p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

ledzepp29

ledzepp29

New member
I have a les paul
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and I've been entertaining the idea of putting actual p-90s in it. I have the phat cat in it and I like it but its not really very p90ish. Is it possible to install dog ears or p-90s? Which would allow for the least amount of modification? Could idea or not? Thanks
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

im not sure if that would work, p-90's are wider than humbuckers (left to right). youd have to reroute it, and than find a pickguard that would cover up the height difference.
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

Rio Grande has the Bastard and Fat Bastard. They're P90 singles housed in a humbucker body. I don't know how close they sound to other P90's but the soundclips sound great.
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

Bro, if you rout that thing for P-90's it will look so gay! Dont ruin that axe anymore than it has already been ruined by a Bigsby!

Sorry bro, I am the #1 hater of Bigsbys on here!!!!! LOL!!!!
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

As mentioned, the P-90 is wider than the humbucker, but it's not as "deep" (from bridge to nut). On a sunburst guitar you're talking about filling the area. It's a bunch of work.
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

Cool guitar! I've been trying to warn people that Phat Cats aren't really close to P-90s. The closest thing I've found to a P-90 is the Gibson P-94. It gets a lot of that snarl and beefy midrange output that the original P-90s are known for, but take note that it isn't fully there (just a bigger step closer than you are now without having to mod your guitar).

Then again, you know exactly what you're looking for and if you're like me, nothing beats an authentic P-90, so I'd sell the guitar and get a LP Special (I'm a big fan of P-90 necks, YMMV). You "could" route the guitar, but if that's an authentic Les Paul, I'm not so sure I'd want to devalue the instrument (that's ultimately your decision).
 
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Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

myxolidian said:
Rio Grande has the Bastard and Fat Bastard. They're P90 singles housed in a humbucker body. I don't know how close they sound to other P90's but the soundclips sound great.
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I'd have to +1 to this.

It could be very possible that he just doesn't like the sound of the A2 magnets in it. I never really thought of A2 magnets as a P-90 tone.
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

You could try a Dimarzio Bluesbucker and see if it lives up to its p90 claims? I would put a set of Filtertron copies in it!
 
Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

The fact is that nooone makes an exact P-90 clone in a humbucker housing. It's impossible to fully cop that tone because the magnetic field on a humbucker isn't as wide. The reason why I said to go to the Gibson P-94 is that Gibson essentially takes everything they put in their P-90s and they manage to arrange them in a humbucker type housing. I just don't see there being anything closer than that, but I've never tried a few of the odd ones out there, like the Kay-Bar.
 
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Re: p-90s in humbucker routed les paul?

well I'm not gonna route my les paul! haha don't get too upset guitar police
I just dig the sound of p90s and the phat cat doesn't get much of that vibe to me. I was kinda seeing if the idea of p90s was actually possible without any routing. I'll look into the options listed thanks
and its an r7 I just like guitars with character and I use the bigsby a lot in my band. I'm sure what Neil Young did to his les paul would piss a lot of you off but I think his guitar is cooler than 'mint condition' collector's items anyways
 
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