

@MtB, the PRS SE has P90s.  This is the 'before pickup upgrade' picture:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee495/RockerDIY/IMG_0263_zps002e4cea.jpg

And this is the 'after' picture.  Still looks exactly the same.  Sounds much better though.http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee495/RockerDIY/IMG_0270_zps4dc66811.jpg

ICBM

Nice guitar, reminds me a lot of my Standard 22.

Something else you can do to it for not much money which you might like is to replace the tuning keys - yes, just the keys! The machineheads are fine, but the metal keys look and feel cheap, and actually add enough mass to the headstock to (possibly) dampen the resonance a bit. You can get black plastic or ebony ones which will fit the same shafts. The ebony ones tend to be expensive though.

My old PRS Custom came with the metal keys, from the days when they were stock - I changed them for ebony ones. I've still got the original metal ones  - a week or so ago I weighed them, when there was another thread about changing machineheads… two and a half ounces for the set, as opposed to about half an ounce for wooden ones and a quarter of an ounce for plastic. That's quite a difference really.

Rocker

Thanks @ICBM, where could I get plastic keys for the PRS SE?

GuyBoden

I have a Lollar McCarty pickup, good pickups.

Rocker

The improvement in sound as a result of the pickup upgrade is so great that I am forced to wonder how this happens.  There can't be that great a difference between the stock pickups and the Lollars.  Anyone care to enlighten me?

ICBM

Rocker said:

Thanks @ICBM, where could I get plastic keys for the PRS SE?

Some here, although they're a bit more expensive than I remember :-O .

http://www.allparts.uk.com/collections/tuning-key-bushings-buttons

Ah... no, they're ebony which explains the price.

Rocker said:

The improvement in sound as a result of the pickup upgrade is so great that I am forced to wonder how this happens.  There can't be that great a difference between the stock pickups and the Lollars.  Anyone care to enlighten me?

I wonder this too! I do also hear the big difference, and I wonder how the Korean ones - which are basically the exact same technology as the good ones - can sound so lifeless and uninspiring by comparison.

@TheGuitarWeasel knows, probably . It's more of an art than a science in some ways, I think - although there *is* a scientific explanation, it may be very complicated and the sum of a large number of tiny factors.

OilCityPickups

P 90s are some of the simplest pickups to wind .... and the easiest to foul up. Most companies try to wind them too hot: a good sounding P90 bridge pickup does not really want to be over 8.5 -9k. Then you get people who prattle on about machine wound being best ... this is not really true in my experience ... as if you take the old ones apart ... and I've rewound quite a few ... the windings are very random, and the coil shapes are very offset. This is due to the machines Gibson used being worn and poorly adjusted ... effectively meaning they were scatter wound. The quality of the steel in the pole screws, keeper bars etc makes a difference, and the quality and 'charge of the magnets.