P90 GAS-ing - Purchase Soon - What Say You Lot?

ThreeChordWonder

ThreeChordWonder

New member
Purchase criteria:
  1. Must have P90s
  2. Under a grand
  3. Mainstream brand
Optional:
  1. Solid body
  2. Semi hollow
  3. Full hollow
Choices seem to come down to:
  1. Epiphone Casino - Asian, not American. It'll be one of the glossy finish ones, not those drab ones. I tried an olive drab in GC and hated the neck.
  2. Epiphone SG Special with P90s ( not the classic - same neck issue as the drab Casino).
  3. Epiphone Wilshire
  4. Fender Jim Adkins Thinline Tele
  5. Something cheap from Gretsch?
  6. What say you?
One thing to bear in mind, if the price is at the lower end, I don't mind spending a couple of hundred on some SD P90s and maybe another hundred on tuners or whatever.
 
Another vote for the PRS SE with P-90's. I bought one and the stock units sounded fine, but I installed a pair of Lindy Fralin stacked P-90's to eliminate the single coil hum.
 
Sight unseen or are you auditioning in person?

Might include the PRS SE Soapbar line. They aren't made anymore, but I had one for a couple years and it was fantastic. Silly to sell it.

I dig Thinline Teles in general and had a good experience auditioning an Epiphone SG Special. Something really magical about the slightly wider neck, light body, warm acoustic sound, and sparkly P90s. The Epi Special was inspiring enough to bring home, but I ended up with a used Gibson instead that had just a little more vibe for just a little more money.

If I was ordering sight unseen I'd want to consider body size and weight. The Casino is definitely a bigger chunk of wood on your body. And I wouldn't be too concerned about the SG neck dive complaints - it's a thing for some SGs but there are fixes for it.
 
Screw all that. . . Get yourself a $300 piece of firewood (as securb so lovingly calls my guitars)
This guitar is awesome look it up, what you see in this video is just a fraction of what it can do. It's really really quiet too.
Tagima TW 61
 
alex1fly said:
Sight unseen or are you auditioning in person?

Might include the PRS SE Soapbar line. They aren't made anymore, but I had one for a couple years and it was fantastic. Silly to sell it.

I dig Thinline Teles in general and had a good experience auditioning an Epiphone SG Special. Something really magical about the slightly wider neck, light body, warm acoustic sound, and sparkly P90s. The Epi Special was inspiring enough to bring home, but I ended up with a used Gibson instead that had just a little more vibe for just a little more money.

If I was ordering sight unseen I'd want to consider body size and weight. The Casino is definitely a bigger chunk of wood on your body. And I wouldn't be too concerned about the SG neck dive complaints - it's a thing for some SGs but there are fixes for it.
Click to expand...

Not really sight unseen...

I have a 2015 Gibson SG, a DIY thinline (which I really like) and I've handled the Casino, both olive drab and a burst. I didn't like the neck on the olive drab at all, and the only burst I could track down in Houston was a repaired neck job. The Wilshire is just a not-as-pointy SG...
 
solspirit said:
Screw all that. . . Get yourself a $300 piece of firewood (as securb so lovingly calls my guitars)
This guitar is awesome look it up, what you see in this video is just a fraction of what it can do. It's really really quiet too.
Tagima TW 61
Click to expand...

I love jazzmasters . . . that would be a great P90 platform.
 
Yes I am a jazzmaster freak, but keep in mind that regular jazz masters have a different pickup and pick up dimensions then p90s. There are jazz Masters that have been made with p90s.

After that I've got to go with any tely with a p90 in the neck. Tely's are extremely solid p90 platforms.

The Epiphone is an entirely different approach.. p90s are amazing in hollows and semi hollows but they take on a very different character in my experience. Some of it is the lack of sustain, but I think more of it is the natural mid-range due to the resionent chamber. A low output p90 with a hollow body is magical.. you get the same mid-range but you also get a sparkly, chimey tone that is rare with most other pickups other than rickenbackers.

The gretch is really an entirely different animal but a truly wonderful guitar. When somebody is looking for a 24.75 I'll recommend a gretch for practically anything other than metal.

Because they are shorter scale, they have less of the snap that you find with the 25.5. however, filtertrons are remarkable pickups. They are fully humbucking however their size and design makes them far less muudy than traditional Gibson's and they have plenty of high-end. More like a strat on steroids, then a p90 however it's still a wonderful sound.
 
Mincer said:
First thing I thought of, too.
Click to expand...

I have many guitars including a custom shop Les Paul R7. The G&L cost a fraction of the Gibson and the G&L holds it own with it. Amazing quality and tone for the price. I have a custom US G&L Fallout. I replaced the G&L P90 with a SD vintage P90. Just beautiful. All SD pickups have that same awesome tone DNA.

https://glguitars.com/product/asat-classic-bluesboy-90/
 
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NegativeEase said:
If you are measuring value -one of the Yamaha Pacificas with the p90 load is probably the best guitar value on the market.
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Yes, the 502V, and it comes stock with SDs.
artworks-000089286417-x75pjq-t500x500.jpg


There's also the 510V, which has a single P-Rail in the bridge.
YAM-PAC-510V-SUPER.jpg


Besides the SDs, both have Wilkinson trems, graphite string trees/nuts, locking tuners. So they've included stuff one would normally find themselves upgrading.

There's also a model with a P90/hum combo (611V), trem or hardtail option.
 
I can but this body for about $170 shipped. I used another body from this seller for my thinline with regular Tele pickups (SD La Brea set).

I reckon on
  • $170 for the body
  • $130 for a Mighty Mite neck (maple with rosewood or ebony fingerboard)
  • $250 for a set of SD P90s (no Chines knock-offs here matey)
  • $50 to $60 for a decent hardtail bridge (6 string)
  • $50 or so for wiring including a Switchcraft 3-way toggle
  • $50 or so for other bits and pieces
  • Total $710, say $700.
Pluses:
  1. Screw-on neck - safer if I ever drop it, just swap out the broken neck;
  2. One-of-a-kind DIY
  3. My choice of pickups, hardware, etc.
  4. Spread the cost, somewhat.
  5. The pleasure of building it.
Minuses:
  1. Screw-on neck, no neck scallop
  2. One-of-a-kind DIY, low resale value should I ever part with my partscaster
  3. That front control route.
  4. You can't see it in the pic, but that body has a cut-out in the back for switch access. I guess I'm going to need a LP style cover for that, and on the front either fit a LP/SG switch plate or a blank one of the same sort.
The main thing for me is that the front control route leaves me with two options.

Either I fit a full size pickguard like I've got on my already built thinline (pie attached). That covers up so much of the wood, and I really would (sorry) like to see more of the wood (sorry again) when I'm done.

The second option is to make a custom pickguard or just a cover for that control cavity. I could buy a regular thinline pickguard and chop it back,or buy some pickguard cover material and cut out a plate to just cover the control cavity. The latter appeals more, and I guess I could glue in some, say, 3/4 x 3/8 or so wood strips to form a lip I could screw a cover down onto.

What say you lot?

Thinline P90 Prospect Small.png TCWs Thinline Body.png
 
ThreeChordWonder said:
If I build my own, which Seymour Duncan P90s would you go for?

Classic rock - metal before the kids discovered hairspray and spandex.
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I'd be inclined to lean towards the p-rails. Good p-90 tones, and easier to find replacement pickups if you end up not gelling with them.
 
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