Triple P90 Baritone Build Discussion

[ADAOCE]

As the title suggests, I am in the process of building a baritone Tele with 3 p90s. I say three p90s but really I started off by wanting a baritone tele with two p90s. I was looking for templates and found one with another p90 rout in the middle so I said yeah let’s do it.

I’m looking for any suggestions for the right p90s for this type of guitar. Those to me are the most important. In the middle slot I have no clue what to do. Gold foil soapbar sized, p90, mini hum with soapbar mount? Or do I do something entirely different like a lipstick etc?

I intend to mostly play clean ambient with some dirt thrown in occasionally. Let’s be honest probably more than occasionally But I originally was drawn to the baritone idea from hearing more ambient or just regular guitar playing just in a lower register I.e this is not a ultra low doom chug machine.

The only thing I can think so far is to get a lower output set than typical to avoid muddiness. Other than that I’m just looking for opinions.

Oh and my intended control layout so far is a jaguar style triple toggle switch plate (neck,bridge,series/parallel) in the upper horn and then a master tone, master volume and a middle pickup blend where the knobs normally go.

The body will have a maple top so the routing will be under that and the cavities will be accessible from the back.

Incase anyone is interested I bought a warmoth baritone conversion neck with roasted maple and a rosewood fretboard and the body is going to be made by my dad out of either mahogany or walnut with a maple top of some figured variety. Going with the four screw vintage bridge mount. Might do a standard fender bridge but considering the mastery for intonation sake with the baritone scale OR I could embark upon having my brother in law custom mill me a bridge to my specs.

So I have a lot to think about and form up before the saws start turning…

 

[Feral Feline]

Cool project!

STAPLE in the middle.

You getting Cream or...

...Black?

 

[giovanni]

I have a guitar with 3 Fralin P90s. TBH I rarely if ever use the middle P90, not even in combination with one of the other two. Although it may be different in a baritone. What tone are you going for? How do you plan to use it?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I have a pair of gfs humbucker sized 90s in mine. I'm told they have some tonal differences to the full size. I haven't swapped out to compare because I've been smitten with the thing ever since. I'd maybe consider lipstick for the middle.

 

[ADAOCE]

Cool project!

STAPLE in the middle.

You getting Cream or...

...Black?

Ohh wow the staple pickup looks really cool. Is it mostly for show? I’m fine with that to be honest. Looks are part of the game. The neck and bridge are the heavy lifters I feel with this build. The color of the pickup covers will be determined when we finalize the top piece and how dark I’m going to make it. Lighter stain will use cream color and darker stain will be black.

 

[ADAOCE]

I have a guitar with 3 Fralin P90s. TBH I rarely if ever use the middle P90, not even in combination with one of the other two. Although it may be different in a baritone. What tone are you going for? How do you plan to use it?

That’s very interesting thank you for the feedback. I actually went back and forth deciding if this was really even necessary to do the middle pickup on the tele but I think why not. If anything it gives me the chance to try something different there.

The tone I’m going for is articulate and clear ambient style. I want to avoid it being really muddy so I’m stearing away from higher output pickups. I think even the lower output pickups will sound great with dirt too. I definitely am not looking for something to play downtuned metal with. Ariel Posen and Joey landreth put me on this path. AP is a big fuzz guy and has a great heavy tone which I like but at the same time I love the sound of the baritone that the guy from Chords of Orion on YouTube plays. He has a PRS semi hollow 277 with soap bars.

The middle pickup will be on a blender circuit but I’m going to wire up the ability to bypass neck and bridge so I will be able to isolate the middle. Im wondering if the middle pickup could be the dark horse that I don’t use much but in the case I do want to get heavy or crazy I could dial that up. Maybe a mini humbucker

 

[ADAOCE]

I have a pair of gfs humbucker sized 90s in mine. I'm told they have some tonal differences to the full size. I haven't swapped out to compare because I've been smitten with the thing ever since.

I’ve heard great things about GFS 90s. Price is excellent ad the kwikplug is cool. I’m eyeing lollars but three pups will put a big dent in the budget

 

[ADAOCE]

Coffeecaster?

View attachment 34069

Hah awesome. Oh btw @Feral Feline os this yours or a web image? Looks sweet

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

3 lollars ooh lala!

 

[ADAOCE]

3 lollars ooh lala!

Lol yeah idk I think I’m going to start small (cheaper) and figure out what I want before shelling out

 

[music6000]

Cool project!

STAPLE in the middle.

You getting Cream or...

...Black?

Coffecaster???

 

[music6000]

Hah awesome. Oh btw @Feral Feline os this yours or a web image? Looks sweet

Revisited!

 

[Feral Feline]

Nothing mine in that post above, just suggesting the staple for the middle — images pulled from Lollar (creme staple) and somewhere else from the net.

My Tele project has a (mostly) regular Tele bridge and a humbucker neck pup combination. I have some GFS pickups for it, this thread is a good reminder to get back on that project — a new black neck-plate came for it, but alas it's made me realise the holes in the body are crooked not the chrome neck-plate I had — the plates are from two different sources but match perfectly, so it's gotta be the body holes that are off.

 

[Feral Feline]

Oh, nutter ting, ADAOCE...

Staples aren't just for show, if they're built to spec properly. I read somewhere they're closer to a DeArmond Dynasonic than a P90 in construction and sound. They first showed up in the mid-'50s in the neck position on the Black Beauties, ie the LP Customs. I don't even remember what else the differences are (info's online), I just remember the way they were described made sense to me and made me want ...

... a Goldtop body (Maple cap! BBs were solid mahogany), with a Custom neck (triple-bound, ebony fb w/ block inlays and with the groovy headstock inlays!);
stick a cream regular P90 in the bridge position (wraparound modern compensated or maybe a Bigsby setup), and a black staple in the neck position.
The Gold top body then sprayed around the edges with black something like this:

Triangle shaping to the burst, as above, so the Cream pup pops at the bridge and the Staple disappears into the neck position. I think the black&gold combination will look spectacular.

To top it off, the Black knobs for the neck pickup will be against a goldtop background and the gold knobs for the bridge pickup will be against the black-burst edge for contrast and to match which pickup gets what controls as I can never remember which knob does what on an LP.

Course, this LP Goldtop-Custom mashup will have to wait for the Tele to be finished, which doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon.

 

[ADAOCE]

Nothing mine in that post above, just suggesting the staple for the middle — images pulled from Lollar (creme staple) and somewhere else from the net.

My Tele project has a (mostly) regular Tele bridge and a humbucker neck pup combination. I have some GFS pickups for it, this thread is a good reminder to get back on that project — a new black neck-plate came for it, but alas it's made me realise the holes in the body are crooked not the chrome neck-plate I had — the plates are from two different sources but match perfectly, so it's gotta be the body holes that are off.

There are so many little things with stuff like this. Did you buy a template or trace it out yourself?

 

[ADAOCE]

Oh, nutter ting, ADAOCE...

Staples aren't just for show, if they're built to spec properly. I read somewhere they're closer to a DeArmond Dynasonic than a P90 in construction and sound. They first showed up in the mid-'50s in the neck position on the Black Beauties, ie the LP Customs. I don't even remember what else the differences are (info's online), I just remember the way they were described made sense to me and made me want ...

... a Goldtop body (Maple cap! BBs were solid mahogany), with a Custom neck (triple-bound, ebony fb w/ block inlays and with the groovy headstock inlays!);
stick a cream regular P90 in the bridge position (wraparound modern compensated or maybe a Bigsby setup), and a black staple in the neck position.
The Gold top body then sprayed around the edges with black something like this:

Triangle shaping to the burst, as above, so the Cream pup pops at the bridge and the Staple disappears into the neck position. I think the black&gold combination will look spectacular.

To top it off, the Black knobs for the neck pickup will be against a goldtop background and the gold knobs for the bridge pickup will be against the black-burst edge for contrast and to match which pickup gets what controls as I can never remember which knob does what on an LP.

Course, this LP Goldtop-Custom mashup will have to wait for the Tele to be finished, which doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon.

Wow thanks for the info on the staple pickup origins and good lord please finish the Tele so you can start your LP build. That sounds so cool especially with the contrasting knobs and the neck pickup hiding in the black burst.

Very cool

 

[MichaelW]

Ohh wow the staple pickup looks really cool. Is it mostly for show? I’m fine with that to be honest. Looks are part of the game. The neck and bridge are the heavy lifters I feel with this build. The color of the pickup covers will be determined when we finalize the top piece and how dark I’m going to make it. Lighter stain will use cream color and darker stain will be black.

No, real staples have a different sound. A bit more output and a bit more top end than a standard P90.

Also, real Staples have an extremely complicated "elevator" system beneath the pick up that allows you adjust the height of each individual slug.
They're overcomplicated and don't have a lot of benefit. Most modern Staple makers (Like Lollar) forgo this feature.

For a "lower" cost Staple that's very well reviewed, check out this one.

I have one of their Filtertrons. Spec'd by these guys, made in Korea. My sample of one is an excellent pickup for about GFS money.

 

[ADAOCE]

No, real staples have a different sound. A bit more output and a bit more top end than a standard P90.

Ok I’m definitely intrigued by the staple then. Time to do some YouTubing..

 

[Feral Feline]

@MichaelW have you (or anyone else) tried the Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90s or know anything about them from reviews etc... I was thinking that'd be my bridge pickup. I love single-coils and P-90s but hum not so much.


Not wanting to derail your thread, ADAOCE, I believe it's relevant to your project.

 

[MichaelW]

@MichaelW have you (or anyone else) tried the Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90s or know anything about them from reviews etc... I was thinking that'd be my bridge pickup. I love single-coils and P-90s but hum not so much.


Not wanting to derail your thread, ADAOCE, I believe it's relevant to your project.

Well I may be the wrong person to ask, I DETEST stacked P90's......heh. I have never played one that sounds like a P90 to me.

I used to have a Melancon P90 Tele that used 2 Stacked Seymour Duncan P90's that was splittable. The stacked sound didn't sound like P90s but weak hum buckers. The Split sound didn't sound like P90's, but weak Strats.

If you want the P90 sound, get a real P90, and embrace the hum, managing the "squirrelly-ness" of the hum is all part of the P90 "thing".