BlueGuitar
New member
I found a set at the local M&P music store so I figured what the heck... let's give them a shot!
I admit that I was skeptical after my experiences with the Gibson P100's (which are a stacked humcancelling pickup that resemble the P-90's physically but not sonically).
Well, the SD P-90 stacks sound pretty damn close to a real P-90, at least when you are using the bridge and neck pickups separately. When used together, the pickups don't get the sweet sound of a 56 Gold Top. (I even tried splitting the coils thinking that might help but it didn't.) But that's okay... you can get that particular sound with other P-90 guitars.
The P-90 stack comes with several different wiring options. As a humbucker you can wire it in parallel (for a traditional P-90 sound) or in series (for a 6dB boost, with more low to mid emphasis). You can also wire it in the Power Boost mode which is not humcancelling (I've used this option with other SD stacked pickups). And you can split the coils for still another tonality.
The two coils of the bridge stack measured 15.6k and 16.3k, which work out to around 8k in parallel mode. The two coils of the neck stack measured 10.3k and 10.4k, which works out to around 5.7k in parallel mode.
The P-90 stacks sound great but you might have a problem fitting them in your guitar. According to SD the cavity for the neck pickup should be at least 1.25 inches deep and the cavity for the bridge pickup should be at least 0.75 inches. With my 2004 faded cherry LP Jr Special doublecut I was able to temporarily install the pickups to test them out without doing any routing (I left the springs off and screwed the pickups down all the way). I liked the way they sounded so I then proceeded to rout out the cavities a bit; I wanted them to set low enough so that I had plenty of room for adjustments.
BTW I use a Craftsman 315.275120 Industrial Laminate Trimmer for routing out guitars since it is much smaller than a full-sized router.
One last thing... with the P-90 stacks being much deeper than regular P-90's they won't easily fit in a soapbar cover/baseplate. Although if you are industrious you might be able to get something to work...
Rating: One and a half thumbs up!
I admit that I was skeptical after my experiences with the Gibson P100's (which are a stacked humcancelling pickup that resemble the P-90's physically but not sonically).
Well, the SD P-90 stacks sound pretty damn close to a real P-90, at least when you are using the bridge and neck pickups separately. When used together, the pickups don't get the sweet sound of a 56 Gold Top. (I even tried splitting the coils thinking that might help but it didn't.) But that's okay... you can get that particular sound with other P-90 guitars.
The P-90 stack comes with several different wiring options. As a humbucker you can wire it in parallel (for a traditional P-90 sound) or in series (for a 6dB boost, with more low to mid emphasis). You can also wire it in the Power Boost mode which is not humcancelling (I've used this option with other SD stacked pickups). And you can split the coils for still another tonality.
The two coils of the bridge stack measured 15.6k and 16.3k, which work out to around 8k in parallel mode. The two coils of the neck stack measured 10.3k and 10.4k, which works out to around 5.7k in parallel mode.
The P-90 stacks sound great but you might have a problem fitting them in your guitar. According to SD the cavity for the neck pickup should be at least 1.25 inches deep and the cavity for the bridge pickup should be at least 0.75 inches. With my 2004 faded cherry LP Jr Special doublecut I was able to temporarily install the pickups to test them out without doing any routing (I left the springs off and screwed the pickups down all the way). I liked the way they sounded so I then proceeded to rout out the cavities a bit; I wanted them to set low enough so that I had plenty of room for adjustments.
BTW I use a Craftsman 315.275120 Industrial Laminate Trimmer for routing out guitars since it is much smaller than a full-sized router.
One last thing... with the P-90 stacks being much deeper than regular P-90's they won't easily fit in a soapbar cover/baseplate. Although if you are industrious you might be able to get something to work...
Rating: One and a half thumbs up!
But still much better than the Gibson P-100's.
