What's the widest P90?

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

I want to replace a pair of Gold Tone humbuckers with P90's, but I want to cover over the buckhummer holes completely. If need be, I can use spacer/shims, which are 1 7/8 inches, but I think they look weird. So I'd like to see if the widest P90 might cover the humjobber hole.

So what are the widest P90's--measuring across the pickup from the neck side to the bridge side? I'm hoping Lollar or Fralin makes some that are wider than normal. 1 5/8 (41 mm) is the standard Gibson width, and most repros are the same. Same width for C Moore Duncan, or See More Dunkin', or Seem More Drunken, or Can Dunk Seymour, or Dunk More....

 

[coastie99]

I want to replace a pair of Gold Tone humbuckers with P90's, but I want to cover over the buckhummer holes completely. If need be, I can use spacer/shims, which are 1 7/8 inches, but I think they look weird. So I'd like to see if the widest P90 might cover the humjobber hole.

So what are the widest P90's--measuring across the pickup from the neck side to the bridge side? I'm hoping Lollar or Fralin makes some that are wider than normal. 1 5/8 (41 mm) is the standard Gibson width, and most repros are the same. Same width for C Moore Duncan, or See More Dunkin', or Seem More Drunken, or Can Dunk Seymour, or Dunk More....

I think you're a little A-A-F here my man.

You're effectively limiting your choice to, I should think, only a handful of P90's, if any at all !

Why not select your p/u's and then figure out how to fill the gap ? A set of tasteful wooden p/u rings of some sort shouldn't be a difficult thing to come up with.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

C#,

I'm trying to avoid covering the hole with anything but the puke up cover. So if I find one wide enough, the next step is to see what brands might fit under it--Duncan, Lollar, Fralin etc. If that fails, I'll use spacers/shims from Lollar, or Allparts, or?

 

[coastie99]

C#,

I'm trying to avoid covering the hole with anything but the puke up cover. So if I find one wide enough, the next step is to see what brands might fit under it--Duncan, Lollar, Fralin etc. If that fails, I'll use spacers/shims from Lollar, or Allparts, or?

Strikes me as a potentially very maddening exercise !

I've just measured my M72's Goldtones vs the soapbar P90's in my Blues 90.

The width of the soapbar is considerably more than the H/B so, width-wise at least, you ain't going to get a soapbar into that cavity !

And. wouldn't a doggerel air sit too high on the guitar top ? Assuming you could affix it to the top.

 

[jp]

Hi Darryl,
Kent Armstrong has P90s which are cosmetic retrofits for h-bucks as well as the more traditional kind but superwide.
http://www.wdmusic.com/kent_armstrong_p90_family.html

Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars also makes wide P90 h-bucker replacements.
http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_sc.html

 

[kakerlak]

Hi Darryl,
Kent Armstrong has P90s which are cosmetic retrofits for h-bucks as well as the more traditional kind but superwide.
http://www.wdmusic.com/kent_armstrong_p90_family.html

Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars also makes wide P90 h-bucker replacements.
http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_sc.html

Yeah, I was going to jump you onto this train of thought, too. I admire your persistence, but I think you'll save a lot of headaches looking in the "humbucker sized P90" category. These days there are a number of options...

I personally had a set of Gibson P94s for a decade or so in a PRS that I reluctantly sold a few months back (needed a new fridge and wife needed a laptop). Truth be told, they were probably a hair hotter than what I'd consider ideal, but not much; they still cleaned up nicely and didn't sound muddy at all.

There are also Seymour Duncan Phat Cats out there now, but I think those are a bit hotter still...

Here's a Wikipedia entry on P90s that has a list of humbucker sized variants if you scroll down...

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

I certainly asked the right crowd. I had no idea there were so many options. I'll have to cruise the wiki list tomorrow, but it seems like there will be a solution just in Armstrong alone.

Coastie, when you measured width, did you measure from neck side to bridge side? That's how pupsters measure width, dogear or not. I hope it's true that the covers on your soapbars would cover the hole in the top of your M75. Normally a dogear will cover a humbummer hole from bass side to treble side, but not from neck side to bridge side. I hope that the Gold Tones are narrow enough that dogears cover the hole. I'm sure you remember dogears--the things you whispered into during high school.

 

[Walter Broes]

If you want to use plastic dogear P90's you need spacers anyway, or they'll be sitting so far away from the strings they're barely useable. (Told you that already btw!) I've converted two of these guitars to P90's, so I'm familar with the problem.

 

[coastie99]

I certainly asked the right crowd. I had no idea there were so many options. I'll have to cruise the wiki list tomorrow, but it seems like there will be a solution just in Armstrong alone.

Coastie, when you measured width, did you measure from neck side to bridge side? That's how pupsters measure width, dogear or not. I hope it's true that the covers on your soapbars would cover the hole in the top of your M75. Normally a dogear will cover a humbummer hole from bass side to treble side, but not from neck side to bridge side. I hope that the Gold Tones are narrow enough that dogears cover the hole. I'm sure you remember dogears--the things you whispered into during high school.

Darryl, the H/B is wider, neck to bridge.

 

[Thunderface]

Darryl,

Here's a suggestion that might work. My '09 Duesenberg has a Domino P90 in the neck position that is in a humbucker-sized pickup housing. Maybe something like that might work?

The Duesenberg USA link ...

http://www.duesenbergusa.com/store/inde ... duct_id=67

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Coastie,

Sorry to hear about your cavity. (Or do you call them caries, or?)
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jp,

Good to hear from you. It's been a while.

Thanks for the tip on Vintage Vibe. I didn't even know they existed. I just emailed him about his dogear P90.
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lak of kaker,

Thanks again for the wiki link.
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Walter,

Thanks again for the pm tip on spacers. I already have a pair of Allparts, and I've checked Lollar because he has different sizes. I want to go as small as I can so they look original, and I'd like to get something with adjustable pole pieces. Do the GFS have the same pole spacing as Duncans?
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Thunder,

I love that alligator finish. How do they do it?

hf

 

[fronobulax]

I love that alligator finish. How do they do it?

Start by catching an alligator and defeating it in one on one hand to tooth and claw combat?

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

That's how I got my complexion.

 

[Thunderface]

Thunder,

I love that alligator finish. How do they do it?

hf

It's a Tolex covering they put over the top. It's on the headstock as well.

 

[AlohaJoe]

JP says...

Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars also makes wide P90 h-bucker replacements.
http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_sc.html

Pete made the blade-style pickup in my X150 and it sounds great... I can highly recommended his work. He's also easy to deal with and fast.

 

[coastie99]

Thunder,

I love that alligator finish. How do they do it?

hf

Darryl, I'm thinking that your deA would look fab covered in Snakeskin. After all Alligator's already been done !

Probably easier to wrestle too !

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Who did an alligator?

 

[coastie99]

Who did an alligator?

Dunno who it was but I hear he got Gator AIDS !!

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Classic! Unsurpassed!

 

[skinny]

I was gonna suggest using Jazzmaster pup's,but the width is the same though. 1 5/8"
And they don't have adjustable pole pieces either...D'oh!
Well, food for thought at least :wink:
I would be curious to see what you come up with.

skinny