How come P90 pickups aren’t as popular as Fender style single coils and humbuckers?

[chadd]

Yeah, the Firebirds are pretty bright. Agree that if you have a bright pup you can turn down the tone, but if you have a dull pup (not saying a mini is dull, though) you can't get it brighter.

A lot of Gibson minis suffered from shipping with 300k pots that made everything sound dark

 

[jeremy]

They're pretty popular. Guitarist at a show I went to @ Red Rocks on Tuesday had them.

whod ya see at red rocks? cool venue, but lots of walkin lol

 

[Wayne27]

Yeah, a single coil that has high output would hum as much as a regular P90, although the 'high end of the hum' might not be as noticeable. People who really dig P90s are not generally bothered much by hum, though (same as people who are super into Strat pickups). If you are regularly a humbucker player, the hum of a P90 might be unbearable.

What do you mean by the high end of the hum?

 

[Mincer]

Well, hum has frequency range, if you've ever tried to get rid of it using an EQ.

 

[Wayne27]

Well, hum has frequency range, if you've ever tried to get rid of it using an EQ.

I see!

 

[freefrog]

Yep, a P90 "tunes" the noise according to its resonant peak, whose frequency is lower than with Fender SC's...

 

[eclecticsynergy]

From your experience do P90s hum alot more then strat single coils or just a little more?

​

The question wasn't for me but... IME, P90's hum more than most Strat single coils. Reasons: more turns, wider coil area.

Now, a 13 or 14k Strat single coil can be as noisy as a P90...

Late reply, but yes. Especially with gain, at high volume, the hum is absolutely horrendous.
Hotter and wider, stronger in the bass frequencies where the strongest hum resides.
For low or even medium-gain material I wouldn't say the hum is prohibitive.

Of course plenty of classic rockers used them to good advantage. Still, the gain available in the 60s & 70s - even for players like Iommi and Leslie West - was miniscule compared to the gain levels offered by modern rigs.

PS: I have an old Duncan Quarter Pound Strat pickup that's 14K; used it for thousands of shows back in the 80s.
It's far from silent. But it didn't seem quite as noisy as most of my P90s.
Then again, I haven't used that guitar in some years - my memory could be deceiving me.

 

[Artie]

I don't think I ever saw a Ibanez guitar with P90s

that iceman is sweeet! but again, its a rarity. i never said they didnt make p90 guitars, just its not very common

You kinda gotta roll your own. I hated to sell my Iceman, with GFS Dream 90's, but I gotta thin the herd.

 

[switchman]

When I first started I had the same question the OP did way back. I was a single coil only person first, and later went to vintage-y hum-canceling types. For a long time I had multiple soapbar guitars. At the point where I finally had a proper home PC recording setup, I realized why they weren't more popular. Not because of noise I had Fralins and Kinmans by then. They just didn't fit into a mix with other instruments. Strat, Tele, Humbuckers, Firebird all these have their voice. The P-90's I always found had to be way up in the mix to be heard and then overpowered everything else... I can see why they show up in punk or other 3 pieces (Mountain) a lot where they really fill out the midrange..

Anyway here's my favorite Ibanez Soapbar the JS700. An uncommon short lived model with an even more uncommon Mahogany bolt-on tiltback 6 inline headstock.

 

[jeremy]

thats a sweet guitar! and yes, vintage p90s have a certain voice, but they should be able to fit in a mix like anything else. its about the whole rig, not just the sound source

 

[Artie]

Anyway here's my favorite Ibanez Soapbar the JS700.

That is sweet. Love that color and wood.