Soapbar time

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VikingBlues
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Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

As I play mostly a clean sound I guessed it was about time for a Soapbar guitar. :lol:

Self financed by sale of surplus gear - so very restrained GAS. :big_smile:

download/file.php?id=893

Just playing a few notes - not recorded on the amp - evening time and volume restraints so it's through the Tonelab ST - proper recordings will follow in time. So - the addition is - One PRS SE Soapbar. Only arrived yesterday (hardly any left in the UK so had to order on-line) and I'm breaking in the new strings and trying to get used to the feel of it so I'm a way off my best playing here. Seems really small - the "Strat" is much chunkier in body and in neck and the semi-acoustics obviously dwarf the SE in body size. Feels and sounds good so far though. :thumbsup:
SE Soapbar Pic1
SE Soapbar Pic1
100_0043_sm.jpg (256.89 KiB) Viewed 17619 times
SE Soabbar Pic2
SE Soabbar Pic2
100_0036sm.jpg (214.41 KiB) Viewed 17619 times
My two solid body electrics now - SE Soapbar snuggles up to Strat
My two solid body electrics now - SE Soapbar snuggles up to Strat
100_0044sm.jpg (344.63 KiB) Viewed 17619 times
Sorry - new camera - I reduce the pictures to 30% of original but still a bit big. :wall: The pictures don't really do justice - there's a nice grain showing through the deep red finish which the camera can't capture properly. Even teh official PRS website pictures don't capture the finish properly.
Attachments


A Few Soapbar Notes
A Few Soapbar Notes.mp3 - (1.48 MiB)

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Blackhorse
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by Blackhorse »

Congrats on your new purchase VB! :thumbsup:

The PRS looks very nice, but that strat looks gorgeous. What can I say? I'm a strat guy :icon_whoknows:
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MikeJackal
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by MikeJackal »

Congrats on your new family member. If you want to get some good shot of the wood grain, take it outside next time there's a bit of sun.
Like This:
DSC00630.JPG
DSC00630.JPG (170.49 KiB) Viewed 17602 times
Shameless vanity of my own guitar i know, but i thought it was a good picture :big_smile:
Looking forward to hearing more of her in the near future.
Do you adjust the pickup height with the 2 screw near the centre of the pickups?
Blackhorse wrote:The PRS looks very nice, but that strat looks gorgeous. What can I say? I'm a strat guy
Well as you know and can see I'm a Les Paul guy....But that Strat is pretty gorgeous...enough to turn a guy's head :drool:
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

Blackhorse wrote:Congrats on your new purchase VB! :thumbsup:

The PRS looks very nice, but that strat looks gorgeous. What can I say? I'm a strat guy :icon_whoknows:
Thanks Blackhorse. :D

I seem to be turning into a P90s guy. Odd - for at least 3 years it was all humbuckers, then the "Strat" came into my life and showed me how good single coils could be, and now I've been attracted by the different (but still single coil) P90s.
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:If you want to get some good shot of the wood grain, take it outside next time there's a bit of sun.
Good picture your LP takes - hopefully I'll try an outside in the sunshine photo later this year - whichever day summer is on this year! Remember I'm in Scotland so I can't rely on the sun making an appearance and I wouldn't like the PRS getting frost damage! :lol:
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:Looking forward to hearing more of her in the near future.
Hah - don't worry - you will - as people here know I'm not averse to inflicting my "creations" on their ears. :yikes:
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:Do you adjust the pickup height with the 2 screw near the centre of the pickups?
As far as I can gather - I've not looked at this properly yet - the 2 mounting screws likely enough go through the pickup into the wood and there is possibly a foam strip between the pickup and the wood acting like a spring. I've seen mentions quite often of people needing to use shims inside the pickup cavities to get the height to their liking. All a bit primitive but most single coil pickups (unless attached to a pickguard) seem to me to be primitive in fixing method compared to humbuckers. At present I'm getting used to the sound before doing any adjustments. The sound is quite a bit hotter than with the dog-ear style P90s on my VSA590 and I'm having to ease off on volume / boost levels to avoid too much crunch - I've never felt the need to adjust the VSA pickups as they're sounding just right to my ears already, though they're dog ear style and are fitted differently. So the mechanics of the P90 in its different styles are still wrapped in mystery to me.
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:
Blackhorse wrote:The PRS looks very nice, but that strat looks gorgeous. What can I say? I'm a strat guy
Well as you know and can see I'm a Les Paul guy....But that Strat is pretty gorgeous...enough to turn a guy's head :drool:
The "Strat" is my one successful self build - and a guitar that made me start to play and phrase in a different way - there's a thread on the forum from last summer that shows the "birth" Lynyrd:-
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=217&start=100
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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Strummer07
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by Strummer07 »

Mighty pretty axe you have there VB !! :thumbsup:

Its almost enough to get me thinking .......again !!... might be a bit deja Vu though

Well you can never have too many nice geetars .. can you :icon_whoknows:

I also like the way you've justified the purchase to us "Self financed by sale of surplus gear" .... that sort of camoflage you only need for your partner or your bank manager !!

We don't care!! ... A nice guitar needs No justification :lol:
"Death is just a heartbeat away"
lyric from "Out in The Fields"
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MikeJackal
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by MikeJackal »

Strummer07 wrote:I also like the way you've justified the purchase to us "Self financed by sale of surplus gear" .... that sort of camoflage you only need for your partner or your bank manager !!
We don't care!! ... A nice guitar needs No justification :lol:
Funny you should say that. I tried to justify spending £500 on my new Sorrento (which still hasn't arrived :wall: ) to my partner by selling the Squier Strat and a Digitech effects pedal totalling £97. Suffice to say it didn't work. :away:
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
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Blindboy
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by Blindboy »

Nice! :drool:
I have played one of those in the store, and liked it a lot.
Looking forward to hearing more. :thumbsup:
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
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vancouverois
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by vancouverois »

Nice guitar! :thumbsup:
Soapbars have this distinctive tone, something between both worlds.
Although being pushed hard they sound more like humbuckers. The P90s I have
on my Squier Tele really enjoy some Marshally crunch amps.
Congrats on your new guitar :clap:
Jan 15th 2007
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

Strummer, Blindboy, vancouveris - thanks for those postive comments.
Strummer07 wrote:Its almost enough to get me thinking .......again !!... might be a bit deja Vu though
Would need to be quick to get the deja vu fix Strummer! - there's very few left now and they're discontinued. :wall: Then in my search for a solid body P90 there was also the Hagstrom Swede Special that looked very nice - but that was a limited edition and even rarer than the PRS. :wall: Which left a few lower budget ones like the Hofner Colorama and the Hagstrom F200 .... other than that it seemed to be £1500 upwards. Trust me to want a type of guitar that's so unpopular. :roll: My conversation with one of the guys in my favourite local guitar shop resulted in a reply of "I can get a P90 solid body guitar for you but we don't have any in .. I really like them myself, but I know if I got any in stock they'd just be on the hanger on the wall for months and months and would not get sold."
Strummer07 wrote:I also like the way you've justified the purchase to us "Self financed by sale of surplus gear" .... that sort of camoflage you only need for your partner or your bank manager !!
We don't care!! ... A nice guitar needs No justification :lol:
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:Funny you should say that. I tried to justify spending £500 on my new Sorrento (which still hasn't arrived ) to my partner by selling the Squier Strat and a Digitech effects pedal totalling £97. Suffice to say it didn't work.
I wish I could self finance our house repairs coming up in the spring - will be over £6,000 - exterior walls and windows - and that's if none of the window frames need replaced.

That's gotta hurt! :yikes:

Now if it was £6,000+ for a guitar .... :drool:
Blindboy wrote:I have played one of those in the store, and liked it a lot.
Yeah - it felt good to me straight away out of the box. I had to gamble with buying untried as there were none of them in the local shops to try here of course - I only found about 3 on-line sources in the UK for them, one of which only had two left in stock. I'd tried some PRS SE range guitars about 4 years ago but they didn't "take". Maybe this one's different, or more probably I'm a different player now. :icon_whoknows:
vancouveris wrote:Soapbars have this distinctive tone, something between both worlds.
Although being pushed hard they sound more like humbuckers. The P90s I have
on my Squier Tele really enjoy some Marshally crunch amps.
I've already noticed the P90s on the PRS are hotter and have more "edge" to them than the VSA590's. Quite possibly I will end up going for the VSA for mellow and the PRS for the whatever the opposite of mellow is. I'm looking forward to checking out more of the range of sounds I can get over the next few weeks.

NOTE - FOR THE UK MEMBERS :aha:

If you're buying on-line I can strongly recommend a look at Guitarbitz. That's the second time I've used them and I've been hugely impressed both times. The packaging they do for the guitar is excellent, including a double layer of thick bubble wrap outside the guitar box as well as the padding inside. They use a Courier who gives you an hour window ETA for the delivery. They have a 12 point check up and set up plan - both guitars I've had from them have been beautifully set up - great playing action.
They detail the 12 point check-up plan on their website and also detail their packaging routine. All very, very professional and that's quite a rarity.
..........................................................

I like the way PRS trust their end users - they provide a guide on what adjustments might be required to the neck via the truss rod due to the changes that can occur in transit and in different climates, and provide the allen key for doing it. I like the way Guitarbitz provide the customer with all the bits that come with the guitar from the distributor and also like it that they use the original box - a lot of the guitar sellers don't do this.

It reminds me of when I got a bass via courier from a fairly local music shop that was sent in a squier guitar box with some extra cardboard sellotaped on the end for the extra length of the instrument - this was followed up by their refusal to give me the Allen key that was with the bass when they got it from the distributor They didn't believe that customers should be allowed to set up their own guitars) - I needed to adjust the bass as you could have got a double decker bus under the strings, not to mention the loose controls I also had to fix. It's shoddy standards like this that make me appreciate the likes of Guitarbitz.
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2WheelsOfBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by 2WheelsOfBlues »

VB what a beauties :drool:
Also i read that your strat is a self making, looking fine to my.
That's why i didn't see any marks on it. :lol:

If they sound like they are looking youre alright :wink:

Have fun playing and don't wait to long to hear something :thumbsup:
play guitar like the wind, mysterious but definitely present....
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

2WheelsOfBlues wrote:VB what a beauties :drool:
Also i read that your strat is a self making, looking fine to my.
That's why i didn't see any marks on it. :lol:

If they sound like they are looking youre alright :wink:

Have fun playing and don't wait to long to hear something :thumbsup:
Thank you 2Wheels. :D

If you want to hear the Strat you can try these that I did shortly before you joined the forum :-
"Purple" - Mournful and a bit Pink Floydy
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9834122
"Cloudy Day" - Jazzy improv based around the chords of "Misty"
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9745210
"Red Deer Blues" - a bit "proggy", a bit Floyd again - and with vocals
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9752096

I've been quite proud of what my "Strat" can do - it's most at home with the Gilmour type of music, but "Cloudy Day" shows it's got more of a range and a really sweet sound. I hope I can do as well with the PRS too, but I need to find what music the voice fits best. :D
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HalfBlindLefty
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

:drool: I'm late, (better not tell I'm about the first one that took a listen :whistle: )
A very beautiful axe that is indeed. With a sweet tone.
I'm curious to hear it in all switch and sound settings.
Well played to !

Congrats.


:icon_whoknows: I'm still waiting......... :alright:
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

HalfBlindLefty wrote::drool: I'm late, (better not tell I'm about the first one that took a listen :whistle: )
A very beautiful axe that is indeed. With a sweet tone.
I'm curious to hear it in all switch and sound settings.
Well played to !

Congrats.
Thanks HBL - I've tried to put together a few sound samples. These are basically played just the right side of clean. Partly because I like that area, and also partly because I am trying to get to grips with how these particular P90 pups respond to going up a gear into crunch. The pups do produce a much stronger signal than my "Strat", my VSA590 or indeed by Hagstrom (which has humbuckers). I'm not sure, to be honest that I'm totally at ease with this style of "hot" P90, but I'm trying to see if I can make it work for me. It's possible I may opt to bring in a set of Vintage voiced P90s into what is a very well built, nice and comfortable, good looking guitar. Why does everything have to be "bigger" and more extreme these days??!! The Hastrom SE P90 has the same messing around with tradition :angry:

The recordings have limitations in recreating the sound - not least the loss of tone with an mp3 file. Each run through has two segments - one with more single notes, one with more chords. There's not a huge effect on tone 2 to 5 and under 1 it's like somones stuffed cotton wool in your ears so I've just done Tone = 5, and 10. The recording of the Bridge setting with tone 10 cuts off a bit short - my ears were bleeding, and that's with using fingers - imagine the biting treble with a hard plastic pick. :yikes:

download/file.php?id=902 Neck Vol 6, Tone 5
download/file.php?id=903 Neck Vol 6, Tone 10
download/file.php?id=904 Both Vol 6, Tone 5
download/file.php?id=905 Both Vol 6, Tone 10
download/file.php?id=906 Bridge Vol 6, Tone 5
download/file.php?id=907 Bridge Vol 6, Tone 10
HalfBlindLefty wrote: :icon_whoknows: I'm still waiting......... :alright:
I'm sure it will be worth it ... savour the anticipation!!! :wall:
Attachments


Bridge - Volume 6, Tone 10
PRS Sound Check Bridge Vol 6 Tone 10.mp3 - (603.89 KiB)


Bridge - Volume 6, Tone 5
PRS Sound Check Bridge Vol 6 Tone 5.mp3 - (883.89 KiB)


Both - Volume 6, Tone 10
PRS Sound Check Both Vol 6 Tone 10.mp3 - (883.08 KiB)


Both - Volume 6, Tone 5
PRS Sound Check Both Vol 6 Tone 5.mp3 - (930.83 KiB)


Neck - Volume 6, Tone 10
PRS Sound Check Neck Vol 6 Tone 10.mp3 - (920.34 KiB)


Neck - Volume 6, Tone 5
PRS Sound Check Neck Vol 6 Tone 5.mp3 - (1001.16 KiB)

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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time - Adjustments

Post by VikingBlues »

I've tried some experiment with pickup heights.

They're now about 1mm further away from the strings.

The tone is more to my liking as a result. Certainly on clean settings at least .... but even clean there is still a touch too much compression for me and there is a lack of clarity to cut through the mix if a BT has much going on.

But with basic clean tone on a sparse mix - quite nice tones methinks - interested to know if anyone agrees:-

download/file.php?id=923

This from a BT by David Wallimann - Slow Minor Ballad in E Aeolian, with an interesting twist of E Harmonic Minor at the turnaround allowing some alternating D# and E notes to good effect. I think I need to do a full recording on this one before long.

So my thinking is moving towards Alnico II vintage style 50s pickups, perhaps even unpotted - you can get away with unpotted when playing as clean and low volumes as I do. Maybe Alnico II bridge, Alnico V neck.
Attachments


Em Aeolian David Wallimann + VB PRS
MBEmDraft VBGuitarOnly.mp3 - (1.92 MiB)

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MikeJackal
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by MikeJackal »

I love the way your pickups morph at different points, sometimes they sound like a Strat then at other times they sound like a humbucker. I hopefully have my new toy arriving tomorrow with dog ear P-90's so i'll have much more of an idea what i'm talking about then.

But yes the tone you are getting is most pleasant indeed.
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

Hmmmmmmmmm .... methinks the SE Soapbar is not used to 10s. :think:
And Lo! The 10s were seen to fit badissimo.
And Lo! The 10s were seen to fit badissimo.
Nut Filing Needed for 10s sm.jpg (162.69 KiB) Viewed 17420 times
Checks PRS website - ah hah - it comes with 9s. All PRS SEs have 9s. Odd - I was expecting 10s given the Les Paul / SG leanings of the style of guitar. This maybe accounts for my lack of positive reaction to some SEs I tried in a guitar shop a couple of years ago - the 9s can make the tone on a guitar like this a bit wimpy.

I didn't try it too long with the factory strings on it - they were a bit old and tired (like me!) and I don't like rusty feeling strings. I am the first owner though it is a 2009 manufacture so it's been in storage a while.

At least it's just the 5th and 6th string slots need attention. Now - where's those nut files. Aaaargh. :yikes:
Lynyrd77Skynyrd wrote:I love the way your pickups morph at different points, sometimes they sound like a Strat then at other times they sound like a humbucker. I hopefully have my new toy arriving tomorrow with dog ear P-90's so i'll have much more of an idea what i'm talking about then.

But yes the tone you are getting is most pleasant indeed.
Thanks LS. I'm hoping to get the tone much better over the next 6 weeks or so.
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

So - the pickups are upgraded to Traditional Alnico II P90s (Toneriders) and the electrics have been upgraded. Have had a brief quick check to see what it was like - sounded VERY good to me :big_smile: and the guitar shop manager reckoned it was a good choice of upgrade despite my not buying them from him ....... but, as the upgrade's a birthday present it'll be nearly 3 weeks before I get to play it again. Arrrrrgh! :wall:

At that point I will obviously do a few sound samples / recordings.
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MikeJackal
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by MikeJackal »

I look forward to hearing the difference, maybe do some direct comparisons and put sound samples of before and after (if you have any still). Thats going to be a long three weeks for you, I waited a month for my Sorrento so I know how you feel.
"You Only Live But Once, When Your Dead Your Done...So Let The Good Times Roll" - B.B. King
"I'm So Lonesome I Don't Even Have Me No Friend, I've Done So Much Crying Will I Ever Laugh Again" - Peter Green
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DeaconBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by DeaconBlues »

I'm late to the party, but...nice guitar. You've had it for only a month and you're already modding it. :beer: :banana:

Reminds me of my latest acquisition(of which I have no pictures, yet) a Gibson LP Special.

I've had a long standing love affair with P-90 guitars. I think I've owned a total of 5 different guitars with those pickups. Three of those I should have kept for sure.
I like the dual personality of P-90's. They have a single coil sound bite and a humbucker fatness that seems to work well with a number of music genres.
That boy ain't right...,

but he's big on the North Sea Coast of Germany.
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VikingBlues
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Re: Soapbar time

Post by VikingBlues »

MikeJackal wrote:I look forward to hearing the difference, maybe do some direct comparisons and put sound samples of before and after (if you have any still). Thats going to be a long three weeks for you, I waited a month for my Sorrento so I know how you feel.
2 weeks and 3 days to go - not that I'm counting! :roll:

I do have some sound samples from earlier and I'll maybe have a go at the comparison thing - though the real sound out of the amp and the recorded sound I end up with on an mp3 are a bit different - I think the mp3 format (and probably my recording technique!) does miss out on some of the subtleties of the real sound.
DeaconBlues wrote:I'm late to the party, but...nice guitar. You've had it for only a month and you're already modding it. :beer: :banana:

Reminds me of my latest acquisition(of which I have no pictures, yet) a Gibson LP Special.
Thanks Deacon. Yeah - I went into this one aware that some modding might be an early need - I'm just out of kilter with current thinking in the guitar/music world that everything has to be bigger and louder and hotter.

An LP Special eh .... :drool: It'll have vintage sounding pups presumably and you'll have the two volume and two tone controls I guess - I did have pause for thought with the PRS only having a master volume and master tone - I like to vary tones in the both pickups selected position by varying the volumes of each in the mix. I spend most of my time on twin pickup guitars in the middle selector position.
DeaconBlues wrote:I've had a long standing love affair with P-90 guitars. I think I've owned a total of 5 different guitars with those pickups. Three of those I should have kept for sure.
I like the dual personality of P-90's. They have a single coil sound bite and a humbucker fatness that seems to work well with a number of music genres.
I'm a recent convert, but an enthusiastic one! :big_smile: Some blind sound testing on a magazine CD of Humbuckers, single coils and P90s surprised me when I kept picking the P90 sounds as the best. I agree they are quite different in sound to the standard single coil pickups, but it doesn't seem to prevent the P90 being lumped in with single coils on a lot of websites.

I'm baffled by how unpopular P90s are as evidenced by the lack of P90 equipped guitars in the guitar shops near here.
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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