Sunburst with p90's

[Will1965]

Hello,

I'm lookin for a pair of new pickups for my 1981 Sunburst.

I want to have the same sound as my 1999 special with duncan P90's.

What is the best choice? Are the phat cats a good option?

Cheers, Will

[Disturber]

My guess is the Special is loaded with the Hot SP90-2 and the Custom SP90-3? Those are ceramic pickups.

The Phat Cats, which I think are some of the best pups Duncan makes today, are Alnico 2 pickups. They sound way sweeter, have a clear, clean tone but can be very rowdy and mean when pushed. I prefer them over the Hot & Custom P90s.

[Will1965]

So you think it's a good choice to put them in a sunburst?

[gtone]

BG Pure90's if you're gunning for classic/hard rock tones. These are a real P90 in a humbucker size, there are a few other P90 winders out there that do the same thing. PhatCats are nice, but a little too polite/mild-mannered to grab you that real P90 vibe (spitten, barking, snotty ATTITUDE). I'd recommend the PhatCats more for roots-based stuff, blues, R&B, funk, jazz, early classic rock, rockabilly, etc. YMMV...

[Will1965]

Are there more people outthere that use BG Pure 90's?

[belgian]

Welcome - another Dutchman on the board !

Sorry, but I can't help you on this.

[uck]

The BG Pure's seem to be the (consistently) best-reviewed HB-sized P90s. Due to, IMO, price and availability you'll probably find more Phat Cats installed versus the BGs. The reviews for the Duncans are almost always good but then so are the reviews for the GFS HB P90s. My only hands-on experience with the HB format has been an Armstrong which was...okay. (I've heard his vintage-style P90 repros are dead-on)

If you're looking for the same sounds as your Special, the Phat Cats (or even one of the GFS) might actually be closer to what you're hearing - or want to hear - than the BGs.

[Jakeboy]

Check out Vintage Vibe HS 90s. Pete Biltoft winds great pups at a reasonable price...his bucker sized 90s sound like p90s.....I have a low wind bridge HS90 for sale right now with alnico 5 mags. You can easily swap mags on VV pups. It is 7.65K but that might be a bit low output for you. Check out VV.

[Lockbody]

I had the BG Pure 90s in a SG Std and thought they were kind of thin sounding. To me, they sounded nothing like the P90s in my SG Classic. Nowhere near as much meat or chime.

I bought the BGs from Austin who thought the same thing in whatever Hamer he had them in. On the other hand, I sold the SG to a guy who uses it for slide and he loves them, so as always YMMV.

[Will1965]

How about the Harmonic design Z-90's? Any one uses those?

[BadgerDave]

Yes, I've used Z90s in a couple of different guitars. They sound like very high-end P-90s.

To my ear, the ceramic Duncan P-90s have a significant midrange emphasis and a harsh top end. The Harmonic Design pickups sound cleaner, more balanced and pure, especially in the upper mid and high frequency range. You don't get the Duncan "raspyness" if that's what you're after, but they are excellent pickups.

Think of the Z90 as a humbucker sized equivalent of a Lollar or Fralin P-90.

[specialk]

Here is a P-90 shootout put together by our own Veatch. It's a good test:

http://home.comcast.net/~jveatc01/HamerFanClub/CorkSniffing/P90.html

Best of luck to you.

[gtone]

Here is a P-90 shootout put together by our own Veatch. It's a good test:

http://home.comcast....iffing/P90.html

Best of luck to you.

No disagreement on Jeff Veatch's work on the shootout - I found it very helpful indeedy. Only problem is that it covers "P90-sized" P90's and the OP's looking for info on 'bucker-sized P90's. While both Duncan & Gibson make 'bucker-sized models (PhatCats & P94's, respectively) neither of those models sounds quite like the P90 models from those two co's (close, but no cigar, IMO). As such, it's not very helpful in this case, unfortunately.

[veatch]

If'n you like the Lollars from the cork sniffin' page, Jason makes a bucker-sized P90's as well. I have not tried them to compare them with his reg'lar stuff. I imagine there will be some difference due to the cover...