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

[MichaelW]

Some of you may remember that I got a prototype P90 pickup from Zhangbucker called the "Lollipop".

At the time I was all about comparing the different P90 sets I had in different mahogany short scale guitars.

Well, I decided to put the Lollipop into my Thineline Tele. It's a Squier body with a Warmoth neck with a set of Lollar "Special T" Tele pickups.
These are slightly overwound and definitely my favorite Lollar single coil for the bridge position of a Strat or Tele. (He makes a "Special S" for Strats.

But in the neck position of my Tele, I've never quite bonded with it. I find that for single coil tele's I prefer a vintage output.

So long story short, I decided to convert the neck position into a P90 using the Lollipop. This Zhangbucker P90 was designed for a Tele installation in mind in that it's a low wind, low output (6k-ish) P90 to balance better with the Tele bridge pickup.

Here's how my Saturday morning went......not without a few mishaps......

I started with a new pick guard cut for a P90 to locate where I needed to route.



Once located I could match the template to it.





I use double sided tape for routing templates.

All clamped down and ready to start routing....




Gotta love woodworking.....it's not the full experience without a little blood......this was just from installing the bit to the router......





This was a "whoopsie".....Like an idiot after my first pass with the router, I picked up the router out of the cavity before waiting for the motor to step spinning. Total rookie move......the spinning bit caught the edge of the acrylic template and took my for a wee little ride......



Fortunately the damage was MOSTLY inflicted on the template and the little gouge out of the body is hidden beneath the pickguard....phew....

While I had it out I decided to shield the new cavity with MG nickel based shielding paint.


I originally had this Tele wired with 4 way switching (both pickups in series) but decided to revert this back to a standard 3 way switching since I almost never use that "in series" position.



And the finished mod. Totally love the way it sounds. There's just something about a Tele with a P90 in the neck that really floats my boat.
Sounds lovely, big and warm and the bridge pickup still can do the Tele thing.



I'll try to get a demo of some of how it sounds on my next build report.

 

[jubal81]

Love seeing your guitar mod reports. Big inspiration for me to take a shot at it.

 

[PapaBear]

You had me at P90!

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Tele brothers

 

[Coda]

No pic of the router? Must have been a spoon...

 

[music6000]

Some of you may remember that I got a prototype P90 pickup from Zhangbucker called the "Lollipop".

At the time I was all about comparing the different P90 sets I had in different mahogany short scale guitars.

Well, I decided to put the Lollipop into my Thineline Tele. It's a Squier body with a Warmoth neck with a set of Lollar "Special T" Tele pickups.
These are slightly overwound and definitely my favorite Lollar single coil for the bridge position of a Strat or Tele. (He makes a "Special S" for Strats.

But in the neck position of my Tele, I've never quite bonded with it. I find that for single coil tele's I prefer a vintage output.

So long story short, I decided to convert the neck position into a P90 using the Lollipop. This Zhangbucker P90 was designed for a Tele installation in mind in that it's a low wind, low output (6k-ish) P90 to balance better with the Tele bridge pickup.

Here's how my Saturday morning went......not without a few mishaps......

I started with a new pick guard cut for a P90 to locate where I needed to route.

View attachment 44264

Once located I could match the template to it.

View attachment 44265

View attachment 44266

I use double sided tape for routing templates.

All clamped down and ready to start routing....

View attachment 44267


Gotta love woodworking.....it's not the full experience without a little blood......this was just from installing the bit to the router......
View attachment 44274




This was a "whoopsie".....Like an idiot after my first pass with the router, I picked up the router out of the cavity before waiting for the motor to step spinning. Total rookie move......the spinning bit caught the edge of the acrylic template and took my for a wee little ride......

View attachment 44268

Fortunately the damage was MOSTLY inflicted on the template and the little gouge out of the body is hidden beneath the pickguard....phew....

While I had it out I decided to shield the new cavity with MG nickel based shielding paint.
View attachment 44269

I originally had this Tele wired with 4 way switching (both pickups in series) but decided to revert this back to a standard 3 way switching since I almost never use that "in series" position.

View attachment 44270

And the finished mod. Totally love the way it sounds. There's just something about a Tele with a P90 in the neck that really floats my boat.
Sounds lovely, big and warm and the bridge pickup still can do the Tele thing.

View attachment 44271

I'll try to get a demo of some of how it sounds on my next build report.

Bloody Good Job!

 

[Paradox916]

Never played a p90 but I have always liked the way they sound. Nice job.

 

[andare]

Never played a p90 but I have always liked the way they sound. Nice job.

I just got a guitar with a P90. I plugged it into a cleanish tube amp...nice but not as good as a Strat or Jazzmaster. I turned up the Gain...ooh mama! So fat, creamy and growly. And if I max out the preamp tubes I can go from a ton of overdrive to a glassy clean* to rival a Fuzz Face just using the volume knob. Game changer!

* I puked in my mouth while typing that

 

[MichaelW]

Added a short demo clip of how this pickup sounds in this guitar.
With the tone rolled back a bit it can get some pretty jazzy tones.

The first low gain overdrive I'm kicking on is the Bullrush (Providence SOV2 Stampede) and the second one I kick on is the Uber Drive (Boss SD-1)

 

[HamishR]

If you think P90s sound good in Teles then wait 'til you hear Filter'trons in a Tele!

I like both styles. I have a recent USA Casino with P90s and a 2015 ES-225 with slightly lower-wind P90s and both guitars sound incredible. The 225 is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever played. Even with low-wind P90s it has a huge sound, with all the guts of a great PAF but better bite and definition. Playing that guitar is a life-changing experience.

I love what you have done here Michael! That Tele looks incredible - You have some crazy skills.

 

[MichaelW]

If you think P90s sound good in Teles then wait 'til you hear Filter'trons in a Tele!

I like both styles. I have a recent USA Casino with P90s and a 2015 ES-225 with slightly lower-wind P90s and both guitars sound incredible. The 225 is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever played. Even with low-wind P90s it has a huge sound, with all the guts of a great PAF but better bite and definition. Playing that guitar is a life-changing experience.

I love what you have done here Michael! That Tele looks incredible - You have some crazy skills.

Funny you should mention that, I've been looking at some of the GFS Tele bodies with filtertron routes......just this morning hahahah

 

[andare]

They sound amazing. I just wish my P90 wasn't as noisy. I'm probably gonna replace it with a hum cancelling P90 soon. Almost half the price of the guitar haha

 

[MichaelW]

Yah, I find that I prefer single coils to be single coils and the noise is just part of the charm of it. But then, since I don't play live I'm not dealing with amps, volume, dodgy power, etc.

I have yet to come across a hum cancelling P90 that I like. Although I do have a Durbano Tuxedo, which is a mini hum sized double coil "P90" sound. I have no idea what it sounds like yet, it might be getting installed sometime this week in a guitar and I'll make sure to do a demo.
But.....more routing is involved....I'm still recovering from the trauma from my last encounter with a router......

 

[andare]

Compared to my "real" single coils, this Epiphone P90 Pro hums much more. It becomes unbearable with gain, which is what a P90 wants.
I've been eyeing the Mojotone 56 Quiet Coil. It probably has less treble but from the demos it growls and cleans up like a regular P90.

 

[HamishR]

I'd be wary of the Mojo Quiet Coils. I haven't tried the P90s but have tried the Strat Quiet Coils and was really disappointed. I wasn't expecting them to be as good as the admittedly excellent pickups which came in my Strat but I was surprised at just how awful they were. Muddy, lifeless, lacking in any sparkle whatsoever. The only noiseless Strat pickups I could ever use were Lace Sensors! But that was 30 years ago. I wonder what I would make of them now?

I have tried Lindy Fralin's noiseless P90s and they were similarly disappointing. I suspect part of the problem is that the guitars I have with P90s have very, very good P90s in them. Maybe if I was building from scratch it wouldn't be such an issue.

My one consolation is that I remember gigging with an R4 Les Paul which has some decent P90s in it and the hum wasn't such an issue at gigs. You would have thought it would be, but the hum was actually much more annoying at home.

 

[MichaelW]

I'd be wary of the Mojo Quiet Coils. I haven't tried the P90s but have tried the Strat Quiet Coils and was really disappointed. I wasn't expecting them to be as good as the admittedly excellent pickups which came in my Strat but I was surprised at just how awful they were. Muddy, lifeless, lacking in any sparkle whatsoever. The only noiseless Strat pickups I could ever use were Lace Sensors! But that was 30 years ago. I wonder what I would make of them now?

I have tried Lindy Fralin's noiseless P90s and they were similarly disappointing. I suspect part of the problem is that the guitars I have with P90s have very, very good P90s in them. Maybe if I was building from scratch it wouldn't be such an issue.

My one consolation is that I remember gigging with an R4 Les Paul which has some decent P90s in it and the hum wasn't such an issue at gigs. You would have thought it would be, but the hum was actually much more annoying at home.

If anyone could "unlock" the key to good sounding noiseless P90's OR authentic sounding HB sized P90's there's a huge market.
Every set of either I've tried have been disappointing.

 

[andare]

How bad are we talking about? They can't be worse than humbuckers.
Noiseless strat pickups seem to work well for Jeff Beck and Mark Speer.

I've only read positive reviews of the P90 Quiet Coils but who knows what anybody plays through.
I also read good things about dual blade humbuckers in Bronco basses but mine sounds awful.

I suppose on stage what really matters is being in tune and keeping drunks from falling over y equipment

BTW how come Firebird pickups are so bright even though they are humbuckers?

 

[MichaelW]

How bad are we talking about? They can't be worse than humbuckers.
Noiseless strat pickups seem to work well for Jeff Beck and Mark Speer.

I've only read positive reviews of the P90 Quiet Coils but who knows what anybody plays through.
I also read good things about dual blade humbuckers in Bronco basses but mine sounds awful.

I suppose on stage what really matters is being in tune and keeping drunks from falling over y equipment

BTW how come Firebird pickups are so bright even though they are humbuckers?

Magic.....

 

[andare]

So here's sound waves of the same E chord played on my Jazzmaster bridge pickup. Cranked preamp tubes. You can see how quiet the hum is after the first chord.



Now the same thing with my Coronet with the Epiphone P90 Pro. The chord is quieter, the hum is louder.

 

[DAJE]

BTW how come Firebird pickups are so bright even though they are humbuckers?

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.