Quarter Pound pups in Nashville Tele
- Thread starter kev087
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Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
No experience with the middle pickup.
I have a Squier Esquire with a QP in the bridge position, and I love it. I do use it with a single 500K pot, no tone. I personally wouldn't like it with 250K pots. I know lots of people here in the forum don't either.
I have a Squier Esquire with a QP in the bridge position, and I love it. I do use it with a single 500K pot, no tone. I personally wouldn't like it with 250K pots. I know lots of people here in the forum don't either.
eclecticsynergy
Well-known member
QPs really do best with 500K pots. I agree they border on P90 tone.
Another plus for 500k pots. I've got several guitars with QP pups and really love them. Not quite the P-90 sound, but it gets closer than just about any other pup.
I never realized at the time I first put in a QP why I loved it so much. I wasn't a P-90 fanatic at the time, didn't even have much experience with P-90s. Since then I have come to realize that the P-90 sound (big, beefy, bright, clear but with bite and edge, fuller than single coils but brighter than humbuckers, and crisp but not the "brittleness" of a ceramic mag in a bucker) is what I crave and I have P-90s in at least 25 guitars now. It's THAT tone that I loved about the QP, even tho I didn't realize it at the time.
Sounds like you're gonna have a killer Strat when it's done.
I never realized at the time I first put in a QP why I loved it so much. I wasn't a P-90 fanatic at the time, didn't even have much experience with P-90s. Since then I have come to realize that the P-90 sound (big, beefy, bright, clear but with bite and edge, fuller than single coils but brighter than humbuckers, and crisp but not the "brittleness" of a ceramic mag in a bucker) is what I crave and I have P-90s in at least 25 guitars now. It's THAT tone that I loved about the QP, even tho I didn't realize it at the time.
Sounds like you're gonna have a killer Strat when it's done.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I think they're not quite P90. I can hear the P90-ish characteristics loosely, but stereotypical P90's are kinda sorta PAF-ish. And IME, at least the bridge Tele QP is pretty mid-forward.
For me, I would describe it as a blend of JB gone single coil, maybe a bit P90, maybe a bit of Tele bridge pickup. Depends on what Tele you put it in as well. Mine is super thin and wiry acoustically (pine body and maple fretboard), so it does keep a lot of that Tele twang in there while beefing it up significantly and losing that ugly single coil scratchiness under gain.
For me, I would describe it as a blend of JB gone single coil, maybe a bit P90, maybe a bit of Tele bridge pickup. Depends on what Tele you put it in as well. Mine is super thin and wiry acoustically (pine body and maple fretboard), so it does keep a lot of that Tele twang in there while beefing it up significantly and losing that ugly single coil scratchiness under gain.
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Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I guess it depends on the P90 too. I'm sure the Custom P90 or the Hot P90 don't sound much like the Antiquities.
I'm not going to contradict anyone, though. I've played standard P90's in the past, but the real hands-on experiences I have with P90's are either Phat Cats or P Rails, neither of which sound dead-on the same, nor are "true" P90's.
I'd say the the QP Tele Bridge is hotter than either, though.
I'm not going to contradict anyone, though. I've played standard P90's in the past, but the real hands-on experiences I have with P90's are either Phat Cats or P Rails, neither of which sound dead-on the same, nor are "true" P90's.
I'd say the the QP Tele Bridge is hotter than either, though.
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What do you mean by not "true" P-90s?
How could you even mention JB and P-90 in the same sentence?!
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
P-90 with a standard bobin size and housing? I don't know. I'm not a P90 expert. That's why I mentioned that was my limited experience with P90's and that I'm not going to go ahead and say everyone's statement is wrong. Just that my experience does not agree with everyone else's. But I'm admiting my experience is very narrow.
That was exactly my point, LOL. A JB doesn't resemble a P90. The QP (loosely) resembles a JB to me in that it's middy and slightly dark relative to, say, a standard Tele vs. a QP or a PAF or vintage-y P90 vs. a JB.
What I was simply trying to say is that the QP for Tele is hotter, darker, and more mid-forward than the P90 coil on the P Rails or the Phat Cat, much like a JB is hotter, darker, and more mid-forward too. Although, probably, the JB is even hottter, fatter, and more mid-forward than all of those pickups, P-90 included.
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Yes, the QP has more mids than a Tele single coil, but they are a wider range of mids than the JB which is more upper mid heavy. I definitely love the QP much more than the JB (actually I don't even like the JB) but the P-90 (with its 2 magnets) offers a lot of flexibility in tone. Just one of the reasons I love P-90s so much.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I also mentioned somewhere else in this thread that P-90 could mean a lot of things. I'm paraphrasing, but something like that. I'm sure there are a P90 or two out there that sound like the QP Tele. What I was trying to say was that the QP Tele to me doesn't sound like the P-Rails or the Phat Cat.
If I had a P-90 guitar, I'd to love custom order a P-90 wound to 16K, with dual oversized Ceramic Magnets and with the Black Winter font, LOL. I'm sure that'd kick all sorts of ass.
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