Thoughts about humbuckers in P90 shells

[MJGuitar]

Guys, I'm planning a new guitar and want to return to my P90 roots. I love just about everything about my original P90s except for the hum. What are your thoughts about the difference between the stacked Seymour P90s versus putting a different set of humbuckers in a P90 shell?

I play progressive, classic, punk, and southern rock, if that helps.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Humbuckers in P90 shells, if they fit, will still be humbuckers. It's not the casings that create the "P90 sound" but the pickups within.

 

[uOpt]

I hear (hehe) the Fralin noiseless are really good. They are side-by-side humbuckers but supposed to sound very much P-90.

I don't think the stack concept works too well for emulating a P-90 sound (due to the different magnetic setup).

 

[JB6464]

Go with the Fralin P90 humbucker, Lindy got it right.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Thinking about it, one half of a humbucker isn't too dissimilar from a P90. Big flat magnet in the bottom, perpendicular pole pieces magnetized by the magnet (not self magnetic), and a coil wrapped around the pole pieces. Hmmm....

 

[formula73]

I love P90 tone but the hum is oppressive.

In conclusion, any humbucker is better for my application.

 

[Chistopher]

Just buy a P90 and a half decent noise gate. Or better yet, play somewhere where the crowd noise drowns out the hum

 

[jafo]

You could also use mini-humbuckers; these were designed to fit in P90 routs. https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/vintage-mini-humbucker is a good example.

 

[jeremy]

p90s came first of course, 10k turns of #42 pe. when the bucker was designed, they literally split that in half, each coil got 5k turns of #42 pe but one magnet shared rather than two for the p90. i love a good p90, i love a good paf type humbucker, i also love a good mini-humbucker and firebird pup. but they all sound different. i can deal with the noise of a p90 to get the tone. i dont use a noise gate, i use my volume control and turn it down when im not playing. been working fine for decades

 

[AlexR]

Thinking about it, one half of a humbucker isn't too dissimilar from a P90. Big flat magnet in the bottom, perpendicular pole pieces magnetized by the magnet (not self magnetic), and a coil wrapped around the pole pieces. Hmmm....

Apart from the halved turn count and halved magnetism. So in short the only thing actually similar is that you have 1 coil - and hum

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

^ Both those variables depend on the P90 and the humbucker you compare it to.