Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

real59er

real59er

New member
I've never bothered with split humbuckers much (maybe I should though), but one of my fave single coil sound is that of a nice p-90. I was just wondering if any of you folks know of any hb that when split takes you into p-90 territory (think Leslie West, early Bad Co, etc). Prob, not, but hey, once in a while you just gotta dare to dream....
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

never heard of such a thing ... given the internal construction, they'd have to be pretty different

someone can comment on phat cats, though ... maybe stag mags ... but i doubt it


t4d
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

Spins are wonderful sounds but I don't know any that bring on the raw cuttign sound of a p90- As t4d says the construction is very different- Nothing really close in my book-

But spins are very useful for another reason - They thin out from a humbucker, but they tend have more bass than a SC- So I get a lot of cleaner 'ballanced' sounds out of spin a split-

In fact, my neck cool rail isn't a p90, but some of the same character- brash, rude, cutting blues with plenty of mids- as I roll it off, it beomes a much milder, classic strat sound-

Cheers
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

The Dimarzio Steve's Special is one of those dramatically mismatched pickups. One coil is wound to about 10k and the other down around 4k. So if you split it to get that coil, you have a super fat single. Not a P90, but I think you already know you won't be getting a pure P-90 sound out of a split hum. This is close, and you can use them in the neck. It's sold as a bridge pickup, but I have a Megadrive in the neck of one guitar which is similar, but the fat coil has a bar magnet which makes it even less like a P-90. I tried the SS in the neck and it was pretty similar to the Megadrive, and totally usable. I only took it out because I sold or traded it for a good deal and still had the Megadrive anyway.

Otherwise, maybe contact me via email if you want something custom. I can absolutely do it with a custom pup. I'm working on it right now for myself.
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

Thanks guys. I realize that physically, an hb coil is closer to a strat, and that a p-90 samples a much wider portion of the string. I just had this thought that maybe, just maybe, one of these overwound bad boys might take me into the general territory. Zionstrat is making me want to try the spin a split though. Just to be clear, is that where you wire the tone pot so when it's all the way on it splits the pup? And frankfalbo, if I understand you correctly,you're experimenting with the idea as we speak? I'd be real curious to follow up on that, and if you're working on a p-90 sounding coil for a hb, how would the hb mode sound? This is such a great forum btw... everone is so cool and really into their stuff. Fascinating to read...just had to mention that....
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

SS Wiring is one of the easiest- With SD pups black still is in to pup and black goes to ground, but white and red ground out together on the back of the pot (remove the cap first)- I used a cocentric pot on my parker so I could keep tone and spin, but only have spin on my strat as it doesnt seem to need a tone-

For more advanced, there was a recent thread on making a 'noload' pot for spin split and which pot works best- but you dont need to get into any of these details for it to work fine-
Looking forward to hearing how it works for you!
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

gibson make a p-100 - a stacked P90...

you gotta understand that P90s sound like P90s because of the short, fat coil.. you'd have more luck finding a stacked one than a true side-by-side humbucker..

tom
 
Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

steven kersting's dualtone II does exactly that. a humbucker with a p90-ish coil and a single coil combined. it's made to split to either the p90 coil or single coil. the plus is it is wound to whatever specs you want him to. www.skguitar.com
 
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Re: Wishful thinking....Humbucker split = p-90?

dani said:
steven kersting's dualtone II does exactly that. a humbucker with a p90-ish coil and a single coil combined. it's made to split to either the p90 coil or single coil. the plus is it is wound to whatever specs you want him to. www.skguitar.com
Click to expand...
That looks VERY COOL.

Instant GAS - haha.
 
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