Gibson P-90 pickups.. fill me in.

[Doc Holliday]

What's the deal with Gibsons P90 pickups? Are they any good? A lot of people myself included buy a modern guitar an immediately start stripping it down. Replacing parts here and there etc.
I have done this with both my R8 and Tokai goldtop. Both sporting 0X4 humbuckers.
How does Gibsons P90 match up to the boutique P90s?

[Fuzzz]

I have a 78 LP special and the bridge pickup had been replaced with a p90 size humbucker . I swapped it for a SD Antiquity P90 and it's really sweet. (It's been 'aged' quite nicely which I didn't know when I ordered it)

It sounds middy and with plenty bite to it but not harsh like the Kent Armstrong I tried in it for all of 10 mins .. I don't think I'll change the (orig) neck p90 as it's pretty good and seems well matched with the bridge pickup. Thick n creamy but with that lovely midrange again. Wish my LP custom could have one in the neck!

Not sure if that's helpful though as neither are boutique (especially the KA lol!)

[bazguitar]

Lollar P-90s are the Best i've used
very well balanced pairs
or lindy Fralin who also
Match up very well against Old gibson pick-ups

[redeyeflight]

Pretty sure Lollar built thier business originally building P-90s...that would probably be a great place to start if you were hoping to go the boutique route.

[Doc Holliday]

Cheers guys. Yeah .. well I'm in the UK so shipping them in could be pricey. I do follow Tyson Tone pickups in the states and he looks like he knows what he's doing. I like the smaller company's. You know abit like the builders here I feel they put some extra love and mojo in their stuff. Montys here in the Uk make some great pickups. The builder being a close friend of Phil Harris who deals in and has bought and sold various LP guitars over the years .. a few of Paul Kossoff, Peter greens etc. So he's probably played the best to know what makes them so good. I noticed they sell P90s for about £160 a pair. Might see how I get on with the Gibsons first when it arrives to see if they're any good?!

[Fuzzz]

I have fitted a bunch of UK made pickups through work lately and don't know why I didn't think before but The Creamery seem to deal a lot in soap bar / p90 types. I've mostly fitted JM sets but had a couple of PAF types and Tele pickups too and they've all been excellent.

Ive also tried some Bulldog Pickups (made by Hayden from Matamp ) which I was really impressed with. I had been meaning to try the Bulldogs for myself for a while and might actually invest in one on payday for my LP custom . They're not too expensive either.

Oil City Pickups is another one I've fitted loads of recently . They're hand made but really good value for money if you're not wanting to spend a lot.

And the more obvious but excellent Bare knuckle pickups always seem to be very good sounding and beautifully made too,

All of the above are made in U.K. so no horrific import charges. Just the usual VAT

[HorseyBoy]

Like most people, I just assume that everything Gibson makes these days isn't as good as it should be, but maybe (just maybe) their modern P90s don't suck. Try them out first, I guess, and see if you can live with them. The number one thing people forget to try with P90s (and pretty much every other pickup) is just to roll off the volume on your guitar. For P90s, unless all you want is the snarl, rolling off the volume a touch is pretty much a given.
If you do go the replacement route, it might be worth seeing how much a set of Lollars would cost in the UK. I've tried Lollar P90s in a couple of SGs and they really are phenomenal pickups - as good as everybody says they are.

[Doc Holliday]

Guys thanks so much for the input! Your wisdom has been absorbed and noted! I'll definitely look into those recommended options.

[Jim Goad]

I think modern Gibson P90s are really good actually. Comparing my 2011 SG Special with my 64 Junior, things were really close. The 64 has a touch more output but it's hardly noticeable. A couple of years ago (2013?) they did the ones without adjustable pole pieces which were a bit odd. Like HorseyBoy said, rolling the volume back just a tad unlocks the sweet side. Plus, I find they sound great with the polepieces set quite high & the rest of the pickup screwed down quite low into the guitar's body.

[superslidetail]

I've never had a guitar with P90's before but I just bought a Les Paul BFG a few months ago that came with a Gibson P90 in the neck. It's super muddy and really bassy, is that normal? Thought about replacing it with a Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90.