Tonerider P90's

james62

I'm considering installing a set of Tonerider P90's into the middle and neck positions of a parts Strat. It's an HSS setup. I currently have a Tonerider Rocksong bridge humbucker in there together with 2 Seymour Duncan stacked single coils.

I love the sound of the Rocksong with thew Alnico 2 magnet but I have never liked the sound of the Seymours and although they are quieter than the old Fender pups that were in there before they just don't sound like nice and fat like the Fenders before.

The body has been pre-routed for an HSH configuration and it won't be a problem routing the middle cavity for the larger P90, and the scratchplate won't be a problem to route either.

Has anyone ever tried this setup? I'm sure I will get nice thick tones if I do a conversion since I've never really liked the thinner sound of single coils with a humbucker.

Bob-Dubery

I haven't done it, but I can tell you you're not alone.

That's a pair of teles that Richard Thompson recently bought from his guitar roady. Note the configuration on the black instrument.

The instruments were not ordered by Thompson. The roady built them, took them on the road for use in sound checks, then Thompson saw them and decided to make an offer. So clearly there are at least two other people in the world who think an idea such as yours has some merit.

Also note the configuration on Thompson's Ferrington that is probably his most used guitar in the last 10 years or so

Dang! Now Danny Ferrington's in on the game. There's at least four of you. World domination can't be far away ?

singemonkey

I think it's a wonderful idea. A humbucker is at it's strongest in the ~~neck~~ bridge position. For many people it overwhelms the "tinniness" of that pickup for playing lead with a strat. P90s have the most extraordinary sound for rhythm (although they don't suck for single notes). I think you'll have a wonderful sounding and looking Strat. And I'll be very excited to hear it once you've gone through with it.

edit: fixed

Mr-M

Do it! It will sound great.

james62

Just in general - How would P90's compare in sound to single coils in a Strat?

singemonkey

Something like this:

Bob-Dubery

Ah shoot! I just notices Singe's edit, and that prompted me to read the OP. :-[ I got it all wrong.

Please ignore all my blatherings in this thread up to this point.

Neil Young's famous "Old Black" has a humbucker in the bridge position and a P90 in the front.

singemonkey

Couldn't find any really good vids (youtubers have an amazing ability to spend mountains of cash on gear, then "demonstrate" by recording through their camcorder's on-board mic :?)

james62

singemonkey wrote: Something like this:

That looks awesome! Anyone have a guitar like this? Sound?

kp247

singemonkey wrote: Couldn't find any really good vids (youtubers have an amazing ability to spend mountains of cash on gear, then "demonstrate" by recording through their camcorder's on-board mic :?)

Interesting sound! Definitely more balls than single coils and he doesn't play half bad either.

Are these the Tonerider P90 pickups?

Norman86

kp247 wrote:
singemonkey wrote: Couldn't find any really good vids (youtubers have an amazing ability to spend mountains of cash on gear, then "demonstrate" by recording through their camcorder's on-board mic :?)

Interesting sound! Definitely more balls than single coils and he doesn't play half bad either.

Are these the Tonerider P90 pickups?

Im gonna take a guess and say they're Kinman P90 Hx Pups!
Look at the videos name! ?

kp247

Norman86 wrote:
Im gonna take a guess and say they're Kinman P90 Hx Pups!
Look at the videos name! ?

Duh, too much wine last night! :-[

kp247

My interest in P90's has suddenly been rekindled! How much does the Kinmans sell for?

james62

kp247 wrote: My interest in P90's has suddenly been rekindled! How much does the Kinmans sell for?

I've heard a set of the Tonerider P90's in a Telecaster and it sounded great! They're R900 per set and probably a lot less than Kinmans. That's why I've been thinking about putting them into a Strat along with a bridge humbucker.

Those Kinmans that this bloke above is playing sounds awesome! It would be interesting to know how much a set costs

tonerider

Hi everyone,

The Tonerider P90's, like most P90's, will give you a much thicker sound than standard single coils, however a word of caution! If you're going to use P90 pickups with high gain and overdrive I would suggest wax potting them again and cover the entire inside of the removable covers with a nice thick layer of wax. This will greatly reduce hum and microphonic squeal.

I think I've explained how to do this before so I won't dwell on the issue.

AlanRatcliffe

I've played 3 X P90 "Strats" before and quite liked them. It's not really a Strat anymore, as P90s with their fat mids are a bit closer to humbuckers tonally than they are to Strat singles. Yes, P90s do go with humbuckers very well, with a much better volume balance, plus the good ones clean up nicely with a volume roll-off, so you can get a bit closer to conventional (but fat) Strat tones from them.

The Kinmans are noiseless, so a lot more expensive than regular P90s (and especially compared to the price of Toneriders): EUR125 (about R900) each. If you're interested in Kinmans, go to the group buy thread, as I'll be getting stuck into getting that sorted next week.

Here's another, even better clip of Mark Mitchell with his Kinman P90 Strat (slaying some blues live at a gig this time):

kp247

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I've played 3 X P90 "Strats" before and quite liked them. It's not really a Strat anymore, as P90s with their fat mids are a bit closer to humbuckers tonally than they are to Strat singles. Yes, P90s do go with humbuckers very well, with a much better volume balance, plus the good ones clean up nicely with a volume roll-off, so you can get a bit closer to conventional (but fat) Strat tones from them.

The Kinmans are noiseless, so a lot more expensive than regular P90s (and especially compared to the price of Toneriders): EUR125 (about R900) each. If you're interested in Kinmans, go to the group buy thread, as I'll be getting stuck into getting that sorted next week.

Here's another, even better clip of Mark Mitchell with his Kinman P90 Strat (slaying some blues live at a gig this time):

I really like this sound with the P90's. I never realized that they can sound that good. I wonder why Fender doesn't bring out Strats with this kind of config?

Hmmmmmm - GAS coming on bigtime! ? However, R1800 for Kinmans is a bit much, and then I can imagine shipping and customs duties when they land - eek!

Anyone have an idea of how the Tonerider P90's will compare to these?

Xroadkid

kp247 wrote:
I really like this sound with the P90's. I never realized that they can sound that good. I wonder why Fender doesn't bring out Strats with this kind of config?

Hmmmmmm - GAS coming on bigtime! ? However, R1800 for Kinmans is a bit much, and then I can imagine shipping and customs duties when they land - eek!

Anyone have an idea of how the Tonerider P90's will compare to these?

I have a Tonerider P90 in the neck of a Epi LP. I had to modify the cavity a bit but it sounds awesome, even with gain and it sounds a lot like this guy in the youtube video when I use my tubescreamer.

singemonkey

P90s aren't too noisy, so I think the toneriders are probably a great pickup for experimentation. In terms of not sounding like a strat - totally true of course. But it's interesting that with Teles people have always been very comfortable to experiment and you'll see them in any and all pickup configurations - singles, hums, mini-hums, P90s.

The reason the Strat will still essentially be a strat while sounding rather different is more about the scale-length and the Strat vibrato bridge. It'll still have that zing, but just fattened up a bit - at least that's what I get from those vids.

P90s are also for me the most "acoustic" pickup. They seem to display the acoustic qualities of a guitar much better than any other kind of pickup - including piezos - although obviously with more sustain. You really hear the string, if you follow me. So they can sound amazingly sweet. I really couldn't be happier with the ones I have in my LP, both overdriven or clean and fingerpicked. I reckon everyone should have a P90 guitar, me ?

Oh Fralin also makes a noiseless P90. Also expensive though.

Mr-M

P90s are my favourite pickups. I have humbucker-sized Toneriders in my Ibanez Blazer (similar to a Strat) and GFS Mean 90s in my partscaster Strat. Both are an HH configuration, so only bridge and neck pickups. I love 'em, but I must say I love the Toneriders the most. Maybe you could just change your pickguard to an HH type and get humbucker-sized P90s? It'll save you a bunch of effort.