First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

[Guitarjoe91]

Hey guys! Huge Seymour Duncan antiquities fan here, as I have a set in my SG standard and my Historic reissue 335. I recently purchased a VOS Les Paul special, which I love, but the pickups are a little too high of output. Obviously, I’m looking for another set of antiquities, but I was curious if I could pair an antiquity P-90 in the neck and a Mini humbucker in the bridge with good results? Would I have to purchase a matches set from Seymour Duncan directly, or could I purchase any Antiquity P-90 and Mini-humbucker from reverb and not have an issue?

 

[Mincer]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

Welcome to the forum!

I don't believe those are sold as a matched set, so just go ahead and buy them from Reverb. You have good taste- the Antiquity line is really something special.

 

[Guitarjoe91]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

Welcome to the forum!

I don't believe those are sold as a matched set, so just go ahead and buy them from Reverb. You have good taste- the Antiquity line is really something special.

Awesome. Do you think I’ll have an issue with volume balance? Looks like p-90 necks measure in the 7.8k range while minis are in the low 8s.

 

[jeremy]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

you should be ok as long as you keep the p90 low and raise the mini pretty high. tonally a3 magnets in the p90 might be better but hard to say without trying it. i have a bunch of antiquity pups in a bunch of guitars and love all of em

 

[Mincer]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

You should be fine..just balance with pickup height. For years, the same pickup was used in all positions, and many classic guitars still have that arrangement.

 

[AlexR]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

I'd almost swap the positions of the pickups....based on having played Gibson versions of those and the Antiquity models supposedly winding to match. Mini's in the neck are a glorious thing, and you'd balance the outputs a bit easier with the p90 in the bridge.

As an aside.....what pickups are in the Special as stock?? The regular p90 gibson winds is not a hot version, especially for a VOS model which I'm assuming is some form of RI guitar. I think you'll find the Seymour p90 would be similar output if not slightly hotter. Although K is not output, the Duncan sits at 8.6K and Gibsons p90 is usually 8-8.2k.

 

[Guitarjoe91]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

Thinking about grabbing this set of antiquities... that being said, I notive they don't have Seymour's signature on them like my two set of full sized pups do. Are they legit?

https://reverb.com/item/15681268-seymour-duncan-antiquity-mini-humbuckers-2017-nickel

 

[Guitarjoe91]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

One more question for you guys. The route in my LP special is not a flat route like you might expect for a P-90. I guess where it’s a historic spec model, it has vintage routing, which is kind of a U shape, with the U section being at the front and back of the pickup, whithe a channe cut below, then a deeper pocket, where the pickups wires run into the cavity. Will this be an issue when trying to mount a mini humbucker? Will the route have to be made deeper to accommodate the mini humbucker?

 

[AlexR]

Re: First post! And selecting the right pickups for my LP special

The rout you describe is one I would expect for p90s and that guitar actually.....the flat bottom comes from the more 'modern' style where the minis were first installed in Les Pauls, and is used for the USA production guitars.
Minis mount differently to p90's in that they need a plate that screws into the wood. The pickup doesn't move up and down in the ring, but ring+ pickup move together, using the two outer screws into the metal plate.

Thinking about the guitars I have made with the vintage p90 rout, you may well find the depth not sufficient. The deeper channel is more like your depth - the neck pickup will need probably a 20-25mm rout depth as that one sits usually low in the guitar. Not to mention you'll need the flat bottom to mount the plate.