Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

iekobrid

iekobrid

New member
Of the P-90 pickups currently offered by SD, which were around in the early 1990s? I'm hoping to ID the Duncan(s) in this story:

http://www.abalonevintage.com/abalone_vintage_guitars_celebrity_clients_ty_Tabor_kings_x_zion_Fender_stratocaster_elite.htm


"In 1993 I was approached by Ken Hoover of Zion Guitars. .... Within a few months, I took a copy of Ty's rig up to Zion. One of the keys to us getting Ty's tone was the use of a pre-amp that I built. The guitar That Ty was using at the time was a 1980's Fender Stratocaster Elite. That guitar has an onboard pre-amp. A few years earlier I bought a few miscellaneous Elite parts that had been in storage at a guitar parts company. I built a pre-amp pedal that would create an EQ close to that of a Stratocaster Elite tone. When I arrived at Zion's facilities we plugged every guitar they had in, to get an idea what most closely resembled Ty's tone.

Oddly enough, the guitar that by far sounded the best, was Phil Keaggy's guitar that had been sent back to the factory for adjustments! The guitar was a Zion T-model with three P-90 pickups. If my memory serves me, I believe it was also the last guitar that we plugged in! ....

Ken and I got together to show Ty the finished [prototype]. I brought up a rack mounted version of my (Elite) pre-amp. pedal. I went to the factory and hooked everything up. It sounded and looked great. .... The guitar had one volume knob. One Seymour Duncan P-90. ....

So, off we went. The show that night was in Raleigh North Carolina. We got there before the soundcheck and showed the guitar to Ty. .... He took it up on stage and plugged in the guitar and pre-amp. Instant great tone! The problem that arose was that the guitar was too noisy. Ty went on to explain that several guitar companies had built him prototypes, but they couldn't make one that sounded great and was quiet."

guitar_zion_1993_phil_keaggy_ty_tabor_kings x_prototype_test guitar_w.jpg guitar_zion_1995_ty_tabor_model_prototype_2_w.jpg
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Vintage, Hot and Custom. Antiquities did not exist in 1993.

I cannot remember when the STKP-1 was introduced. I do not consider it as a proper P-90.
 
Last edited:
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

And the words 'instant great tone' in the 90's usually equated to a rackfull of processing.

Its fair to say the vintage strength p90 or the Antiquity will give you 'instant great tone' if thats your thing.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Wow,Ken Hoover/Zion...

Used to go there quite a bit back in the day...

but Roscoe usually got my $
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

AlexR said:
Its fair to say the vintage strength p90 or the Antiquity will give you 'instant great tone' if thats your thing.
Click to expand...

My ultimate goal is to build a replacement for my '83 Elite Strat, just as Zion did for Ty in '93. I figured if someone could identify the Duncan P-90 model in the story -- the one they thought sounded most similar to the Elite's oddball pickups at the time -- it could serve as my Rosetta Stone when comparing specs.

If all else fails I can always just go with a set of Barden S-Deluxes like Zion did in the end, but that was their runner up choice. I thought it might be 'fun' to see what better options there may be now, twenty years of pickup innovation later.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

The other thing about the Fender Elite Stratocaster was that it had a mid booster, very like the Clapton Signature model that emerged later in the decade. This might explain why P90s were chosen.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Yep! The pickup possibilities were all auditioned through an Elite preamp (MDX boost, TBX tone and all) built into a rackmount unit. The Duncan P90'd prototype guitar and the Barden Deluxe'd production model were both run through it full time. Ty loves dem mids.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Midrange is where it's at. I have never understood why some players insist on scooping it all out.

Oh, well. At least it frees up more frequencies for my bass. :)
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Unless someone here worked on that project, you've two chances (fat and slim).

I'd just look at what an Strat elite pickup was and pick the p90 closest to that spec. Lets face it, with different bits of wood you could get everything right and be nowhere near.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

The A. R. Duchossoir Fender Stratocaster book quotes Elite Strat pickups specs as;
9600 turns
.42 polysol wire
7.5kOhms
3.96 Henries
6640 kHz resonant frequency
Q = 3.5
A2 magnet
North
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

AlexR said:
I'd just look at what an Strat elite pickup was and pick the p90 closest to that spec.
Click to expand...

Funkfingers said:
The A. R. Duchossoir Fender Stratocaster book quotes Elite Strat pickups specs as...
Click to expand...

Holy s**t, I had no idea that details so... detailed... were out there! :D Thanks!

I've been googling for that kind of info for years and only found the magnet and dcr. A couple weeks ago I almost gave in and disassembled one of the pickups (they have sealed covers) just to find out if they have individual pole pieces or blades like some folks reckon. Had the pickup in one hand and an exacto knife in the other and was about to start ruining the resale value when luckily I had an "Oh...DUH!" moment and instead dragged a loosely held screwdriver head along the face of the pup to feel out the magnetic field. Phew!

...Individual poles, BTW.
 
Last edited:
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Don't worry. Nothing of any importance happened before then. All that schtuff about Vietnam, Moon landings, Watergate and Monica was all made up.
 
Re: Which Duncan soapbar models existed in 1993 ?

Funkfingers said:
Midrange is where it's at. I have never understood why some players insist on scooping it all out.

Oh, well. At least it frees up more frequencies for my bass. :)
Click to expand...
Well... It really depends on what you're doing. :)

I have presets in my POD X3 Live that have big round mids and others that have the mids scooped.

I miss the days when Hetfield scooped more mids from his tone. His live sound these days is... mushy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top