'Buckers and P90s - what's the difference?

The biggest difference is that P-90's are single coil pickups. They will sound a little "harsher" than humbuckers and will be more noisy (hum).

With that said, they are very cool! I'd love to own a guitar equipped with P-90's. I'd suggest playing both and buying the one that gets you the tone you are after (because they will sound different).

Jason

Best example of the P90 sound I can think of is George Thorogood's. They are raunchy, but darker than Fender's bright strat single-coil sound.

Here's a bit of history with sound clips: http://www.sweetwater.com/feature/technotes/issue19-prssoapbars/

Best example of the P90 sound I can think of is George Thorogood's. They are raunchy, but darker than Fender's bright strat single-coil sound.

Here's a bit of history with sound clips: http://www.sweetwater.com/feature/technotes/issue19-prssoapbars/

I have to say those sound files were very tasty indeed.

Slightly off the subject, but what are Fender Lace-sensor pick ups like?

There is another big difference between the Sheraton II and the Casino: The former is a semi-hollowbody and the latter is a hollowbody. Both are nice guitars, but very different in nature. The Sheraton is more like a Gibson 335 -- almost a large bodied Les Paul (gross simplification -- LP and 335 adherents do not take the bait). Like a solid body guitar, the Sheraton will have less acoustic qualities, usually more sustain (than a typical hollow) and will be much more resistant to feedback at higher volume levels (again, as compared to a hollow). The Sheraton is similar to many other guitars made by Gibson (ES-335), Epiphone (the Dot), Heritage (can't recall the model #). OTOH, the Casino is a unique guitar. It is very lively and sometimes brash (P90s, as described above), and very prone to feedback at stage volumes. It's really quite a blast to play, but is not quite as versatile as the Sheraton, which is more controlled and mellower.

Except for the fact than P90s are not humbucking, they are cool pups. However, their stronger, harsher nature is not for everybody. And the hum can drive one crazy at times. There are the P91s that are hybrids of humbucking and the original P90 design; but those in the know generally feel these don't sound the same.

Thanks for the replies everyone, they've been helpful. You seem to be very familier with both guitars Gnease, which would you say you like better? And can the Casino do mellow or warmer sounds?

I would just head to the nearest GC like Crank'N'Jam suggested, but the nearest one is an hour and a half from here and I don't drive. I know that's not a great situation to be in when shopping for a guitar, but I've been playin' a Saga strat kit for two years and it would be kinda nice to upgrade in the near future, if you know what I mean.

About the humming you say the Casino is likely to do, Gnease, is it at all unlike the humming my strat does? I know the Casino will probably hum more as it's a hollowbody, but my strat hums A LOT and I can deal with it.

Thanks again for the helpful replies.
Jonny

The Casino can do mellow -- just have to roll down the volume control.

I have a Strat-like G&L, a Tele (Saga kit -- love it!), a couple other single-coil guitars of various makes low $$ to high $$. It's my P90-equipped Reverend Slingshot that hums more than any of them. But I still love it, too. I will often use the center pup position, as that cancels hum (same for the Casino, as well as postions 2 and 4 of a properly wired Strat).

I think a Casino has a cooler vibe than a Sheraton. It's light, easy to play, feels very live due to the thinline hollowbody design, and always seems on the edge of things. But if I had to pick a more all around useful guitar from the two -- and I only owned a Saga Strat, I'd probably go with the Sheraton. If I already had quite a few guitars (I do!), I'd pick the Casino. In fact a friend of mine has contemplated selling his cherry red Casino to buy a blond one. (He has a Beatles fetish.) I told him not to trade it, but just drop it off at my house any time he wants to sell, and I'd buy.

The best thing to do is play the guitars and decide -- they are so different, it's difficult to know what you will like.

Aside from the hum, I think the biggest difference is that the P-90s have more response on the treble end than most humbuckers, though their peak response is midrangey like the humbuckers. They are single coil pickups, and they have similar "quack" and "twang" tones to Fender single coils, just in a deeper register. They have a rather "hot" output, and only some high output humbuckers put out more signal. Overall, though, they're more similar than different. After all, Gibson had been using P-90s as their standard pickup when they introduced the humbucker, and they were intended to produce the same sound humlessly.

What do you guys think of the humbucker sized P90? Gibson calls them P94, and Duncan has them labeled P90 Phat Cat.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=humbucker+size+p90&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

What do you guys think of the humbucker sized P90? Gibson calls them P94, and Duncan has them labeled P90 Phat Cat.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=humbucker+size+p90&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

Kind of ugly, but they are supposed to do the trick.

I'm just wondering too, if there'd be any noticeable sonic differences with the pole pieces being under slightly different parts of the string when you drop them into an LP for example. And that also makes me wonder, since I'm pretty sure Gibson/Epiphone didn't and don't reposition the p90s (or do they) if that brash sound also had a little to do with the postion of the pickups themselves. Obviously single-coil vs humbucker is quite a difference anyway, but where the pole pieces are.

Actually forget I said that...it shouldn't make any real difference at all where the pole pieces are. :)

Be kinda cool to put some into an Epiphone G400 Sg type guitar. Get that middle period Townsend sound.

I've wanted a guitar with one 'bucker and one P90 for some time, but can never decide which should go in which position.

Yup, raunchy, nasty lead, or raunchy, nasty rhythm. Good question.

I actually had a P90 in a guitar once, way before it got popular. It was a guitar I built, and I went to the store and saw this big, chrome covered thing. The guy said it came off a 330. It was cheap so I bought it. I put it in the rhythm position along with another, smaller type single coil in the lead position. Man was it noisey! I thought it was just my wiring at the time!

I later switched both out, the P90 being changed to a noname Japanese humbucker, and the lead position being taken by a used mini-humbucker I got somewhere - like on the LP Deluxes and Firebirds.

If it were me, I'd...probably put it in the rhythm position, so the singlecoiliness would be somewhat tamed by being under the middle part of the string. It would still probably have enough bite and grit to do good leads even in that position, and then you still have the creamy humbucker sound for the bridge type sounds. The other way around it might be too nasty at the bridge and then a real big tonal change when you go to the humbucker at the neck. Sorta like the FatStrats with the HB at the bridge and the SC's in the middle and neck positions.

It'd be kind of cool though to have P90s in both positions like the Gibson Pete Townsend SG that came out a few years ago.

That and a HiWatt amp or two ;)

(that's the Live at Leeds / Summertime Blues tone, no?)

What do you guys think of the humbucker sized P90? Gibson calls them P94, and Duncan has them labeled P90 Phat Cat.

Kind of ugly, but they are supposed to do the trick.

Don't forget the GFS "Dream 90" and "Mean 90." Much less expensive alternatives to the P94s and Phat Cats.