jasonic

I have a line on a set of used lollars but without covers. Anyone know if the covers on the Duncan P90s would fit the Lollars? Want to try them on my Special. This thread got me interested. I can say yes for sure, as I just installed the Lollars this weekend, and went with the SD's covers as they were a bit more neutral and less pinkish overall (small difference really, I'm just a color geek). In other news, this is a repost from the thread over at the MLP forum, but I wanted to give you guys the scoop..bottom line?..HOLY CRAP its just changed everything about the sound and response of the instrument, plus my setup guy also replaced an internal component as well for even more dynamic response from the tone knob. Interested in the details? Read on .... Ok, I pulled the trigger on the swap, and its official... I swapped out my SD's for Lollars, and to put it as planely as possible..HOLY FLIPPING SH*T. The entire sound dynamics of the guitar has changed in everyway. I can't say enough about how amazing the guitar now sounds. Also, John put in a larger capacitor (to a .047) that changed the dynamics of the tone knob. Essentially adding range on the top and the bottom, yielding even more high end sparkle, and the bottom goes far down to a dark and spooky place. This made a big difference to the overall flexibility of the instrument as well, anyone ever done anything like this to their guitar before? Playing through the fender super reverb at his place after the swap/rewire was just heavenly. I came home and plugged into my little MicroCube RX, and where SD's had sounded like muffled pea soup the Lollars now sounded just incredible. To sum it up, what was flat and muffled before has become wide open full of depth and increadibly dynamic. Its safe to say she now plays as good as she looks..maybe even better just blown away over here, -j

Done. Ordered a set of Lollar standard wound P90's, as they recomended. Will report back when I've got them installed, and have taken em for a test drive. Thanks very much to all who contributed! A guy can learn alot in a forum this supportive, -j

Excellent! I realise the following is subjective, but, in your opinion, would you agree with the guy I spoke with at Lollars assessment that the standard set of P90's (vs over or underwound in either position) would be best to cover the widest base of styles and tones in this particular guitar? Thanks again for your input, -j

Very excellent info across the boards, thanks guys. On the cork sniffers page the SD's definitly came off more muffled and less dynamic sounding than the rest, I wonder if thats all thats up in my case. Given the reaction to this pup, in this guitar, by the community, I'm inclined to guess it is. After deliberation, and speaking with a guy at Lollar, it sounds like I'll be going with a standard Lollar set. Before I pull the trigger, is there anything else I'm not factoring in that could be contributing to the dark and muffled/muddy sound I'm hearing with the current stock setup? I had the guitar looked over and setup by a great tech, he definitly cleaned up all the electronics for me, and gave a her a great bill of health. Could there be anything else I should be concidering swapping out in the stock setup? I'd just hate to spend the doe and wind out still sounding kinda muffled and flat..the treble knob doesn't go much further on my amp..lol Whats throwing me is that there was such a difference in the gibson P90 guitars I A/B'd my Hamer with at my local guitar store. The gibbies were hotter, and a ton brighter..even the ones in the Epi models. If its the pups that make the difference, and the stock SD's really are that limp and muffled, it makes me wonder why Hamer ever went with them in the first place. Its always possible that 1995 was not the best year for P90's in general Should I cast say screw further investigation, pull that trigger and see where I land with the new Pups? Could there be more at work here, or am I just being paranoid. For me this is all a bit like taking a car to the mechanic, I'm gonna drive it everyday, but a bit in the dark as to the specifics of whats under the hood..lol. What would you do? thanks, -jason

Very cool! Out of curiosity, why did u opt for an underwound neck? Was it because u went with a standard winding in the bridge position? Also, was their a reason you opted not to go with the overwound bridge? many thanks, -j

Excellent! Did you go for an over or under wound set, or the standards? Very interested to hear more. -j

Yep, checking it out for sure. thanks, -jasonic

Fantastic! That helped very much Out of them all I seem to be leaning toward the Lollars..they sing like crazy in the light OD, and generally seem the least "warm colored" out of them all, and as a result seem the cleanest sounding to me. It does lead me to wonder however how far a nice EQ pedal can go to bring any of them to the general tone of the other..hmmmmm. Anyone have experience trying one as an option to a swap? thanks, -jason

Thats what I'm hoping will happen to my 95 Archtop GT. The stock ceramic SD's are definitly on the muddy side, and seem to lack the bite and clarity of current gibby's, and even stock epi's I put them up against recently. Almost seems like their muffled. I had to jack the treble thru the roof on the HT-5R I was demoing to get close to the sound of the stock gibby's. Out of curiosity what combination did you go with. Did you go for overwound bridge or an underwound neck? I'm looking to get clarity and bite..and nail some of that chainsaw snarl when i pour on the gain What lollar combo would you recomend? thanks! -jason

Hey guys, I'm on a quest for some real P90 growl, with as much diversity as possible. As many have stated, and is now my expereince, the stock SD's are definitly on the dark and kinda mellow side. Going into an HT-5R at the store recently, I picked up a gibson and an epi LP with P90's in them to A/B against mine, and they have WAY more snarl and bite to them..higher gain on either guitar was raw and chainsaw like, I just couldn't realy get that snarling tone out of the Hamer. Nothing wrong with the pups physically, I just had the guitar setup and looked over. Maybe its the ceramic SD's vs alnico magnets of the gibsons, I'm not sure I know exactly. The big question here is, there are a couple great makers out there that people swear by, but not alot of information as to the attributes of each that set them apart. Lollar/Fralin/Wolfetone, older gibson examples, people seem to love this stuff. I'm looking for as much musical flexability as possible, and to realy capture that snarl and bite that P90's are classicaly known for. Any specific thoughts or recomendations? Would an overwound bridge help me get more bark and snarl, and if so, would it hurt me in other ways. Over wound brindge, under wound neck, or stock winding..what would you choose, and who would you go with thanks! -j