WTH did you do today?

[mihcmac]

Not to create any confusion but don't forget the earlier style of Ceramic magnets used in both Humbuckings (Humbucker the Gibson brand) and P90's. Most P90's use Alnico 5's and Humbuckings use Alnico 2's or 5's with different windings on the coils depending of if you want the Classic sound or Modern. Also Ceramic P90's tend to be brighter but Gibson uses Alnico 5 P90's. Epiphone's P90 Pro's are also Alnico 5's but their P90 Classic is Ceramic, I believe. Both the current MIC Casino Coupe and MIC Casino  use P90 Classics while the MIC Worn Casino uses P90 Pro's, The USA Casino uses standard Gibson P90's. My 2011 Epi 61 SG Special has P90 Classics which tend to make it sound kind of like a driven Strat. Also Epiphones P90's are potted and I think Gibsons are a as well to help eliminate squeal. In addition while running at the same Db Epiphone P90's seem to generate slightly less line noise than the Gibson version.

 

Anyway these are my impressions after using several different brands of P90's and only using P90's with my amp tweaked for them.

[Retired]

21 minutes ago, mihcmac said:

Not to create any confusion but don't forget the earlier style of Ceramic magnets used in both Humbuckings (Humbucker the Gibson brand) and P90's. Most P90's use Alnico 5's and Humbuckings use Alnico 2's or 5's with different windings on the coils depending of if you want the Classic sound or Modern. Also Ceramic P90's tend to be brighter but Gibson uses Alnico 5 P90's. Epiphone's P90 Pro's are also Alnico 5's but their P90 Classic is Ceramic, I believe. Both the current MIC Casino Coupe and MIC Casino  use P90 Classics while the MIC Worn Casino uses P90 Pro's, The USA Casino uses standard Gibson P90's. My 2011 Epi 61 SG Special has P90 Classics which tend to make it sound kind of like a driven Strat. Also Epiphones P90's are potted and I think Gibsons are a as well to help eliminate squeal. In addition while running at the same Db Epiphone P90's seem to generate slightly less line noise that the Gibson version.

 

Anyway these are my impressions after using several different brands of P90's and only using P90's with my amp tweaked for them

Ok, LOL, this conversation on pickups is one for guitar dummies, Being me! I admit, "I KNOW NOTHING".  When I bought it used, I had no idea what was in it? I just assumed alnico from looking up on the net and asking, What pickups came in a 2007 Les Paul Standard Gold Top?  When I bought it, I emailed Gibson asking them mainly what year it was. GC told me it was a 2015 and not a Standard. Wrong, as I sent the serial numbers to Gibson and Bob Burns responded, "Those numbers were for a Standard model that went out here in 2007, with a 60's slim neck that sold for $3,448.00. The Guitar was like new in mint condition with no signs of being played. I payed a used price of $1,993.38 for it and then chased down in the parking lot with them wanting to buy it back.  I said, NO! Then called customer service at home to see what it really was. It really sounds great but I just thought it had cheap pickups in it? Yes, I'm a dummy on guitars thinking P-90's would sound better like in my Casino. But that is a hollow body too. So, how do I tell what is in the Gold Top for sure? Would Gibson still Know? 

[SteveFord]

Ye Olde Sgt Zappa had a pair of P94s but he sold them soon after he got them.

Perhaps he could post his thoughts on them? 

[mihcmac]

38 minutes ago, Retired said:

Ok, LOL, this conversation on pickups is one for guitar dummies, Being me! I admit, "I KNOW NOTHING".  When I bought it used, I had no idea what was in it? I just assumed alnico from looking up on the net and asking, What pickups came in a 2007 Les Paul Standard Gold Top?  When I bought it, I emailed Gibson asking them mainly what year it was. GC told me it was a 2015 and not a Standard. Wrong, as I sent the serial numbers to Gibson and Bob Burns responded, "Those numbers were for a Standard model that went out here in 2007, with a 60's slim neck that sold for $3,448.00. The Guitar was like new in mint condition with no signs of being played. I payed a used price of $1,993.38 for it and then chased down in the parking lot with them wanting to buy it back.  I said, NO! Then called customer service at home to see what it really was. It really sounds great but I just thought it had cheap pickups in it? Yes, I'm a dummy on guitars thinking P-90's would sound better like in my Casino. But that is a hollow body too. So, how do I tell what is in the Gold Top for sure? Would Gibson still Know? 

Gibson has several variations of Humbuckers, to find which variation sounds the best for you, you would need to try them. Gibson Les Paul Standards and Customs do come in a Goldtop with P90s usually some type of classic model, as the first Les Pauls came with P90's.

Typical Humbucker below, notice the screws are offset to one side

A typical Gibson P90 below that also comes with a Creme cover, notice the screws are down the middle. This is the same P90 that also uses Dogear covers.

In addition the Gibson P94 below that can use the Humbucker hardware to mount

Edited January 10, 2022 by mihcmac

[jdgm]

Jazz group rehearsal today.  I left home at 12.30 and got back 5.20 this evening.  The actual rehearsal starts by 2 and ends just before 4, so I have a chance of beating the rush hour going back home.  I'd been practicing for it over the Xmas break and have a bunch of new licks and phrases I wanted to try out....I forgot every single one.  Still more practice and memorising needed.  It takes me forever to really get something and be able to think of it and use it.   Also I'd practiced some of these phrases in certain tunes and we didn't do those ones this afternoon!

The other thing is I'm learning as many of the melodies as I can, these days.  I was told decades ago to do this in order to improve my solos (and everything else) and it's finally hit home in the last few years.  Duh. 

So no blues band or gigs at the moment but I'm still dead keen on playing.  🎸

I hope everyone else is enjoying their guitars too.  Best wishes to all!

Edited January 11, 2022 by jdgm

[Retired]

4 hours ago, mihcmac said:

Gibson has several variations of Humbuckers, to find which variation sounds the best for you, you would need to try them. Gibson Les Paul Standards and Customs do come in a Goldtop with P90s usually some type of classic model, as the first Les Pauls came with P90's.

Typical Humbucker below, notice the screws are offset to one side

A typical Gibson P90 below that also comes with a Creme cover, notice the screws are down the middle. This is the same P90 that also uses Dogear covers.

In addition the Gibson P94 below that can use the Humbucker hardware to mount

Thanks, I got the Gibson out and looked at it.  The top pickup looks like mine, The screws are closer to the top by the neck and closer to the bridge on the bottom. They look exactly like the Standard on my Epiphone.  So they are Humbuckers.  So that settles that!

[mihcmac]

Coffeeeeeeeeeeee.

[Retired]

I always wondered how so many here could look at a guitar and say, "Nice, P-90's."  To me, they looked like any other pickup. At least now I know something. My dog ear P-90's on the Casino to me were obvious and their the same way on the Casino. I paid no attention about screws.  Never even noticed the difference so thank you for expelling that. 

[Retired]

We are going to refill some meds and grab something to eat.  Then, I am going to open my Russian chess book up and study the next chapter and try to get better and better to beat my Kasparov computer faster. Now, I win most games but some come to a draw. That is playing on level 4.  So I need to improve more. 

[mihcmac]

13 minutes ago, Retired said:

I always wondered how so many here could look at a guitar and say, "Nice, P-90's."  To me, they looked like any other pickup. At least now I know something. My dog ear P-90's on the Casino to me were obvious and their the same way on the Casino. I paid no attention about screws.  Never even noticed the difference so thank you for expelling that. 

Well anything I show is likely to have P90's since all of my guitars have them. Heres a few from my colection.

[mihcmac]

When I moved to my new house the cooler average temperature has affected adjustments on my guitars. I have spent the last few days tweaking my slightly modified 2011 Limited Edition 61 SG Special. I forgot how mean this thing was after focusing on my newer acquisitions. 

Taking this one to practice today for the acid test.. 🙂

Edited January 13, 2022 by mihcmac

[Retired]

On 1/12/2022 at 11:32 AM, mihcmac said:

Well anything I show is likely to have P90's since all of my guitars have them. Heres a few from my colection.

Wow! I did love the Burst buckers in my sons Custom Epiphone Limited Edition, and the push pull pots.  He was going to sell it but I told him, I'll buy it instead.  We ended up trading guitars and that lasted 2 years, then he wanted to trade back, Hah. 

[jdgm]

I like my morning swim.  

In England this morning it was just above freezing and I walked 1km to the indoor pool, swam 64 lengths - 1 mile - then walked back home.   I have to force myself to get up early and do it but it's so worthwhile.  I can plan my day while I'm swimming...time to think.

 

Anyway....the LP Custom in my avatar pic has P90s as you see.  They sound amazing and lively though they do not nearly have the output of modern humbuckers, and they do hum with a dist/od pedal or a compressor. 

I am also lucky enough to have a guitar with P94s, the P90s in a humbucker casing.   These are in a 2013 ES-175 and they sound excellent to me.  And they are hot wound - the neck is 10k and the bridge 10.5k.  I need to take this guitar to a rehearsal hall, turn it up and learn about how it feeds back.

Edited January 15, 2022 by jdgm

[SteveFord]

Do the P94s sound the same as a regular P90 from Gibson?

[mihcmac]

2 hours ago, SteveFord said:

Do the P94s sound the same as a regular P90 from Gibson?

The P94's I tried on a converted Gibson SG  sounded like P90's to me,

Although My favorite is Mean90's for replacing Humbuckers.

The first two from the left are Mean90's, the last one that looks like a P94 are Dream90's.

Gibson from time to time releases a model with P94's like this 97 Gibson Ltd LP Studio

Edited January 15, 2022 by mihcmac

[jdgm]

On 1/15/2022 at 5:10 PM, SteveFord said:

Do the P94s sound the same as a regular P90 from Gibson?

An important question that needs answering!  Especially on the Gibson forum. 

As it's Sunday I uncased 2 guitars and A/B'd them through my Fender Vibrochamp with a reverb pedal.  Clean tone.

The short answer is....they are the same liquor in a different glass, and of slightly different strength.

My Les Paul is a 2009 Custom built to 1956 spec - all mahogany, no weight relief, P90s.  I've posted pics and written about it previously, but here it is once more -

My ES-175 is a 2013 version of the model with a bigsby, Tonepros bridge and hotter-than-usual P94s.  And I've posted this pic before, too -

 

The P90s on the LP are (probably) no more than 7k output, being standard-issue P90s AFAIK.

The P94s on the 175 are 10k at the neck and 10.5k at the bridge, according to Gibson's blurb/spec describing the guitar.

LP - The standard P90s have that wonderful zing and clarity that we all love; a thinner tone than a full humbucker but livelier with clear harmonically-rich highs that humbuckers don't have.  They jump, but compared to a modern-humbucker equipped LP their output volume is much lower.  Whatever the output, the important thing is the sound  which  just makes me want to play the guitar more and more.

ES 175 - The P94s are hotter with a bit more midrange, possibly less treble and sound a little smoother and  boxier.   They have similar volume output to many humbuckers.  IMO they sound slightly thinner and (again) livelier than humbuckers.  Great all-round pickups - they rock.   I'd like to try the neck P94 in a solid body like the Epiphone Lee Malia, at gig volume level.

On both of these instruments,  all 3 positions (neck or both or bridge) just sound fantastic to my ears.   I love the mid-position tones.  There is no hum when the selector is in the mid-position. 

Both sets of pickups are non-microphonic.  Then there is the solid-body vs semi-acoustic question, and it's hard to say how much the small differences are due to the pickups or due to the different construction of each guitar.  The same pickup would sound slightly different in a semi-acoustic vs a completely solid guitar IMO. 

So...they are very close but if I had to choose one?  The LP, no contest. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-90

Best wishes to all!

Edited January 16, 2022 by jdgm

[SteveFord]

Thank you.

Boy, those are two really nice looking guitars!

[mihcmac]

On 1/15/2022 at 7:10 AM, SteveFord said:

Do the P94s sound the same as a regular P90 from Gibson?

I copied the specs from Gibsons P94T/P94R page....

• In solid body guitars, take advantage of the P94's ability to easily overdrive your amplifier, or simply "clean up" by backing down on the volume.
• In an archtop guitar, you can realize the rich, full tone of the smoothest jazz riffs.
• The P94R (neck) has reverse polarity for a hum-free operation when used together with the P94T (bridge). Each P94 comes with shielded, three-conductor lead wiring, and is fully wax potted to protect against unwanted microphonic feedback.
• Output: 9.8
• Position: Both 
• Magnet: Alnico V 
• Wiring: 2-Conductor 
• Details: 50's historic tone, warm and soulful in a Humbucker size

[SteveFord]

From your descriptions it appears to be a P90 sound, not like those wretched P100s from way back when.

[Retired]

6 hours ago, jdgm said:

An important question that needs answering!  Especially on the Gibson forum. 

As it's Sunday I uncased 2 guitars and A/B'd them through my Fender Vibrochamp with a reverb pedal.  Clean tone.

The short answer is....they are the same liquor in a different glass, and of slightly different strength.

My Les Paul is a 2009 Custom built to 1956 spec - all mahogany, no weight relief, P90s.  I've posted pics and written about it previously, but here it is once more -

My ES-175 is a 2013 version of the model with a bigsby, Tonepros bridge and hotter-than-usual P94s.  And I've posted this pic before, too -

 

The P90s on the LP are (probably) no more than 7k output, being standard-issue P90s AFAIK.

The P94s on the 175 are 10k at the neck and 10.5k at the bridge, according to Gibson's blurb/spec describing the guitar.

LP - The standard P90s have that wonderful zing and clarity that we all love; a thinner tone than a full humbucker but livelier with clear harmonically-rich highs that humbuckers don't have.  They jump, but compared to a modern-humbucker equipped LP their output volume is much lower.  Whatever the output, the important thing is the sound  which  just makes me want to play the guitar more and more.

ES 175 - The P94s are hotter with a bit more midrange, possibly less treble and sound a little smoother and  boxier.   They have similar volume output to many humbuckers.  IMO they sound slightly thinner and (again) livelier than humbuckers.  Great all-round pickups - they rock.   I'd like to try the neck P94 in a solid body like the Epiphone Lee Malia, at gig volume level.

On both of these instruments,  all 3 positions (neck or both or bridge) just sound fantastic to my ears.   I love the mid-position tones.  There is no hum when the selector is in the mid-position. 

Both sets of pickups are non-microphonic.  Then there is the solid-body vs semi-acoustic question, and it's hard to say how much the small differences are due to the pickups or due to the different construction of each guitar.  The same pickup would sound slightly different in a semi-acoustic vs a completely solid guitar IMO. 

So...they are very close but if I had to choose one?  The LP, no contest. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-90

Best wishes to all!

Gorgeous guitars JD. Thanks for explaining that too. 

[mihcmac]

7 hours ago, SteveFord said:

From your descriptions it appears to be a P90 sound, not like those wretched P100s from way back when.

Not like the P100’s, P94’s are true P90’s. Like my favorite Mean90’s below which I do have to back off the volume and tone a bit, but they don’t squeal and using the humbucker hardware easy to adjust….

Edited January 17, 2022 by mihcmac

[RBSinTo]

.....but you digress.

More to the point, I'm sitting by the window waiting for the snow to stop falling so I can shovel the three foot drifts from the porch and driveway.

RBSinTo

[Retired]

12 hours ago, RBSinTo said:

.....but you digress.

More to the point, I'm sitting by the window waiting for the snow to stop falling so I can shovel the three foot drifts from the porch and driveway.

RBSinTo

Shovel 3 foot drifts? You must be young and have a good back!  It took me 4 hours or more using my biggest snow blower.  Lol.

[RBSinTo]

9 hours ago, Retired said:

Shovel 3 foot drifts? You must be young and have a good back!  It took me 4 hours or more using my biggest snow blower.  Lol.

Retired,

Actually no.

I'm 73 (will be 74 in April), and have Spinal Stenosis, deteriorating  discs, as well as an artificial hip and two shot knees ( much of this caused by 60 years and counting of hockey goaltending).

However, as I tell my wife, " I'm not infirm, just old", so I  put on my Big Boy pants, and shovel my own driveway.

Did it twice yesterday, as it snowed off and on all day.

No big deal. 

And because the roads weren't plowed until late in the day, I couldn't take my usual  daily 6-1/2 mile walk, so the three hours I spent shovelling made up for it. 

Exercise, lots of fresh air and a clean driveway. A win-win.

RBSinTo

Edited January 18, 2022 by RBSinTo

[fortyearspickn]

What I did, yesterday, was similar to the 2 days before.  And I'm not done:  Sorting through approximately 50 years of things I'd put aside in 3 Rubbermaid bins for my kids to have when I'm gone. A couple of hundred things:  From the first real book I read *A Tale of Two Cities" - to postal stamps, from a  brass doorknob off the decommissioned Navy destroyer I was stationed on, to Star Wars figures and old watches.     Slowly came to realize that, having put these things aside, I didn't miss them - didn't need them.  Most I'd forgotten about.  Hope they bring a smile to my kids (and grandkids),  But realized these things helped me gradually over the decades understand that material things are NOT the icing on the cake.  Not the cake either.  Just stuff.   Very liberating to be able to let go of material things that were important in the past - for when you have to let go of material things that are important in the present.