Questions about HB sized P90’s

[big kurka]

So I’m considering trying a set of humbucker sized P90’s. So the guitar I’m thinking about putting them in Schecter Solo 6 hellraiser, solid mahogany and very dark sounding. I have tried a set of the rail hammer Billy corgan set on this guitar but there was a very strong mid presence that was over powering.

First question how sensitive are the p90’s to the guitar wood.

Second what would be a good set of p90’s for Black Sabbath type tones for this guitar.

 

[GuitarDoc]

A great sounding P-90 (and fairly inexpensive) for a very mid-range focused guitar is the GFS Dream 90 from guitarfetish.com. If you want one with more output and more mids, the Mean 90 is really good.

 

[skyydogg01]

A great sounding P-90 (and fairly inexpensive) for a very mid-range focused guitar is the GFS Dream 90 from guitarfetish.com. If you want one with more output and more mids, the Mean 90 is really good.

I have a set of Mean 90s in my Squier Telecaster HH and DAMN is that guitar hard to put down. Sounds so good!!

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[GuitarDoc]

^ +1

Yeah, I've probably got 7 or 8 Mean 90s. I've also got a half dozen Dream 90s which are also terrific...they're a little lower powered and a bit brighter. Wonderful for naturally darker sounding guitars and where you want more articulation/note clarity.

 

[big kurka]

GuitarDoc and @skyydog01 Thank you for your response.
OK so I spent the last day and a half trying to find videos of the mean 90's. The problem is the only videos I'm finding the the people are play more blues and jazz type of music.
My question is how well do you think the mean 90's pu's well do for a early black sabbath TYPE tone? Not trying to sound exactly like Tony Iommi, but something of a black sabbath esque.
Thank you again

 

[GuitarDoc]

You should be able to come kinda close, but I think Iommi was playing Dirty Fingers iirc, so you're not going to get right on.

 

[big kurka]

Thank you

 

[beaubrummels]

If you're trying to cop Iommi / Sabbath, this might be worth a read:
https://www.iommi.com/equipment/tony...ature-pick-up/

The official site coupled with other references I can find say he was using a set by John Birch similar to his Magnum and Hyperflux pickups. Later he used a JayDee Old Boy set which is similar, except blades on the bridge. The earliest P-90 Sabbath stuff would have been stock Gibson P-90s for the year of his SG (I didn't find what year his first one was), but I'm reading that John Birch put metal covers on them in an attempt to cut down the noise; shortly after he just went to humbuckers.

FWIW I believe the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop can make you an Iommi set, their version, which is a variant of the El Diablo family. Despite being a different brand, different construction, it specs out very similar to the JayDee Old Boy pickups - e.g. 22k dual rail A2 bridge, etc. The only caveat is they are done with Telecaster size bobbins, which are bigger, so the pickup comes with a custom ring, but it should install in any humbucker routed guitar. But check the measurements first.

Here's a review of the Duncan Custom Shop Iommi pickups
https://darthphineas.com/2021/07/seymour-duncan-iommi/

This thread might also be worth a read.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/foru...pickups-by-era

 

[GuitarDoc]

Thanks for that info, Beau.

 

[orpheo]

First question how sensitive are the p90’s to the guitar wood.

Exceptionally. I can't recall how many times I've seen a P90 burst into tears when confronted with mahogany, or crack a smile when coming face to face with figured maple.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Out of ~50 P-90s that I purchased (either separately or in guitars) there have only been 2 that didn't sound great...the bridge P-90 that came in my Gibson goldtop and a cheap import bridge P-90. All the others sound great in any wood that I put them into.

 

[big kurka]

beaubrummels Thank you for the reply. The links were a good read and very informative.

 

[big kurka]

orpheo Thank you for you reply. It gave me a good chuckle

 

[big kurka]

GuitarDoc Thanks again for you reply.
Question if I remember correctly don’t you have some experience with Railhammer pickups??? If so have you tried any of there humcutters???

 

[GuitarDoc]

I haven't tried Railhammers

 

[zionstrat]

GuitarDoc Thanks again for you reply.
Question if I remember correctly don’t you have some experience with Railhammer pickups??? If so have you tried any of there humcutters???

I haven't tried the humcutter but I am a railhammer freak and the humcutter follows the same recipe as my pickups... Rails to tighten up the bass and fat pole pieces to smooth out the high end.

Reviews are good, and they have a broad range of winds to cover clean to mid thick tones.

If I was in the market for a hum canceling p90 tone, I would definitely give it a try.

 

[big kurka]

zionstrat i have a set of the Billy corgan set and they sound pretty good except for the whole cocked wah thing going on

 

[zionstrat]

zionstrat i have a set of the Billy corgan set and they sound pretty good except for the whole cocked wah thing going on

Yeah, that is definitely a specialty pickup... I would expect their lower winds to be better balanced.

Looking forward to where you go with this one!