The Mighty 90 from Oil City Pickups

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OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
in Made in the UK tFB Trader
I've sold Mighty 90 humbucker sized P90s for a long time ... but thought you guys might like to hear what a super talented player can do with a neck one ...

https://youtu.be/sA8JzvmuNFk
Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471
    That sounds great. Is the humbucker sized one noiseless too? 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    The high register sections reminded me of Mike Oldfield's SG Junior.
    Be seeing you.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
    tFB Trader
    samzadgan said:
    That sounds great. Is the humbucker sized one noiseless too? 
    None of my P90s are noiseless. there is no such an animal as a correct sounding P90 that's hum cancelling in my opinion. The very act of cancelling out the hum cancels out the frequencies that make a P90 sound like one. 
    PS will message you a little later re your pickups.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471
    samzadgan said:
    That sounds great. Is the humbucker sized one noiseless too? 
    None of my P90s are noiseless. there is no such an animal as a correct sounding P90 that's hum cancelling in my opinion. The very act of cancelling out the hum cancels out the frequencies that make a P90 sound like one. 
    PS will message you a little later re your pickups.
    so, for that to make sense in my simple mind...to make a noiseless one, you'd have to add another magnet? and therefore, its not a single coil anymore...and thus, you lose the true P90 sound?

    is this how Fralin does his hum-cancelling P90?
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
    tFB Trader
    samzadgan said:
    samzadgan said:
    That sounds great. Is the humbucker sized one noiseless too? 
    None of my P90s are noiseless. there is no such an animal as a correct sounding P90 that's hum cancelling in my opinion. The very act of cancelling out the hum cancels out the frequencies that make a P90 sound like one. 
    PS will message you a little later re your pickups.
    so, for that to make sense in my simple mind...to make a noiseless one, you'd have to add another magnet? and therefore, its not a single coil anymore...and thus, you lose the true P90 sound?

    is this how Fralin does his hum-cancelling P90?

    Adding another coil makes it hum  cancelling ... that coil may share the same magnets ... as in a stacked humbucker. Stacked humbuckers are a very poor solution as the lower coil sits so far away from the strings that it adds practically no signal to the output of the top coil ... yet it must have substantially the same amount of turns of wire as the top one to cancel hum. This means you need twice the wire to produce the same output, and thus the 'drag' of the bottom coil ruins the tone of the pickup. Thus you need a almost a 20k stack to produce the same output as a 10k single coil ... with all the compression and lack of top end clarity that comes from all that wire.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8591
    So how do your different P90s compare sound wise? I’m thinking particularly of the neck position.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • mixolydmixolyd Frets: 826
    No comment on the tone of the PU’s but that cover is shocking, unlistenable.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
    tFB Trader
    Roland said:
    So how do your different P90s compare sound wise? I’m thinking particularly of the neck position.
    That's the most powerful neck option in the video ... i also do an alnico 2 version for more pushed mids, and an alnico 4 version for an overall balanced tone.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • ForlesenForlesen Frets: 0
    Roland said:
    So how do your different P90s compare sound wise? I’m thinking particularly of the neck position.
    That's the most powerful neck option in the video ... i also do an alnico 2 version for more pushed mids, and an alnico 4 version for an overall balanced tone.
    I presume you mean besides the Void? 
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
    tFB Trader
    Forlesen said:
    Roland said:
    So how do your different P90s compare sound wise? I’m thinking particularly of the neck position.
    That's the most powerful neck option in the video ... i also do an alnico 2 version for more pushed mids, and an alnico 4 version for an overall balanced tone.
    I presume you mean besides the Void? 
    Ah yes ... well the Void is actually a weapon of mass destruction! 17k at the neck and 22.2k at the bridge!
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Adding another coil makes it hum-cancelling ... that coil may share the same magnets ... as in a stacked humbucker.

    Stacked humbuckers are a very poor solution as the lower coil sits so far away from the strings that it adds practically no signal to the output of the top coil ... yet it must have substantially the same amount of turns of wire as the top one to cancel hum. This means you need twice the wire to produce the same output and, thus, the 'drag' of the bottom coil ruins the tone of the pickup. Thus you need a almost a 20k stack to produce the same output as a 10k single coil ... with all the compression and lack of top end clarity that comes from all that wire.
    ^
    Exactly this.

    The Gibson P-100 and Duncan STKP-1 are constructed this way. Neither sounds right. The Duncan comes as standard with 4-con + shield cable, enabling series/single/parallel interconnection of the coils. Unfortunately, for the reasons described above by TGW, none of these modes sounds correct - not even when running just the upper coil. 

    It is possible persuade two narrow side-by-side coils under a P90 cover. Kinman and Lace have tried it. This arrangement does not sound like a conventional single coil P90 either.

    One idea that I have never tried is to have a dummy coil, mounted low in the body, between two regular P90s. Again, I suspect, the resistance of the dummy coil will have negative effects on the sound from the pickups.

    Another untried idea would be what Duncan calls Power Boost Wiring. i.e. Both coils of a P90 Stack, linked to become one enormous single coil.

    TheGuitarWeasel said:
    the Void is actually a weapon of mass destruction! 17k at the neck and 22.2k at the bridge!
    In a war, would it be a bit of a Pig? ;)
    Be seeing you.
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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471
    It's a shame...cause I really like P90 tones...but the noise is annoying. I've owned P90 guitars in the past and loved the sound.

    i guess I'll have to at some point just bite the bullet and live with the noise!
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    TheGuitarWeasel said:
    Adding another coil makes it hum cancelling
    Just out of academic interest, have you ever tried *borrowing* the Alembic dummy coil idea?

    On some of their late Seventies exotic instruments, a guitar (or bass) would have large single coil pickups in the bridge and neck positions then, a smaller dummy coil positioned halfway between. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • JohnnysevenJohnnyseven Frets: 905
    @Alegree ; makes dummy coils if you're after one @Funkfingers ;
    My trading feedback can be seen here - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58242/
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9987
    tFB Trader
    TheGuitarWeasel said:
    Adding another coil makes it hum cancelling
    Just out of academic interest, have you ever tried *borrowing* the Alembic dummy coil idea?

    On some of their late Seventies exotic instruments, a guitar (or bass) would have large single coil pickups in the bridge and neck positions then, a smaller dummy coil positioned halfway between. 
    Dummy coils simply add loading to the primary coil exactly like a stack, except they add the loading without adding anything positive to the sound as they have no magnet structure ... in effect they are simply the same as a stack and change the pickup tone in the same way.

    To put it another way: If you have 10,000 turns (the average for a P90) you will have to add a significant percentage of extra turns on a dummy coil to make the combo hum canceling ... Say for example 8000 turns ... you in effect have an 18,000 turn humbucker. The average PAF is 10,000 or so turns ... so your 18,000 turn dummy coil humbucker has the mushy tonal characteristics of a super hot humbucker yet only the actual output of a standard P90.
    You can't buck physics, extra wire equals a tone change ... full stop. 
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Alegree makes dummy coils
    I know.

    if you're after one
    I wasn't. 

    My "academic interest" question, directed at TGW, was a crude attempt to extract a semi-scientific explanation for why P90 goodness and dual coil noise-cancellation are mutually exclusive. Hopefully, his answer will help some reader in future.
    Be seeing you.
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  • Jez6345789Jez6345789 Frets: 1756
    edited June 2018
    I was pretty taken with this and was recently pondering a similar dummy coil is it the same as a  true vintage P90 probably not but it sounds good and quiet. I am not quite sure but think it has a dummy coil and a number of taps.



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  • JohnnysevenJohnnyseven Frets: 905
    Alegree makes dummy coils
    I know.

    if you're after one
    I wasn't. 
    A thank you would have sufficed.
    My trading feedback can be seen here - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58242/
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324

    C. Y. T.

    Be seeing you.
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  • JohnnysevenJohnnyseven Frets: 905
    Ok smarty pants.
    My trading feedback can be seen here - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58242/
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