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H-90


Koneko

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Are Gibson ever going to to make their H-90 model pickup available to the public as a single item without having to buy the guitars with them? And what is the main difference between the P-90 and the H-90 pickups?

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  • 9 months later...

contrary to gibsons own literature, the h-90 is NOT a humbucker. the coils are not balenced and therefore can not cancel hum. it is a stacked doube coil, however, and the top coil is the same as a p-90 (unlike other stacked pups). the extra coil adds a little more beef and output. it can be tapped and wired to switch the second coil off or on, but because it is not actually a humbucker, the noise increases along with the output. the good news is that the sound of just the top coil is so close to an actaul p-90 that it is hard to tell the difference- they actually fit the bill for a p-90 in sound quality, but, the singe conductor shielded wire is key to getting the most of the guitar if you are gonna do the p-90 thing, so you would likely not want to buy them even if they were avaiable. as for a alternative to a p-90 hole for noiseless, they don't work that way.

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contrary to gibsons own literature, the h-90 is NOT a humbucker. the coils are not balenced and therefore can not cancel hum. it is a stacked doube coil, however, and the top coil is the same as a p-90 (unlike other stacked pups). the extra coil adds a little more beef and output. it can be tapped and wired to switch the second coil off or on, but because it is not actually a humbucker, the noise increases along with the output. the good news is that the sound of just the top coil is so close to an actaul p-90 that it is hard to tell the difference- they actually fit the bill for a p-90 in sound quality, but, the singe conductor shielded wire is key to getting the most of the guitar if you are gonna do the p-90 thing, so you would likely not want to buy them even if they were avaiable. as for a alternative to a p-90 hole for noiseless, they don't work that way.

 

I've not had the chance to dig through an H-90 but I have worked on a few P-90's and P-100 humbuckers. What's the purpose of the second coil in the H-90 if it's not to cancel hum?

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the h-90 is the mystery pick up. i dont know why they made it and even calling customer service at gibson they didn't know either. i got mine in the guitar of the week #14 which advertized they were hum cancelling and they weren't, so thats how it started for me. the guys at gibson were nice enough, and actually called me back. a second guy had to call me back agian who the 1st guy thought would know more but he didn't. i then asked him to confirm the 4 conductor wiring for me and he had to get back to me on that. it's not that they were stupid and didn't know what they were doing, they just didn't know about this pup. i then checked the wiring and experimented with wiring the coils out of phase, bypassing the switch, and everything was as it should be, except the hum was still there of corse. then i went and tried a bja junior, and that single pup behaved the same way, so there it was. i should add that the top coil measured the same as a gibson p-90, just as they said it was.

so, was it a pickup that they had an idea for and never finished testing it? or was it never intended to be a humbucker? dunno, but it seems understandable that somewhere in gibson literature the call it a haumbucker as that would be the assumption, but it is clear that there is a disconnect somewhere in the designing of the pickup and the other dept. of gibson. i am as curious as anyone what the heck it supposed to be.

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a quick web search revealed more mystery-the pickup in the guitar you mention is called a p-90h. one guy has a similar story calling gibson, can't find out if the p-90h is the same as the h-90. also stories of poeple trying out that dark gibson you mentioned and getting hum from the so-called humbucker in the neck. more mystery than before.

did they rename the h-90 to p-90h? did they redesign the pickup? or is it a new pickup or a combo of these? i saw your video on another thread, and you seem qualified to know if a pickup is buzzing or not. (i was going to suggest you maybe weren't listening for it or were oriented in such a way to the amp it wasn't that loud). i can say for sure i know the h-90's i got buzz and are not humbucking.

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a quick web search revealed more mystery-the pickup in the guitar you mention is called a p-90h. one guy has a similar story calling gibson, can't find out if the p-90h is the same as the h-90. also stories of poeple trying out that dark gibson you mentioned and getting hum from the so-called humbucker in the neck. more mystery than before.

did they rename the h-90 to p-90h? did they redesign the pickup? or is it a new pickup or a combo of these? i saw your video on another thread, and you seem qualified to know if a pickup is buzzing or not. (i was going to suggest you maybe weren't listening for it or were oriented in such a way to the amp it wasn't that loud). i can say for sure i know the h-90's i got buzz and are not humbucking.

 

 

The hum canceling... isn't that the point in the release of the P-100 ?

 

add a dummy coil, cancel the noise. So... why a H-90 that isnt a retrofit to stock P-90s?

 

The world may never know

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