Tell me which P90s I'm going to like on my Blues 90...

De_Batz

It's a semi-hollow but with a sealed top (no f-holes). 

It's currently got the hot ceramic Duncans they made them with 20 years ago, and to be honest, it's all a bit brash and lacking pretty high end. 

So, I'm looking for recommendations. Should I be thinking Bare Knuckle? Seymour Duncan? I tend to like under-powered pickups in general, and things with lots of treble rather than lots of midrange or bass. 

I also wonder if it might be worth having a crack at the wiring at the same time... The pots are 250s and I've preferred higher values for P90s and HBs wherever I've used them (see above!).

brucegill

Have some Lollars in something at the moment and they’re very nice. Also had some Frailin in another guitar and they were awesome. 

De_Batz

Mick (off That Pedal Show) has a bunch of Lollars going in that McCarty of his. I'm interested... I've also just found 'Dynamic Music Distribution' and they aren't much more than SDs or BareKnuckles...

brucegill

Last lot of Lollars I bought (for a Tele, and again they were bloody great) was from Thomann. Think the Fralins were from Charles Guitars or something like that. 

De_Batz

Thanks for the heads up. Do you know what sort of DC resistances we're talking on your Lollars and Fralins? The current set are like 14k and 12k, which is way higher than any other guitar I've got. 

I like the sound of a Filtertron (actually a Creamery version of it) that I've got in a Duesenberg. If I could get close to that, I'd be happy, or a bit further in the direction of a Tele. The '90 is a bit of a freight train at the moment, and I want something a bit subtler!

brucegill

Well, they weren’t hot at all, but I’d have ordered the vintage spec ones - guessing 6-7 ish. Though I’ve learnt recently that judging from resistance doesn’t always work. I had some p90 in a fano that were only 6-7ish and were way way louder than a McNally p90 with the same resistance. New to me. 

I’ve not had enough time with the Lollar P90 yet. But the Fralin were everything I could have hoped for.

I had the balanced p90 set from fralin. I’d try the noiseless next 

rze99

There is nothing wrong with a Gibson P90. It’s the same pickup on my custom shop as a low end studio. It’s what you do with it. 

Funkfingers

De_Batz said:

hot ceramic Duncans … it's all a bit brash and lacking pretty high end. ... The pots are 250

The 250k pots explain the lack of high end frequencies. Change those first.

The brashness can be tamed by changing the bar magnets. Ceramics out. Alnico 3 or 4 in the neck/Rhythm position and 2, 5 or 8 in the bridge/Treble position.

guitarmanessex89

I have some Mojotones in my '67 SG and they sound *phenomenal*.

rossi

i like Toneriders ,hot and  cold version .A2 in neck and A5 in bridge.

De_Batz

Funkfingers said:

De_Batz said:

hot ceramic Duncans … it's all a bit brash and lacking pretty high end. ... The pots are 250

The 250k pots explain the lack of high end frequencies. Change those first.

The brashness can be tamed by changing the bar magnets. Ceramics out. Alnico 3 or 4 in the neck/Rhythm position and 2, 5 or 8 in the bridge/Treble position.

I just had a look in my bits box and - annoyingly - I've got enough 500s to do the job (and a couple of 1Ms which I prefer in some situations; I wonder if my hearing is funtered...?) but they've got the short threads and solid shafts and so unsuitable for the job.

So, new question: preferred retailer for pots? Happy to use Bourns, CTS, Alpha... 

My favoured setup for two Humbuckers (the SH-1s in my Bluesbird, as it goes) is 2 1M volumes and 2 500k no load tones...

Jonathangus

De_Batz said:

So, new question: preferred retailer for pots? Happy to use Bourns, CTS, Alpha... 

@sixstringsupplies ;