P90s with no hum

AlexHunter

Bottom line:
I love the sound of P90s (particularly on all mahogany junior type lumps) but I also love high gain and fuzz tones.

Are there any new P90s on the market that don’t hum and still sound like a P90?

A few years ago I had Catswhisker pickups wind me a low output humbucker (Alnico 5, 42AWG wire and about 8k) in a P90 dogear shell that seemed to work well but didn’t sound wholly P90’esque. 

I haven’t kept up on any other pickup manufacturers of late so thoughts and suggestions welcome.

RickLucas

Didn't Gibson make a P100 that is hum-cancelling?

ToneControl

https://www.emgpickups.com/guitar/p-90.html

Kinman might be the best:
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/kinman-p90hx

Wilkinson do some, don't think they sound great

no idea about these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Noiseless-stacked-soapbar-format-P90s-cream-or-black-covers/222609766016?hash=item33d4937680:g:j0oAAOSwBppZjZ8R&var=521713705848


Bill Lawrence
https://www.wildepickups.com/products/l-90

Joe Barden
https://jbepickups.com/product/soapbars/


http://www.juicypickups.com/juicypickups/static/pictp9.asp

JohnPerry

I once had some Fralin p92s which were really good. They were humbucker size though IIRC

normula1

I've got Kinmans in my Special and they sound pretty good and totally hum free. At some point I'll do an A/B with my P90 Melody Maker, although since I've not got round to it for eight years, I'm not holding my breath

Funkfingers

No.

It either sounds like a P-90 and hums or it hum-cancels but the tone and dynamics are wrong.

The pickup makers on this forum could probably write a thesis on exactly why this is so.

The Gibson P-100 is an interesting pickup - especially if modified to 4-con + shield output cable - but a lousy “P-90”.

The Duncan STKP-1 is another stacked coils effort. It sounds slightly more believable than the Gibson but only slightly.


It is possible that a dummy coil could be included in circuit to reduce hum and RF interference but it may introduce new problems.


My suggestion is to invest in a noise gate with separate Threshold and Release settings for clean and overdrive.

Philly_Q

Funkfingers said:

It is possible that a dummy coil could be included in circuit to reduce hum and RF interference but it may introduce new problems.

The recent Brian Ray '62 SG Junior has a dummy coil hidden in a cavity under the scratchplate.  It can be switched in and out with a push-pull pot.  It sounds better with the dummy coil off.

jdgm

I'm thinking about a set of these -

https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/p90-hum-cancelling/

Philly_Q

jdgm said:

I'm thinking about a set of these -

https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/p90-hum-cancelling/

They get pretty good reviews but it seems to me the general consensus is that they're rather "polite".  Which isn't necessarily bad.

Kittyfrisk

Philly_Q said:

jdgm said:

I'm thinking about a set of these -

https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/p90-hum-cancelling/

They get pretty good reviews but it seems to me the general consensus is that they're rather "polite".  Which isn't necessarily bad.

But not always what P-90's are valued for?
I love the warm clarity at lower gain levels followed by the lovely fizzy 'snarl' as they get cranked.
However, despite sharing a language, we don't share universal interchangeable experiences of sound & tone (if only...).

ToneControl

I bought some P100s, years ago, still haven't fitted them

Funkfingers

Does McNelly offer something similar to the Fralins? 

normula1 said:

P90 Melody Maker

My 1965 Melody Maker mk3 has the later, unfashionable, version of the Skylark single coil. Roll the tone pot down to 5 or 6, the guitar sounds like it has a lowish wind P90.

Keefy

A few years ago I bought a McCarty soapbar. I tried two, both with Seymour Duncan ‘P90s’. The first had stacked hum-cancelling units, the second the regular kind. I bought the second, not least because the pickups sounded so much more open and lively - the hum-cancellers sounded restrained, throttled even.

YMMV etc.

Kittyfrisk

ToneControl said:

I bought some P100s, years ago, still haven't fitted them

The magnets will have weakened by now, so probably the same as P-90's  

Seziertisch

From my experience with Kinman Telecaster pickups, they sound quite Tele-esque, like on playback in a recording you wouldn’t necessarily pick them out as being non-traditional pickups.

They feel quite different, however, much more like humbuckers, which isn’t bad per se, but not the same. 

If I wanted a noiseless P90 size pickup, I’d probably go for an unpotted humbucker of some sort, so at least you have a not dissimilar kind of responsiveness 

Funkfingers

Gibson P100 pickups consist of two vastly overwound coils, interconnected in parallel. The bar magnets were bog standard, polished A5. 

The Duncan P90 Stacks are less overwound. Their 4-con + shield output cable permits series/single/parallel coil interconnection. Series is slightly louder, with increased mids but, ultimately, muddy. Parallel is gutless. Single has the best tone but is still “off” to my ears.

•

The stock pickups in the PRS McCarty Soapbar were Duncan OEM SP90-1N and SP90-3N models. (Yes. Two “neck” position pickups.) The stacked coil units must have been retro-fitted - possibly with the cavities deepened to accommodate them.

Keefy

Funkfingers said:

...

The stock pickups in the PRS McCarty Soapbar were Duncan OEM SP90-1N and SP90-3N models. (Yes. Two “neck” position pickups.) The stacked coil units must have been retro-fitted - possibly with the cavities deepened to accommodate them.

That makes sense - I always thought the neck pickup sounded better than the bridge! And yes, I’m pretty sure the stacked units were after-market.

Corvus

Mojotone do noiseless P90s, haven't tried them but want to. Their Strat pickups are great, got two varieties of those.

Van_Hayden

Depending on the guitar Ilitch do a silent single coil system to fit a Les Paul cavity. Suhr licensed their silent single coil system from them & they work well. Only down side is the pickups you choose must not be rwrp or else it won’t work - but it does give you freedom of choice. Not cheap though!

https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/hum-canceling-systems/cvncs/

Cranky

Philly_Q said:

jdgm said:

I'm thinking about a set of these -

https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/p90-hum-cancelling/

They get pretty good reviews but it seems to me the general consensus is that they're rather "polite".  Which isn't necessarily bad.

I have those p90s in a Tele Deluxe, an overwound bridge and underwound neck.  They're good pickups, but yeah more polite than the Gibson p90s that are in my Casino.  Granted, one's solid and the other hollow.

Honestly, I kinda wish I had Lollars, they sound grittier, but Fralins are great too.

pluckbuddy

Dimarzio bluesbucker is another option but it is in a humbucker format. I'm using one currently. It is billed as a p90 tone but I think it has its own thing going on. It is definitely brighter than a normal humbucker but perhaps not as fat and raucous as what you'd expect from a normal p90. I like it all the same.