P90s vs single coils

Bork

Has anyone experienced positions 2 and 4 on a guitar with three P90s?  How did it stack up against the same on a standard strat?

ICBM

Very different. I had a PRS Custom 22 Soapbar that was just like that... it sounded nothing like a Strat really. You could tell it was two single coils spaced about the same, but it had none of that clicky, quacky sound that most people want from a Strat.

Which was a very good thing in my opinion . 

Funkfingers

Things can be more interesting if the control circuit is a three-way bridge/both/neck pickup selector switch then the middle position P90 is blended in with an independent volume pot. @HarrySeven has a modified Höhner JT-60 that works like this. Perhaps, he can comment.

I have a modified old PRS EGII with three humbuckers. Even with no coil splitting, selector switch positions 2 and 4 have a good bit of Stratocaster quack.

Both my PRS and the JT-60 have screwed-on necks and fulcrum vibratos. Their construction probably contributes to the illusion of Strattiness.

Some vintage Gibson three pickup guitars produce a honky tone by having the middle pickup out-of-phase with the bridge and neck pickups. Combining reverse phase and the blend control should create more of the "hollow/notchy" sound.

If you have not yet purchased the pickups, you might get closer to your preferred result using Firebird or mini humbucker pickups. The Seymour Duncan SM-1, -2 and -3 are a compromise between the two other designs.

paulnb57

As ICBM says chalk and cheese... my St Vincent copy has 3 P90’s, nothing like a Strat....

Corvus

I've had two 3x P90 guitars, one was Strat-shaped. That did a sort of a Strat 2&4 sound but not 'chimey' enough. Close enough for punters at pub gigs say but in isolation you wouldn't think it was great Strat 2/4 tones. The other guitar had lower output brighter pickups but again didn't have the 2&4 chime going on.

HAL9000

ICBM said:

... it had none of that clicky, quacky sound that most people want from a Strat.

Which was a very good thing in my opinion . 

This. I've seriously considered swapping out the five-way switch for a three-way on mine.

Funkfingers

Ironically, the weedier tone of stacked coil P90-alikes might get closer to the stringy sounds associated with Fender.

Some of the 2&4 sound is caused by the distance between the coils and their physical dimensions. A few of the more extreme Fender Offset guitar enthusiasts have modified Jaguars in an attempt to extract Stratocaster-like sounds. I see very little evidence of anyone trying this with a Jazzmaster. 

grungebob

I’ve a 25.5 scale length 24 fret guitar fitted with two P90’s and the middle position does have qualities of the strat quack sound but doesn’t sound identical. It’s a really usable sound.  

paulnb57

HAL9000 said:

ICBM said:

... it had none of that clicky, quacky sound that most people want from a Strat.

Which was a very good thing in my opinion . 

This. I've seriously considered swapping out the five-way switch for a three-way on mine.

I did on my Original 50’s Strat and have no plans to change back to a 5 way...

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Some of the 2&4 sound is caused by the distance between the coils and their physical dimensions. A few of the more extreme Fender Offset guitar enthusiasts have modified Jaguars in an attempt to extract Stratocaster-like sounds. I see very little evidence of anyone trying this with a Jazzmaster. 

There were a load of cheap Jazzmaster-shaped guitars in the 90s with Strat electrics. I never understood the point - they just sounded like bad Strats. If you want a Strat, buy a Strat.

I have actually begun to like the 2 and 4 positions - but *not* when they're as extreme and 'Stratty' as they can be, which is achieved when the pickups are separated exactly as they are on a Strat, about the same construction and output, and very well-matched. The further you move away from that, quite rapidly the less quacky and clucky the result - I've got hotter mini-humbuckers in the bridge and neck on mine, with a more typical Strat-like stacked pickup in the middle, and the combined sounds have the things I like about a Strat but without the ones I don't.

PhilKing

I also have a modified PRS EG, but mine is HSS with BKP Crawler and 2 p-91's (was done back in 2004),  It's a very versatile setup but doesn't sound like a strat at all.  I have split coil switching for positions 2 & 4, but the sound is much thicker.

bbill335

the stock 3xp90 wiring on my firebird had b&mid pups in the second switch position. sounded very stratty to me, but these are old ~8k p90s, not the 10-12k modern hot ones

Bork

Interesting comments about positions 2 and 4.  I'm getting some really nice, thick high gain harmonics in position 2 through Fenderish mid boosted settings and position 4 is nicely funky for clean rhythm playing.

I already know some of the position 2 and 4 sounds are from the neck and bridge pickups being in parallel with the reverse wound middle pickup. I'm fairly confident Aaron Armstrong or another British pickup winder (Hot Rod Pickups maybe?) could work on something that worked technically but not sure about how it would sound.