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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 26, 2019 16:53:35 GMT -7
I've got a Les Paul jr. Special that I dearly love. It's got two P90s and it's a killer sounding guitar, but the hum is so bad it's unusable at my house. It's a gamble when I take it to a gig too.
So I'm researching the latest noiseless P90s and wonder if you all have some wisdom to toss at me. I like Kinman's pickups...I had a set in a guitar that I gave to my son. They sounded real good but (and these were made 20 years ago) they didn't have that chime that true single coils do. A few months ago I got a set of DiMarzio noiseless Strat pickups that sound great, so the technology is improving.
I've heard some clips of the Kinman Nasty 90's and they're pretty impressive.
Do any of you have some of these or some other P90s from other winders that are really good? I love my little LP Special and want to get it gigging.
Any recommendations?
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Post by Jefferson on May 26, 2019 19:45:03 GMT -7
They aren’t true noiseless pickups, but Lollar P90’s are awfully quiet and the best sounding P90’s I’ve ever heard!
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Post by heynewguy (Ol’ Bill) on May 27, 2019 4:16:04 GMT -7
Hey Dave, look into the noiseless Lindy Fralin P-90’s.
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Post by Russell B on May 27, 2019 6:15:24 GMT -7
Hey Dave, look into the noiseless Lindy Fralin P-90’s. What Bill said!
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Post by Ridgeback on May 27, 2019 7:12:22 GMT -7
I have a set of the approximately 20 yr old Kinman noiseless P-90s in my Crook and they are OK but don't sound much like P-90s to me. I keep my eyes open on CL for someone selling a set of black Lollar or Gibson "real" P-90s. I suspect that Kinman and others have made some improvements in the past 20 years. Noiseless isn't really an issue for me these days but I'd be interested in the results of your search.
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cmrharvey
Full Member
Greater Atlanta
Posts: 103
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Post by cmrharvey on May 28, 2019 14:39:50 GMT -7
I have the Lollar P90's in my Collings offset. They also hum around stage lighting - LED and fluorescent lights - have to mute between songs and on quiet parts...but they do sound great.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2019 0:17:21 GMT -7
Hey Dave, look into the noiseless Lindy Fralin P-90’s. 3rd. I have a set. They sound great and they are dead quiet.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 29, 2019 13:33:08 GMT -7
I had a set of Fralin Vintage hots in a Strat and they're now in a box downstairs, I was not impressed with them. It sounds like he got it right with the P90s from trustworthy ears though. Do they have that P90 gutsy drive we love so much, along with the airy single coil vibe?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2019 6:58:45 GMT -7
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 1, 2019 8:06:34 GMT -7
That's a good looking guitar and pickups. I'm tempted with this thread for my '68 Gold Top Les Paul. I had swapped my P90s out for the Dimarzio humbucking P90s a bunch of years back. I recall the sound was in the neighborhood. At the end of the day, I couldn't warm up to seeing the double row of pole pieces. The P90s went back in. For recording, if I angle myself in the right direction here in my little home studio, they're basically quiet. Plus, they sound great. Thus, I'm staying away from temptation, but definitely interested in how you all make out.
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Post by T-R☼CK ♫ on Jun 1, 2019 8:52:44 GMT -7
I've been wondering about this one.
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Post by captainbeeflat on Jun 1, 2019 14:22:38 GMT -7
They aren’t true noiseless pickups, but Lollar P90’s are awfully quiet and the best sounding P90’s I’ve ever heard! I have Lollars in a Collings 290 and they do sound great but they are still noisy to my ears. I looked into fitting Kinman noisless P90s but that would have necessitated routing body of the guitar deeper, so not doing that! My solution is to just use an MXR Smartgate on the Full setting with the level set at around 12 o'clock. It kills the noise but keeps the tone intact.
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Post by Jefferson on Jun 1, 2019 19:52:11 GMT -7
What kind of body/neck wood on this beauty?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2019 3:44:24 GMT -7
What kind of body/neck wood on this beauty? It’s a heavily chambered alder body with a spruce top. Neck is maple/rosewood. That’s a Callaham made Bigsby type vibrato and it has a roller bridge. Can’t wait to get it.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 9, 2019 9:43:16 GMT -7
Wow! I think you don't appreciate humbuckers/noiseless pickups until you take your single coil guitar out. I took my Les Paul along for a recording session with a friend. We were just roughing out tracks, so I wasn't too worried about hum. Well, there was hum. It kind of caught me off guard because I usually take my Strat with the Kinmans. And, when I play my Les Paul at home, i'm sitting and rotate the chair to minimize the hum. I did find a quiet spot at his place, but didn't think I could stand in that one position for long. Plus, playing with my back to him seemed rude and didn't seem like any fun. So, there you have it. Here's to the innovators that can quiet our sounds down but still give us tone! If I was still playing out, I think I'd be swapping my P90s for some quiet ones.
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Post by freddieg on Jun 9, 2019 10:46:33 GMT -7
Take the Gibson P90 pickups you have and flip one pickup magnet to make middle position hum cancelling.
PRS can figure that out, even on their SE guitars.
Gibson can't.
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Post by captainbeeflat on Jun 10, 2019 12:49:41 GMT -7
Yep, my 290 is wired that way, so the middle position isn't an issue. I use the Smartgate for the other positions.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 13:23:59 GMT -7
I got my hands on the new guitar w the Fralin Alnico Rod Hum Cancelling P90's today. The pickups sound really cool. Dead quiet sort of "Big Tele" sound to them. No loss of highs at all. Aside from the lack of hum you'd never know they weren't single coil pickups. I'm super happy with them.
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Post by captainbeeflat on Jun 10, 2019 13:42:34 GMT -7
Looks awesome! Congrats.
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Post by Russell B on Jun 10, 2019 16:21:29 GMT -7
I got my hands on the new guitar w the Fralin Alnico Rod Hum Cancelling P90's today. The pickups sound really cool. Dead quiet sort of "Big Tele" sound to them. No loss of highs at all. Aside from the lack of hum you'd never know they weren't single coil pickups. I'm super happy with them. Very cool!
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 10, 2019 16:44:45 GMT -7
That is a good looking guitar! Congrats!
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Post by skydog958 on Jun 13, 2019 8:10:22 GMT -7
I've finally got the Lollar P90 working in my Melody Maker. It sounds great but it is very, very noisy with my Cure for some reason. The only good way to get the hum to stop is holding the guitar face-up like a lapsteel. It's probably got something to do with my power situation, since my S-style Zion also had loud hum. I would look into the Fralins but I would need to route the guitar to do it so that's a no-go.
That's one mean-looking guitar, Eric!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2019 14:25:53 GMT -7
I've finally got the Lollar P90 working in my Melody Maker. It sounds great but it is very, very noisy with my Cure for some reason. The only good way to get the hum to stop is holding the guitar face-up like a lapsteel. It's probably got something to do with my power situation, since my S-style Zion also had loud hum. I would look into the Fralins but I would need to route the guitar to do it so that's a no-go. That's one mean-looking guitar, Eric! Thanks Both sets of noiseless P90’s I got from Fralin needed no additional routing.
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Post by zpilot on Jun 15, 2019 1:22:43 GMT -7
Take the Gibson P90 pickups you have and flip one pickup magnet to make middle position hum cancelling. PRS can figure that out, even on their SE guitars. Gibson can't. I think this is the best solution. You give up nothing except the normal 2 pickup sound and you still have REAL P-90 tone with no compromises. In between songs you quickly switch to this "silent" position. I've been doing it with a Strat for decades and have never felt the need for noiseless pickups and their tone loss. There are decent sounding noiseless single-coils but NONE I've heard sound like the real deal.
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Post by skydog958 on Jun 17, 2019 9:25:28 GMT -7
Both sets of noiseless P90’s I got from Fralin needed no additional routing. I should've clarified that I have Lollar's Melody Maker P90 in the guitar because the original routing is too small for a traditional P90. I think a mini-hum or Firebird pickup could fit.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 17, 2019 13:48:05 GMT -7
Take the Gibson P90 pickups you have and flip one pickup magnet to make middle position hum cancelling. PRS can figure that out, even on their SE guitars. Gibson can't. Okay. I wrote this off. I use my neck position for solos. A day or so later I realised I play rhythm with the PUs in the middle position. That’s pretty much where they are between tunes. A little slow I am. Thank you for getting me to see the obvious! 😀
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Post by freddieg on Jun 17, 2019 17:07:20 GMT -7
If you actually try to gig with P90's or even just regular single coils, there will come a day when you are stuck under a neon sign with no way out, and a hum cancelling pickup position is the only option.
I also like the neck and bridge positions for different tones. But sometimes you need that safety net.
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