PSD!! (Pickup Swap Day.....P90 Content) - Demo Added

DAJE said:
When people say "humbucker" they're usually thinking of PAF-type HBs, not twin blades (which are what Firebird pups are, I believe). I don't have much experience of Firebird pups, but I've used a lot of twin blade pickups and currently have one in my lap steel. It's an Artec, a cheapish Chinese brand, but the magnets are AlNiCo and it sounds very nice. Articulate and with a decent amount of bite, but not at all harsh.

PAF-type HBs come in many different varieties, too. Cheap humbuckers, especially the overwound (high output) ones, do tend to sound muddy, but there are plenty of PAF-style HBs that don't.
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The Artec dual blade pickup is what sounds like garbage in my Bronco. Mine is the Strat-sized version. Muddy low end and midrange, no treble. This is with flats, however. I'm gonna put pure nickel rounds on this bass soon because I need more treble.
 
andare said:
The Artec dual blade pickup is what sounds like garbage in my Bronco. Mine is the Strat-sized version. Muddy low end and midrange, no treble. This is with flats, however. I'm gonna put pure nickel rounds on this bass soon because I need more treble.
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Yes, I don't think it'd make a good bass pickup. But it works in my steel. And yours may be a different model, that's kind of my point, that with pickups different specs make a big difference. Magnet strength, wire gauge, etc.
 
Trey Anastasio plays hollow-body guitars with HB’s. They sound like P90’s; bright, but round, punchy, a little smooth, but with a bite. Of course, how much of that is pickup vs. the rest of the rig/recording set up? P90’s are noisy in nature. I think this is why Seth Lover decided the HB was a good idea; he was trying to make a quieter p90…

I played a strat once with a set of Lace Sensors. I liked them, but it didn’t sound or play like a strat. It seems that if you want THAT P90 tone, you have to accept THAT P90 noise…
 
Coda said:
Trey Anastasio plays hollow-body guitars with HB’s. They sound like P90’s; bright, but round, punchy, a little smooth, but with a bite. Of course, how much of that is pickup vs. the rest of the rig/recording set up? P90’s are noisy in nature. I think this is why Seth Lover decided the HB was a good idea; he was trying to make a quieter p90…

I played a strat once with a set of Lace Sensors. I liked them, but it didn’t sound or play like a strat. It seems that if you want THAT P90 tone, you have to accept THAT P90 noise…
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Like I said, part of the charm, heh....

While I was swapping the "Lollipop" out of the my Gretsch to put into my Tele, I installed another P90 into the Gretsch.

After @Guardians of the analog turned me onto Bootstrap pickups I decided to try a couple of his P90's. I had purchased a neck P90 that wound up never getting used until now. I threw that into the Gretsch and it actually sounds pretty darn good. But, it's a little noisier than my Lollars and Wolfies. Nothing that comes through during a recording but I can hear it.

Interesting design in that it uses flat poles instead of adjustable pole pieces.

I just recorded it for my Precipice OD demo.
 
MichaelW said:
Like I said, part of the charm, heh....

While I was swapping the "Lollipop" out of the my Gretsch to put into my Tele, I installed another P90 into the Gretsch.

After @Guardians of the analog turned me onto Bootstrap pickups I decided to try a couple of his P90's. I had purchased a neck P90 that wound up never getting used until now. I threw that into the Gretsch and it actually sounds pretty darn good. But, it's a little noisier than my Lollars and Wolfies. Nothing that comes through during a recording but I can hear it.

Interesting design in that it uses flat poles instead of adjustable pole pieces.

I just recorded it for my Precipice OD demo.
Click to expand...
Is that the P90 that's low wind and the poles are magnets like a traditional single coil? I like P90s for the P90 grind but I like lower wind single coils, especially traditional tele pickups the best. I don't get along with humbuckers too much but the updated vintera wide range are brighter and as close as I've come to my ideal HB sound.
 
Wow. So many pickup manufacturers these days it makes my head spin. Choices are a good thing though.
I don’t have a lot of experience with aftermarket PUs, but I love TV jones pickups.
I have wanted to experiment with different ones in a tele, but I dont want to modify my '72 tele a lot. I might need to pick up an inexpensive tele to play with.
My strat, on the other hand, is just an '08 American. I really want to try different PUs in it.
 
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The Gator said:
Wow. So many pickup manufacturers these days it makes my head spin. Choices are a good thing though.
I don’t have a lot of experience with aftermarket PUs, but I love TV jones pickups.
I have wanted to experiment with different one in a tele, but I dont want to modify my '72 tele a lot. I migt need to pick up an inexpensive tele to play with.
My strat, on the other hand, is just an '08 American. I really want to try different PUs in it.
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I wanna see this legit vintage 72 tele. No, I NEED to see it!
 
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MichaelW said:
Mine measures around 7.7k. So not super low wind but pretty low for a P90. It matches well in terms of balance with the bridge Filtertron I have in that guitar. Considering both pickups were less than $40 I'm extremely happy with the sound.
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I just measured the pickup in my 1959 Gibson ES-330T: 7.61k...
 
That's probably too many. I didn't mean to take up your thread Michael.
 

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I worked at a music store that did nothing but Used Guitars all through the 90s. From 1990 to 2000. The stuff that came through that store! I really should have bought a lot more than what I did. I guess I thought it would just never end. I was so picky when I was in my twenties. I bought that tele for $550 in 1991. I bought the '68 Vibrolux reverb for $350! Best amp I've ever owned.
Most of my stuff is old. Hell I'm old lol.
That tele and the vibrolux are my favorite.
Back to p90s - there was a beat up 1958 Les Paul special, yellowish, 2 P90s, hangin' in the back room on the wall by the bathroom. I played it a hundred times. Never bought it. I still regret that. Played like a dream and sounded glorious.
 
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