Looking for info on P-90's

[Konga Man]

I'm currently working on a semi-hollow body guitar, and I want to install some P-90's on it. I've got several questions about this.

- The tone I'm looking for is more Epi Casino (think: Revolver) rather than Rock and Roll Animal, Mountain, etc. Anyone have a recommendation for a P-90 (SD, Fralin, Lollar, etc.) that would nail this sound? I've heard that some of the newer reissues have a slightly hotter sound, but that's not what I'm looking for.
- Given that the top on the guitar is 3/16" thick, I can't really rout a conventional cavity. Therefore, I'd like to surface mount the pickups. I've seen the SD specs, and the height seems to vary with different models (Vintage: .865", Custom: .740", etc.). At some point, these will be too thick to fit under the strings; it's 5/8" from the body to the strings. Any recommendations or specs on a thinner pup? Can you inset the pup with dogears?
- How are soapbars mounted? Are those mounting screws between the pole pieces?
- How do you adjust the height of the pickup with either soapbars or dogears?
- Are there any good nickel or chrome covers available? I've heard that some of the aftermarket covers (e.g. WD) have holes that aren't aligned with the pole pieces on a vintage P-90.

Any help or info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Looking for info on P-90's

I would go with the SD Antiquity Soap or the Vintage if you don't want to go for the big bucks. I am not sure how the mounting goes on a hollow body but a semi hollow you should be able to rout what you need. If you want to go with a floating pup check out some of Kent Armstrong 's pups he has a few like that not sure if they are P-90 though you'd have to check.

As for covers I'd look to see what All Parts has in there catalog but also ask SD if you get one of their pups, they have some different covers available.

 

[junior]

Re: Looking for info on P-90's

Lindy Fralins are incredible! I like the SD phat cats, but I've never used any other SD P-90s, though verything SD makes pretty much rocks!

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: Looking for info on P-90's

I'm currently working on a semi-hollow body guitar, and I want to install some P-90's on it...

When you say "semi-hollow" I think of an ES-335 with a center block. I have an Epi Casino and it is completely hollow, with just a round post under the bridge to keep the top from collapsing.

On the Epi the plywood top is cut for the two dog-ear P-90's. The neck pickup is recessed a bit while the bridge pickup mounts flush to the top. To adjust the heights you can bend the metal flanges under the dog-ears a bit, or maybe add washers and o-rings.

Maybe you can order Casino pickups from Epi? They come with metal covers and are spaced a little bit different from Gibsons or SD's. (I replaced the Epi pickups on my Casino with Gibson dog-ears, and did not notice a big difference in sound.)

Your post points out the schizophrenic nature of P-90's... you are looking for the cleaner P-90 sounds, not the Lou Reed Rock'n'Roll Animal P-90 sounds. A lot of that has to do with how you have the pickups adjusted (which is much easier to do with the soapbar variety than the dog-ears). If the coils are wound hot and you raise the pickups close to the strings you will get the more agressive sounds. (The instructions I was told was to raise the P-90's until they just start to "growl"; if you leave them adjusted like that when you back off the guitar volume it will clean up the sound considerably.)

Remember that most of the Gibson electric guitars had P-90 pickups before Seth Lover designed the PAF-style humbuckers; there are presumably a lot of P-90's heard on the rock, blues and jazz records from the 40's and 50's.