Stacked vs Regular P90s

[BoomTexan]

I'm going to be getting a Firebird VII replica from China with Vibrola. So excited, especially because lefty Firebirds are virtually impossible to find. But, I want to make it a little more personalized. I've always been a fan of the P90 sound, but have never owned an actual P90. As such, I'm really not sure what I should do. I'd be using this guitar at church, and the last time I brought a guitar with single coils, the soundman threw a fit after trying for 15 minutes to get rid of an "annoying buzzing sound from the direct input box."

I'm not really sure whether or not to get a stacked P90, because I've heard that they typically lose a lot of their grit and sparkle, and sound more like humbuckers.

Here's my options:
I could get two P90s and go RWRP, but then I'd only have one minihum on my guitar and only really two effective switch positions. Bridge P90, Bridge + Middle P90, Neck Minihum
Get a stacked P90 to get rid of the hum. Bridge P90, Bridge P90 + Middle Minihum, Middle + Neck Minihum
Fit a dummy coil beneath the ample pickguard. Same as above.

If anyone has any suggestions or experience, please let me know!

 

[kennl]

I have 2 vintage Epiphone Coronets - one with original P90 and one with a P100 (stacked humbucker)
they sound different, but I can adapt
you should try a mini HB and P90 in your rig before deciding

 

[Happy Enchilada]

I played worship music for 12 years. Tried various guitars. Winner was double cut LP Standard. Swapped out the stock pickups for SD ('59 neck, Custom bridge) and that axe did EVERYTHING well. Ran it though a POD XT and either direct to PA or into a Hot Rod Deluxe. Always sounded great, no equipment failures, just barely flashy enough for church. Wish I still had it.
(image removed)

 

[Vegetable Man]

I love p90's and shielding/cleaning up the wiring really helped reduce noise in mine.

If you do a pickup swap, why not go with Firebird pickups?

 

[nojazzhere]

I'm going to be getting a Firebird VII replica from China with Vibrola. So excited, especially because lefty Firebirds are virtually impossible to find. But, I want to make it a little more personalized. I've always been a fan of the P90 sound, but have never owned an actual P90. As such, I'm really not sure what I should do. I'd be using this guitar at church, and the last time I brought a guitar with single coils, the soundman threw a fit after trying for 15 minutes to get rid of an "annoying buzzing sound from the direct input box."

I'm not really sure whether or not to get a stacked P90, because I've heard that they typically lose a lot of their grit and sparkle, and sound more like humbuckers.

Here's my options:
I could get two P90s and go RWRP, but then I'd only have one minihum on my guitar and only really two effective switch positions. Bridge P90, Bridge + Middle P90, Neck Minihum
Get a stacked P90 to get rid of the hum. Bridge P90, Bridge P90 + Middle Minihum, Middle + Neck Minihum
Fit a dummy coil beneath the ample pickguard. Same as above.

If anyone has any suggestions or experience, please let me know!

Just sayin', IMHO anything "stacked" is not a P-90. It may be a P-100 or something, but the P-90 magic comes from being a single coil. The true Firebird pickups ARE humbucking, and IMHO the best reason for playing a Firebird.....that "clang" sound is unique . Personally, I've never experienced excessive noise from single coils.....not sure why your church would. (?) I suspect your Chinese-made Firebird will not have authentic pickups, but why not wait and see how they sound? Might be pretty good.

 

[archetype]

Just sayin', IMHO anything "stacked" is not a P-90. It may be a P-100 or something, but the P-90 magic comes from being a single coil. The true Firebird pickups ARE humbucking, and IMHO the best reason for playing a Firebird.....that "clang" sound is unique . Personally, I've never experienced excessive noise from single coils.....not sure why your church would. (?) I suspect your Chinese-made Firebird will not have authentic pickups, but why not wait and see how they sound? Might be pretty good.

I'm with @nojazzhere on this. Try the P-90s that come with the guitar. Even cheap ones can sound fine. The design is forgiving, for some reason, and it's hard to make a bad P-90, alnico or ceramic.

If they're too noisy, and your wiring has everything properly grounded, the next step I'd take would be aftermarket minihumbuckers. Firebird pickups can do most anything if you're willing to use the amp and guitars controls to get the tone you want. They will certainly do the job if you need their unique tone, but ones that are of true Firebird construction will cost you dearly. If they aren't constructed like true Firebirds, they're just minihumbuckers with no pole screws.

If you like the basic tone of the P-90s, you can't get that tone with a stacked humbucker. Physics won't allow it.

 

[nojazzhere]

I'm going to be getting a Firebird VII replica from China with Vibrola. So excited, especially because lefty Firebirds are virtually impossible to find. But, I want to make it a little more personalized. I've always been a fan of the P90 sound, but have never owned an actual P90. As such, I'm really not sure what I should do. I'd be using this guitar at church, and the last time I brought a guitar with single coils, the soundman threw a fit after trying for 15 minutes to get rid of an "annoying buzzing sound from the direct input box."

I'm not really sure whether or not to get a stacked P90, because I've heard that they typically lose a lot of their grit and sparkle, and sound more like humbuckers.

Here's my options:
I could get two P90s and go RWRP, but then I'd only have one minihum on my guitar and only really two effective switch positions. Bridge P90, Bridge + Middle P90, Neck Minihum
Get a stacked P90 to get rid of the hum. Bridge P90, Bridge P90 + Middle Minihum, Middle + Neck Minihum
Fit a dummy coil beneath the ample pickguard. Same as above.

If anyone has any suggestions or experience, please let me know!

Please clarify for my aged brain.....does the Firebird you have coming come with P-90's or something else? I re-read your original post, and didn't quite get that part.
Honestly, I would never anticipate changing pickups (or anything else) until I GOT the guitar and evaluated everything. The last guitar I expected to have to change p/ups was my Grote 335-style, made in China, and the stock pickups actually sound great. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised.....and enjoy your new guitar.

 

[radiocaster]

i LIKE P100s, and Seymour Duncan and Kent Armstrong also make some models, but the easiest is to just get a noise gate.

 

[MickM]

Just sayin', IMHO anything "stacked" is not a P-90. It may be a P-100 or something, but the P-90 magic comes from being a single coil. The true Firebird pickups ARE humbucking, and IMHO the best reason for playing a Firebird.....that "clang" sound is unique . Personally, I've never experienced excessive noise from single coils.....not sure why your church would. (?) I suspect your Chinese-made Firebird will not have authentic pickups, but why not wait and see how they sound? Might be pretty good.

If his Chinabird pickups don't tickle his tone bone, Rob at Cavalier winds real firebird pickups.

 

[BoomTexan]

I love p90's and shielding/cleaning up the wiring really helped reduce noise in mine.

If you do a pickup swap, why not go with Firebird pickups?

I'm 18 with no job, I resell guitars, so any money I get is capital. Really shouldn't be wasting any. I say that now because after I first started making money, I bought this Firebird and dug myself deep in the hole. Firebird pickups are prohibitively expensive, and the GFS minihums I've had have been subpar. I was likely going to go with GFS pickups because they're so cheap, and they don't offer Firebird pickups.

 

[trev333]

a stacked P90 is deeper that regular ones .. you'll have to rout the hole deeper....

something to consider..

 

[BoomTexan]

Please clarify for my aged brain.....does the Firebird you have coming come with P-90's or something else? I re-read your original post, and didn't quite get that part.
Honestly, I would never anticipate changing pickups (or anything else) until I GOT the guitar and evaluated everything. The last guitar I expected to have to change p/ups was my Grote 335-style, made in China, and the stock pickups actually sound great. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised.....and enjoy your new guitar.

You know, I normally don't change stock pickups unless they're a problem. I changed my knockoff Strat's pickups to GFS Boston Blues because they were so ice-picky, but I'm not a very picky person normally. However, this guitar is going to be my main stage guitar that I'm going to make my own, so I want to fully customize it to whatever specs I'm kinda dreaming about at the moment. I will definitely evaluate the pickups when they arrive, but I'm leaning pretty hard towards P90s at the moment. It'll give the guitar a little variety and I really want that gritty sound for a meaner-sounding rhythm on heavier songs, and a nice sparkle on country-ish songs.

 

[DrBGood]

I had a P100 once. The most sterile pickup I've ever played

If you get a guitar with two P90 and reverse polarity, middle position will sound like P90s and won't be noisy. As said before, I never encountered a P90 that sounded bad, different form each other yes, bet never in a bad way.

 

[BoomTexan]

I played worship music for 12 years. Tried various guitars. Winner was double cut LP Standard. Swapped out the stock pickups for SD ('59 neck, Custom bridge) and that axe did EVERYTHING well. Ran it though a POD XT and either direct to PA or into a Hot Rod Deluxe. Always sounded great, no equipment failures, just barely flashy enough for church. Wish I still had it.
(image removed)

Beautiful guitar man! On stage, all the other guitarists have expensive Gretsches, USA Teles, or Gibsons. I'm stuck with my Epiphone LP and knockoff Stratocaster. I'm trying to shake things up a bit with this new acquisition. I will say that yours is much prettier than theirs.

I've never run into an amp on stage yet, we try to keep 0 stage volume. Lead guitarist has a Vox AC30 that he keeps in an isolation box under the stage. When he cranks it, it's incredible to feel the vibrations under the floor. I think another guy runs into a Revv G20 head into DI. I don't have any equipment like that, so I was using a POD I borrowed from the lead guitarist (who has a Murphy-aged Gibson SG R0 he plays frequently), and it's a great interface for basic work on stage. Right now, I'm working with a Digitech RP1000 (top-of-the-line in 2005 lol), mainly because I don't want to be a bother and keep asking to borrow the POD. It's working great so far!

 

[Dennyf]

If the problem is the church soundman, just get into the habit of turning the guitar volume to 0 when you're not playing. He'll never hear the hum.

 

[loopfinding]

don't do it, that's like setting a few hundred dollars on fire.

those chinese guitars are practically non-functional. "replica" is appropriate, they're not only replicas of gibsons, but replicas of a guitar, in general. and if they're actually salvageable you're going to have to pay a luthier good money to get it actually playing. it's basically just something to hang on your wall.

you don't need a "real" (gibson) firebird, but you should at least be getting a clone from a real guitar company, as long as you may have to wait. even a firebird body from a reputable maker that accomodates a bolt on neck would be a better choice.

 

[nojazzhere]

Beautiful guitar man! On stage, all the other guitarists have expensive Gretsches, USA Teles, or Gibsons. I'm stuck with my Epiphone LP and knockoff Stratocaster. I'm trying to shake things up a bit with this new acquisition. I will say that yours is much prettier than theirs.

I've never run into an amp on stage yet, we try to keep 0 stage volume. Lead guitarist has a Vox AC30 that he keeps in an isolation box under the stage. When he cranks it, it's incredible to feel the vibrations under the floor. I think another guy runs into a Revv G20 head into DI. I don't have any equipment like that, so I was using a POD I borrowed from the lead guitarist (who has a Murphy-aged Gibson SG R0 he plays frequently), and it's a great interface for basic work on stage. Right now, I'm working with a Digitech RP1000 (top-of-the-line in 2005 lol), mainly because I don't want to be a bother and keep asking to borrow the POD. It's working great so far!

Just noticed your age, so PLEASE don't take this as a lecture from grandpa.....but don't be guilty of judging players by the labels on their guitars. There are scores of great guitarists on youtube and out in the real world who get superb sounds out of cheap guitars. Even George Harrison played a Squier Strat on occasion. Don't "diss" your Epiphone or knock-off Strat because they're not Gretsch, MIA Fender or Gibson. I promise you, if your guitars don't sound good, it just means you need a little more practice. I would (and have) put my self assembled Tele-partscaster up against guitars costing ten or more times what I have in it, and it's done me proud. If I may humbly say.....it's what I do with it that matters. YOU make your guitar sound good. (or bad)

 

[trev333]

Rock and Roll is dead...

Praise bands are the new Punk....

 

[BoomTexan]

Just noticed your age, so PLEASE don't take this as a lecture from grandpa.....but don't be guilty of judging players by the labels on their guitars. There are scores of great guitarists on youtube and out in the real world who get superb sounds out of cheap guitars. Even George Harrison played a Squier Strat on occasion. Don't "diss" your Epiphone or knock-off Strat because they're not Gretsch, MIA Fender or Gibson. I promise you, if your guitars don't sound good, it just means you need a little more practice. I would (and have) put my self assembled Tele-partscaster up against guitars costing ten or more times what I have in it, and it's done me proud. If I may humbly say.....it's what I do with it that matters. YOU make your guitar sound good. (or bad)

No, lol, I'm not a gear chaser. Well, maybe a little. I would say that the tone is definitely in the fingers, and I have a distinctive style as compared to the other players. I honestly doubt if I'll ever want to own a real Gibson. My Epiphone LP Custom PRO sounds better and plays better than any Tribute or Studio I've ever played. Its just that I want to break the mold of a typical worship guitar. I've always been an oddball in my gear tastes, and thats what I'm going for with this guitar. My earliest musical influences were Allen Collins and Johnny Winter (along with SRV), and this guitar is one I've dreamed of ever since seeing them play. Not a tone chaser thing at all, haha.

 

[trev333]

I'd lend you mine to play if you were closer...

stacked Wilko P90 bridge/ Warman P90 neck.... quiet as a mouse on all positions through all the amps I've plugged into...