Bluesbird vs. Blues 90 - Advice & Help

[Tunes]

Hey,

I usually post over on flattops, but am looking at expanding horizons into the eclectic world of electrics. Looking at picking up either a Bluesbird or a Blues 90. From what I have read so far, it seems the major difference is just looks and date -the Blues 90 was manufactured pre-Fender, and came with the P90 pickups (which I have read both good and not so good about). The Blues 90 has the dot fret markers, and came in "limited" colored tops. It was chambered and therefore came in a reasonable weight.

The Bluesbird was made by Fender, and came with square fret markers, and more variety in tops. That's about the extent of my knowledge. Don't know if they changed pickups from P90 to something else or not.

Can you Blues owners out there, ex or otherwise, please let me know any other significant or pertintent facts before I plunk down my hard earned schekels on one or the other, thanks a bunch. Is there any real issues with one or the other? Are there any other big differences I should know about? I will most likley be playing 70's / 80's rock, and and new to electrics. I do OK on an acoustic. My current collection is below - and I will be selling the D6 if I buy a BB.

Thanks for whatever help / advice you can impart.

 

[cjd-player]

I love my Bluesbirds, both Westerly by the way, but I have never played a Blues 90.

I believe that the Blues 90 has a chunkier neck. Other than that, and the fretboad inlays that you mentioned, I believe the only difference is the pickups.
It is the same chambered body.
Just depends if you want a P-90 or humbucker sound.

 

[danerectal]

I think there is some variation to the neck. I only know what I've read, never been able to touch one myself.

 

[Tunes]

I love my Bluesbirds, both Westerly by the way, but I have never played a Blues 90.

I believe that the Blues 90 has a chunkier neck. Other than that, and the fretboad inlays that you mentioned, I believe the only difference is the pickups.
It is the same chambered body.
Just depends if you want a P-90 or humbucker sound.

How would you describe the diff between P-90 and humbucker sound? Do the P-90's hum a lot?

 

[coastie99]

Do the P-90's hum a lot?

Only the ones that don't know the words !!

Sorry Tunes .... the devil made me do it. :evil:

 

[cjd-player]

Need someone knowledgeable about that to answer.


Certainly not coastie :wink: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[capnjuan]

How would you describe the diff between P-90 and humbucker sound?

Hi Tunes; the P90s have more bite and growl than humbuckers. cj

 

[Paddlefoot]

Get on Seymour Duncans website. I think he has sound bites there so you can hear the different pickups. If nothing else he has descriptions of each pickup and what they are suited for. Keep in mind that not all P90s sound the same in the same way humbuckers and Fender single coils differ according to how they are wound and what materials are in them.

 

[swamp2]

From what I have read so far, it seems the major difference is just looks and date -the Blues 90 was manufactured pre-Fender, and came with the P90 pickups (which I have read both good and not so good about). The Blues 90 has the dot fret markers, and came in "limited" colored tops. It was chambered and therefore came in a reasonable weight.

The Bluesbird was made by Fender, and came with square fret markers, and more variety in tops. That's about the extent of my knowledge.

Bluesbirds were made in both Westerly and Corona. The Blues 90 was only made in Westerly, but the timing was still post-Fender ownership - just pre-move of everything to Corona. Serial numbers starting w/ CL are Westerly, CM are Corona. Blues 90s had dot markers and unbound necks, Bluesbirds had block markers and bound necks. I don't believe there's any signficant difference in the bodies regardless of model or location other than the obvious pickup routing.

There were Bluesbirds made w/ the P90's as an option built in Corona, but they didn't call 'em Blues 90's. They still had the BB block markers and bound neck.

A Blues 90 neck is chubby, the fattest neck of any electric I've ever touched. It's almost more like an acoustic neck than electric, in my opinion. You can get used to it, but I personally like the "normal" Bluesbird neck better.

I don't think the SD P90's in the Blues 90 are all that true to the originals. They're VERY hot, have ceramic rather than alnico magnets.

Blues 90s colors were all transparent - black, red, or green. They didn't officially have an option for "AAA" tops, but regardless most of the Blues 90 tops are pretty darned nice.

 

[Andy Hiwatt]

Hi Tunes
I guess the last post of Swamp2 is a perfect resuming of all the differences and features of the Bluesbird 90 and the Blues 90.
From my Westerly Blues 90 owner point of view I can only add personal considerations about it:
- I personally LOVE the neck shape and size of the Blues 90 ,so chubby and fat,because I have medium -big hands and long fingers and prefer this kind of necks generally ( by the way..wish my acoustic D50 had the same neck profile ) But I understand it could be a problem for someone with smaller hands and shorter fingers.

- I find the body shape ( larger than the similar Les Paul) and chambers a great idea and truly a winning combination ,both for playing seated- if you ever had the necessity to do that-
and unplugged when you might want to just practice : the guitar is very comfortable to embrace and sounds amazingly loud and resonant unplugged.

-The finish and quality of woods on my red Blues 90 are excellent and the guitar has a very classy feeling and look.

- The Duncans P90 stock pickups were the only thing I wasn't satisfied with: this has a lot to do with my very own musical tastes and the music I'm playing, I love vintage sounds and play Classic rock,Blues and mainly '60 s and '70s music and the songs I write are that style as well, so I wanted a TRUE P90s sound like the old Gibson P90s have. The Seymour Duncans mounted on the Blues 90( one of the many P90s S.D. produces, they 're not all similar these have ceramic high output magnets) , like others already pointed out , have a fairly high output ( almost double than the original average P90s) that make them scream very loud and lose a lot of definition and detail and pushes the mediums and highs to the max. This is particularly annoying with distorted sounds that sound very METAL and Shredding to my ears . After a lot of experimenting with my amps ( Fender and Ampeg tube amps) I found a pretty decent clean sound ,but couldn't find a distorted sound that I liked,and I tried every combination of amp settings and pedals ( Fulltone OCD,Visual Sound , Blues Driver, Compressors and so on..). So I decided to change the pickups, and after some research and inputs from LTGers as well, I purchased some Lollars, that I 'm utterly happy with, the guitar now sounds wonderful with a true P90s sound: something in between Fender best single coils ( sparkling, biting, stinging, airy, cutting through the mix..) and Gibson Humbuckers ( hotter than normal single coils, fat, ballsy, sustaining, clean and distorted).
I guess this is the way good P90s are supposed to sound. I love the Blues 90 more than ever after the P.U. change.

 

[swamp2]

- The Duncans P90 stock pickups were the only thing I wasn't satisfied with: ....

Well, I'd guess I'd agree with that. I'm keeping the originals in mine, for some strange reason I like to keep my "good" guitars stock and just work around the things that I'm not totally enamored with. In the case of the Blues 90, between amp EQ, pickup height, and volume controls, it's all workable - but I wouldn't call the pickups "sweet". They really aren't subtle in character at all.

Overall, it is very cool guitar, though. You don't see them every day (unless you own one)...

 

[matsickma]

The body of a Blues90 is a little deeper than a Bluesbird90. I had two Blues90's and currently own a Bluesbird90.The neck on a Bluesbird90 is as chunky as a Blues90. Some one posted a comment a bit ago stating the Bluesbird90 is chunkier than a Blues90. I no longer have a Blues90 to compare to but I have to say based on the feel of my Bluesbird90 he may be right. However the necks are easy to adjust to. I actually find a chunkier neck to leave you with less hand fatigue. However my hands are relativly big/long. I find the Bluesbird to be a comfortable neck.

By the way over time I recommend you get one of each!

M

 

[Tunes]

Thanks for all the help folks. A Blues 90 is on it's way to me as we speak, courtesy of dogman (aka Greg).

So I am really looking forward to getting it, even though it seems at some point a pickup change may be necessary - as my musical tastes run the same as Andy's - but we'll see. I still do not even have an amp yet, so it may be a while before I get to hear what it sounds like plugged in. I really need to sell my D6 first.

As always, LTG is the BEST, thanks to you.

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Tunes; whatcha got in the way of an amp to give that Blues 90 a voice?

 

[Tunes]

capn,

Well nuthin yet. I am an electric virgin (hmmm, great name for a band). I really need to sell my D6 before I can spend money on an amp, even a cheap one.

It seems the price I have set may be too high - only a couple of nibble and no bites. I am only trying to get what I bought it for - but that's another story.

 

[swamp2]

By the way over time I recommend you get one of each!

M

I can't find any flaw in matsicma's logic... it works for me!

 

[Tunes]

swamp,

Those are 3 beautiful examples of Guild electrics - and they look great together. The P90 at the bottom of the photo is EXACTLY what I am getting. After looking at your pics I am getting excited now - I expect it to arrive early next week.

Once again - gorgeous trio.

 

[dapmdave]

capn,

Well nuthin yet. I am an electric virgin (hmmm, great name for a band). I really need to sell my D6 before I can spend money on an amp, even a cheap one.

It seems the price I have set may be too high - only a couple of nibble and no bites. I am only trying to get what I bought it for - but that's another story.

When you start looking for an amp, take a look at the Fender Blues Jr. Decent tube amps that are affordable and sound good with a Bluesbird (at least with mine)

Dave

 

[capnjuan]

... Well nuthin yet. I am an electric virgin (hmmm, great name for a band). I really need to sell my D6 before I can spend money on an amp, even a cheap one.

When you are ready to make your move and if you ask here about what amp to buy, that question will get you as many replies as people get to 'what strings should I use'. For, as Mad Dog calls it 'short money', your choices are low-power/quality-tone single-ended tube amps like the Gibson GA5 / Champ / Silvertone 1471/1481 ... the quintessential tube sound but without a lot of knobs to turn ... or amps really designed for acoustic guitars that have 25-50 watts, lots of built-in functions like chorus and reverb but lack the signature warmth of tube amps and, because of their low cost/high complexity, can be a little shaky mechanically. Anyway, good luck ... you'll figure it out ... but when the B90 gets there, you're not going to be happy without being able to rattle some windows. :wink:

 

[gtraddict]

I love my Mesa's, I love the Fender with a flare sound they have. You cant go wrong with a Slightly overdriven sound of a Maverick and Blues 90.