NPD! Lollar P90's - Demo

MichaelW

MichaelW

Well-known member
Ok so I still have power and internet. Ian slammed into Port Charlotte as a very strong Category 4, just a skootch below Cat 5.

That's the worst it's been in over a decade.

It won't get over where I am until tomorrow morning but I expect conditions to worsen through the night.
But for now, my soldering iron is still hot! Woohooo!

I installed the new Lollar P90's I ordered (and mentioned in my "What's in the Mailbox" thread.)

I got a 50's Wind for the neck and Standard wind for the bridge.
Lollar's are typically vintage output. In this case the 50's Wind neck came in at 7.3k and the Bridge 9.3k.

The original Epiphone Pickups both came in around 8.03k. Yet they sounded hotter and had higher output. Just goes to show you can't rely on resistance alone to judge output.

The Epiphone P90's are actually very good sounding pickups. They did a great job recreating the 50's style P90 and a testament to how good this guitar is all around.
I was a bit on the fence about whether to even upgrade the pickups at all, but the neck on the Epi was a bit warmer and muddier than I wanted. (And as @Dan0h observed, my GAS can get fairly motivated hahah).

It's not a "glaring night and day difference" but rather subtle. Which again, speaks volumes of how good the Epiphone P90's are.

Anyway, some before and after clips below. All the settings were identical. The Epi's had a bit more output. I would typically use a boost which I did not for these clips.
Just some light compression, reverb, delay and my Space Heater tube pedal at the end of the chain for some warmth.

Epiphone Neck Pickup Clean:
https://soundcloud.com/michael-wong-482310884%2Fepi-neck-clean

Lollar Neck Pickup Clean:
https://soundcloud.com/michael-wong-482310884%2Flollar-neck-clean

Epiphone Neck Pickup "pushed" with the Cattle Driver at low gain
https://soundcloud.com/michael-wong-482310884%2Fepi-neck-pushed

Lollar Neck "Pushed"
https://soundcloud.com/michael-wong-482310884%2Flollar-neck-pushed

Continued in next post....
 
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I didn't have the caps I ordered in house yet. So I used what I had.
The values were what I wanted Russian PIO .015 in the neck and Mallory 150m .033 for the bridge.

50's wiring, no need for a treble bleed. I did not swap out the stock toggle and just re-used the wiring.
The guitar came with a Switchcraft jack so I re-used that.

IMG_3575.JPG
 
Man ill be honest im super impressed at the regular epi pickups. But i feel you can hear the difference more in the neck pickups more than anything, the Lollars sound a little more "clearer" to me. But its hard to tell in some spots.
 
steviejr92 said:
Man ill be honest im super impressed at the regular epi pickups. But i feel you can hear the difference more in the neck pickups more than anything, the Lollars sound a little more "clearer" to me. But its hard to tell in some spots.
Click to expand...
For sure, the main difference is the neck is a bit lower wind and uses different wire. The Lollar 50's wind is patterned after a particular pickup in a particular guitar that Jason liked a lot. The late Sean Costello's Gold top. I have the same pickup in my Tele and I love it.
It's got an airy, flutey sound to it. But it's not what most people would associate with a P90. A little clearer top end, a little less midrange.

But it's pretty subtle. I'm going to hang on to the Epi pickups and maybe put them into a build of some sort.
 
You sir are a tasteful bitch. I'd listen to you use that tone on the neck pickup all day :love:
The lollar 50s neck sounds spectacular, I think there's a pretty marked difference between both sets but definitely in the neck.

What's the recording chain for this?
 
SillyOctpuss said:
You sir are a tasteful bitch. I'd listen to you use that tone on the neck pickup all day :love:
The lollar 50s neck sounds spectacular, I think there's a pretty marked difference between both sets but definitely in the neck.

What's the recording chain for this?
Click to expand...
Guitar->TC Polytune->General Tso's->Cattle Driver->Grover Drive->Buffered loop w/Hydra-Tourbus-Gravitation->Space Heater->UAD Apollo->clean amp model
 
ADAOCE said:
Excellent clips. I have a baritone telecaster build coming up with three p90s. I’ll likely be posting a thread and looking for some suggestions. I know with a baritone a vintage or lower wind is probably best to avoid muddiness. I’m considering the lollars
Click to expand...
Oooooo, sounds interesting! Post pics of your build when you have them!

Are you making the body from scratch?
 
MichaelW said:
Oooooo, sounds interesting! Post pics of your build when you have them!

Are you making the body from scratch?
Click to expand...
First hope you’re doing ok in the storm..

I’ll definitely post a build thread. My dad and I are working on this and he’s going to build the body from scratch with either claro walnut or wenge body with a Koa/canary/maple top. Unsure what the final wood selections will be but the neck is roasted maple with rosewood fretboard. The idea is a very dark back for the body with roughly a .2 to .3” top stained to match the roasted maple. Pickups will probably be black covers, and all black hardware.
 
I rarely change pickups these days because I don't think you get the bang-for-buck you used to with pickup swaps. Glad it worked out for you though! Stock pickups these days are a lot better than they were 30 years ago... And there are many better ways to improve tone these days too. Changing speakers often costs less than a pickup swap and can have a greater affect on your sound.

But sometimes nothing scratches that itch like a pickup swap. The difference my be subtle, and inaudible to anyone except the player, and sometimes that's all you need to feel better about playing the guitar.
 
HamishR said:
I rarely change pickups these days because I don't think you get the bang-for-buck you used to with pickup swaps. Glad it worked out for you though! Stock pickups these days are a lot better than they were 30 years ago... And there are many better ways to improve tone these days too. Changing speakers often costs less than a pickup swap and can have a greater affect on your sound.

But sometimes nothing scratches that itch like a pickup swap. The difference my be subtle, and inaudible to anyone except the player, and sometimes that's all you need to feel better about playing the guitar.
Click to expand...
For sure, I'm super impressed with the pickups in the Epiphone and the two cheap jazz basses I recently got. The pickups in my $148 Harley Benton are Alnico's (Roswell) and sound better than the ones in the Squier (also Alnico).

I will probably wind up putting Fender Custom Shop 74's in both basses but I'm no expecting "shiver me timbers" kind of difference.

I think in MOST cases I change pickups because I'm looking for a different sound....and in the other cases, it's because I'm a pickup snob.....there I said it......:)
 
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