My first newbie question...what *are* P90s?

[Power_13]

I've been wondering for a while what P90s are. Are they single coils? What makes them different from other single coil pickups? Is a P90 equipped guitar an essential part of a guitarist's arsenal, or is its use limited?

In one of the project guitars I have planned for when I make enough money, I'm considering a P90 guitar. Would it be worth it, or would it spend its life in a guitar case?

Thanks for any and all help :)

P90_13

[Kap'n]

P90's were Gibson's most popular pickup post WWII, up to around 1957, and the full scale introduction of the humbucker. Afterwards, they became mainly standard on lower priced instruments.

They come in two types, "dog ear" which refers to how they're mounted, and "soap bar" which refers to the shape. A Les Paul Jr. has dog ears, as does an Epiphone Casion. Soap bars are on the 1952-56 Les Pauls, Les Paul Specials and the current faded DC Les Paul

P90's are single coils, but constructed very different to Fender pickups. There are two bar magnets that contact humbucker style polepieces, rather than the six individual magnets of a Fender.

P90's are a big sounding single coil pickup, hotter than a Fender. Some people think they're the best of both worlds. Being a hot single coil, they're noisier than humbuckers, and don't work well for high-gain styles, like death metal.

[Steve]

P-90's are early Gibson large single coils, AKA Soapbars, or Dog ears, depending on mounting.
The 50's archtops had the dogears, and the Goldtop Les Pauls had the soapbars.
They're almost as big as a humbucker, but generally have plastic covers and the polepieces are in the center, instead of on one side, like a humbucker.
They also come with chrome dogears on like Epi Casinos, etc.

P-90's are powerful like humbuckers, but have more midrange punch and high freqs.
On say, an ES-175, they can do mellow Jazz and still be bright for Blues.
On solidbodies they have a raw Rock sound with plenty of meat.
They don't sing so much as grind.

They tend to be noisy, so extra shielding is necessary (like most single coils).
The Korean guitars with them seem to generally have one reverse wound so they'll humbuck when combined with both pickups on together.
Seymour Duncan also sells a RWRP to do that too.

"MIssissippi Queen," (old hit by Mountain) is a good example of the rock sound. He used a Les Paul Junior with a single P-90 in the bridge position.

edit: OOPS! Two responses almost on top of each other!
I'll add, I like P-90's more than humbuckers except for fluffy Jazz tones.
You want to stay away from P-100's. They are "stacked" humbuckers trying to sound like P-90's but without the noise.
They suck. Very generic sounding. No character.
Real P-90's have hair!

[Lemniscate]

Power_13 did you ever see the old TV programme world in action.. That's Mountain's "Nantucket
Sleighride", iirc.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=music

P90s in good use. (L feeling very old).

[Kap'n]

Early Chuck Berry

T-Bone Walker

Eddie Cochran (neck position only!)

Lou Reed's "Rock & Roll Animal" album (Steve Hunter & Dick Wagner)

The Who's "Live at Leeds"

Lots of Beatles stuff

Bob Marley (Bob's parts only)

New York Dolls

[chuckocaster]

any self respecting guitarist should own at least one p90 equipped guitar. easy to hear their tone on a record, but hard to describe their "magic". i love em.

[Williams]

Just make sure you shield them properly otherwise it's going to be really noisy....

-Kevin

[Tele-Bob]

Les Dudek's album "Say No More" has killer P90 tone all over it. I dig P90s. They cover more ground than any other p'up made. And they do it with authority. I have a set of Seymour Duncan P90 Stacks in one of my guitars. They are hum cancelling and really sound terrific. They're about 90% of what a real P90 sounds like, but without the hum. Personally, I think they sound better than P90s for hard rock. If you go over to "Sound Check" on this forum, there are several sound clips under "Tele-Bob's Demo" where you can here P90 Stacks in action. The other guitar on the some of the tracks is a Strat. It will be obvious which is which.

Oh yeah, P90s RULE!

[Power_13]

Thanks for the help :) I'll check out those examples

[dafack01]

If you watch the Rolling Stones "4 Flicks" DVD, Kieth Richards uses an old 50's Les Paul Junior (TV Yellow model) on "Midnight Rambler" and it sounds awesome through his low-powered Twins.

I'm currently P90-less right now. I have plans on getting a gibson reissue special or maybe even an old 50's special if the right price comes up! Right now, for my budget I can only afford one amp and 2 couple of teles. I'm saving for another amp, but I'll have to wait on guitars for another year or so.

P90s rock! When played clean, they're very acoustic-guitarish in nature. Very warm and dynamic, but with the single-coil air and sparkle (and a big midrange). When pushing an amp, they sound so good that I can't even describe it. Just magic!