Ultimate humcancelling rig for P-90 guitars

[BlueGuitar]

I tried out a pair of SD P-90 stacks last year and posted my review of them here. Since that time I moved them into a different guitar (a PRS SE Soapbar II) which sounded a lot better than the Gibson LP Junior Special that I first put them in (the neck pickup on the Gibson is mounted too far from the neck).

The Duncan P-90 stacks sound pretty good, wired in series or in parallel, but the neck pickup requires that the cavity be 1 1/4" deep. In my Gibson, routing this out weakened the neck joint and you can hear the low E detune as you bend the high strings.

The P-90 stack for the bridge requires a 3/4" deep cavity (which isn't as bad) and the bridge pickup sounds great if you wire it up to a push-pull pot to select between parallel and series wiring for a brighter or a thicker sound.

I really like the SD SM-1n minihumbucker I put in the neck of my Epi Alley Kat, so I figured I ought to try one in my PRS... in the words of Tony the Tiger it's G-R-R-R-E-A-T! :banana: You can order trim rings from All Parts to mount the minihumbucker in the cavity for the P-90 (you may have to widen the cavity at the bottom):

Les Paul Deluxe P-90/miniHB trim rings:

PC 0747-023 (black) @ $10.00
PC 0747-028 (cream) @ $10.00

I didn't feel like waiting a few days for parts so I made my own adaptor ring by using a Dremel to make a cutout in a black plastic P-90 cover. I drilled two holes for the screws and then glued the adaptor into the cavity with hot melt glue (which will allow you to remove it later if you want to replace the pickup).

The SM-1n doesn't really sound like a P-90... it just sounds real nice and it doesn't hum. And unlike the P-90 stacked neck pickup, you will not have to risk damaging your guitar by routing out the pickup cavity.

The P-90 neck stack is a nice pickup, but I think that Seymour needs to redesign it so that it doesn't require a cavity that is 1.25" deep.

I would recommend it for a hollow-bodied guitar with P-90's, but I'm not sure if it would work with dog-ear covers.

In any case, the SM-1n minihumbucker works great in my PRS SE Soapbar II along with the P-90 stack at the bridge, and this is my latest Weapon of Mass Destruction... :dance:

(These Soapbar II's are a great guitar, with a wrap-around bridge and a neck to die for. Many people prefer this guitar to the Santana models and have been routing them out for humbuckers.)

 

[jeremy]

Re: Ultimate humcancelling rig for P-90 guitars

my guess is the stack needed to be that deep otherwise he wouldnt have done it

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Ultimate humcancelling rig for P-90 guitars

Maybe, but with the redesgn of the Classic Stack Plus, and Fender's Noiseless, the bottom coil is shorter than the top coil. That kind of thinking might yield a redesign of the P-90 stack, and perhaps shorten it up a little. They could eved draw from their own patent to make something proprietary.

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: Ultimate humcancelling rig for P-90 guitars

my guess is the stack needed to be that deep otherwise he wouldnt have done it

Well, he might have made them that deep to use existing bobbins, rather than start completely from scratch. And sometimes you do have to make compromises (I don't think that the P-90 stacks have been very popular, at least compared to the tele and strat stacks). :smack: The P-90 neck stack really does sound nice, but I think that there should be a thinner one available so that you don't have to rout out your guitar so much. And I would also like to see a P-90 stack in a dogear design to put in those great hollow-bodied guitars from the 50's (where the depth would not be as much of a problem).

As far as I know the P-90 stack is the only SD pickup that comes with warning labels plastered all over it (well, not literally, but they do warn you about the depth required :reporter: ). And it does sound so much better than the Gibson P-100's, which really don't sound at all like P-90's. One warning about the Gibsons: they use different versions in their guitars for the neck and the bridge, but they only sell the neck version as an aftermarket item. (I just looked at the Gibson site and it seems like they aren't selling P-100's anymore- but they are selling Les Paul Deluxe mini-humbuckers with creme adaptor rings. As they say, great minds thimk alike. :banana: )