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I know that I read somewhere that some of the less expensive clones are using P-90s. I had always assumed that Semie was just overwinding P-90s (from a very early Ventures interview) and now I am wondering what the real difference is. I hope that Mr. Elliot or one of you other luthiers might be able to clarify the matter.
Thanks,
Don

'Have a 2004 Dillion clone-oid with P-90-oid clones.

Nice working-quality guitar after it got an enormous, expensive setup and new knobs.

The pups are very close to these ears to current Gibson P-90s. Play an SG Special for a fair comparison.

But nothing like those big singles on a real Mk I.

From what I understand, the general construction is the same in that there are two magnets underneath the winding with screw pole pieces, but I don't think they share any characteristics beyond that as far as magnet material and strength, winding thickness, etc. I've never come across a P90 that is anywhere near as hot as the Mosrite pickups either, maybe a P90 with 13K output would sound similar to a Mosrite?

I got the rare privilage a couple of days ago to speak to Lindy Fralin. He has restored several old Fender pick-ups for me and I have found his knowledge of these things to be endless. As I started this thread, I was wondering what the difference was between P-90s and Mosrites single coil. His description was similar to MWaldorf's explanation. While there are design similarities, the Mosrite is essentially the bigger, stronger brother of the P-90. Sort of a natural progression from a pick-up developed in 1946 for those players demands, to the Mosrite, developed for the players of the 60s, and ultimately for today's guitarists.

Recently I had a pair of hot P90 pickups -in Jazzmaster housing- custom-made by David Barfuss Pickups of Germany. The bridge pickup is 13K , the neck pickup 10K wound with the AWG43 wire - polarity south up - Alnico V magnets.
These 2 pups are non "reverse wound/reverse polarity" .

The pups are now in my custom made Shamray Surfmaster (basicly a Jazzmaster with Strat tremolo) and are doing the job very fine....ofcourse the Surfmaster is NOT ,and will never be ,a setneck / sidejack M. with Vibramute.....but its close in sound now !
The guitar allready had a good / loud non-amplified sound and sounded just fine with its Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups....but this is so much better ! It makes my 1 X 12 combo sound like a 15" JBL / Showman....rich deep sounding bass and pleasant highs all over the place.
I guess there are lots of US custom pickup makers who can make similar pups with similar specs....or else try David at : www.barfuss-pickups.de

I have an Eastwood Sidejack with P-90's. I don't know the tech stuff about how they differ from Mosrites, but they do sound way different. The P-90's don't quite have the twang that Mosrites do, especially on the low end, so I don't use the Eastwood for surf/Ventures stuff. But the Eastwood P-90's have more of a Gibsony tone - great for chunky rock tones. Kinda what you'd get with a LP Junior, but not as woody.

Byron

I have a Gibson SG Classic with P-90's. They're not near as hot as the Hallmark p/u's in my 60 Custom. Also, they have a much darker tone. The P90's are great for that late 60's raunch sound.
Think "Missisippi Queen", or The Who "Live at Leeds".