Thinline & P90

[DougieLove]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of buying a Thinline because they are just so darn cool, but I know I would want to swap out the standard neck pickup for either a humbucker or a P90.

So here's a question for the experts here: Can a P90 fit in the traditional Thinline pickguard? I know P90s are a bit wider than humbuckers, and when I look at the pickguard, I'm not convinced a P90 will fit. Has anyone done or seen this?

Thanks,
Doug

 

[CJT1775]

There are humbucker-sized P-90s; however I assume you are talking about a ‘72 Thinline Deluxe? The wide range humbuckers are larger than normal humbuckers. I think the pickup cavity in the body would fit a humbucker-sized P-90, but you may need a new pickguard. And likely a custom one if you’re going to keep the WRHB in the bridge. Hope that helps.

 

[DougieLove]

Yeah, reading my post now that I've slept a little, I can see where I wasn't clear enough.

I'm looking at the '69 Thinline and a traditionally shaped/sized soap bar P90.

 

[mandoloony]

It will not fit in a standard Thinline pickguard. It won't fit in the pickup cavity underneath, either, though you probably won't have to remove much wood to make it fit.

The easiest way to go is with a new pickguard and an HB-sized pickup. No routing required.

 

[Boreas]

This was a cheap, imported, unfinished body routed for WRHBs. I wanted to use soapbars, so had to add some wood shims/structure to the cavities to allow reasonable mounting. Dogears may be an easier way to go. But I don't think this is the body type you are looking to use.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Bootstrap has a P90 designed to drop right into a humbucker rout.

 

[howardlo]

Bootstrap has a P90 designed to drop right into a humbucker rout.

But he is looking to replace the pickup in a guitar and pickguard made for a single coil Tele neck pickup.

 

[schmee]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of buying a Thinline because they are just so darn cool, but I know I would want to swap out the standard neck pickup for either a humbucker or a P90.

So here's a question for the experts here: Can a P90 fit in the traditional Thinline pickguard? I know P90s are a bit wider than humbuckers, and when I look at the pickguard, I'm not convinced a P90 will fit. Has anyone done or seen this?

Thanks,
Doug

The wide range humbucker is 3.125 wide (without the mounting tabs) A P90 soapbar is just a bit wider but doesn't have the tabs. If you look at ‘72 Thinline Deluxe bodies the rout is huge.
I would say it will work but you will need a P90 pickguard. P90's have been put in the neck position of Teles a lot, I imagine you can work it out fine.
The other nice option in a Thinline is a minibucker in the neck. That will fit readily, I've done it a few times.

 

[Controller]

Buy this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...hinline-lake-placid-blue-with-parchment-pickg

 

[Sax-son]

P-90s are an interesting choice in a Telecaster. I would suggest going no higher than 7K on a P-90 in the neck or otherwise you have the possibility of serious mud tone if using a 250K pot. An underwound P-90 would be good, but few seem to be wound that way. Another possibility is to switch to 500K pots, but then you have the Telecaster bridge pickup to contend with. I have a Telecaster with dual P-90s, but it is set up to sound like a Gibson Les Paul Jr. No Tele tone on that one.

 

[schmee]

The wide range humbucker is 3.125 wide (without the mounting tabs) A P90 soapbar is just a bit wider but doesn't have the tabs. If you look at ‘72 Thinline Deluxe bodies the rout is huge.
I would say it will work but you will need a P90 pickguard. P90's have been put in the neck position of Teles a lot, I imagine you can work it out fine.
The other nice option in a Thinline is a minibucker in the neck. That will fit readily, I've done it a few times.

I guess the OP changed from the 72 thinkline to the 69?

 

[Bendyha]

I used Kinman P90 Buckers in my thinline style build, and am very happy with them - they sound the way that one would wish a P90 to, has the advantages of being as noiseless as a good humbucker, and looks quite like a wide-range pickup.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of buying a Thinline because they are just so darn cool, but I know I would want to swap out the standard neck pickup for either a humbucker or a P90.

So here's a question for the experts here: Can a P90 fit in the traditional Thinline pickguard? I know P90s are a bit wider than humbuckers, and when I look at the pickguard, I'm not convinced a P90 will fit. Has anyone done or seen this?

Thanks,
Doug

I have built two tele style guitars for myself, a chambered mahogany body with maple cap ( kind of a thin line without the f-hole) and a douglas fir barn wood guitar. The chambered one has standard single coil pickups, the barn caster got a pair of P90's.

In retrospect I wish I had done them the other way around - the P90's have a wonderful warm lush jazzy sound and the single coils have the usual tele twang, it seems like they would suit the barn wood body and the 90's would go better with the fancy one.

 

[EdShedHead]

I'm not sure if this is relevant to the thread but I just got the ja-90 telecaster thinline with 2 p90s and I'm just loving the bite of it

 

[JeffBlue]

I like P90s in a telecaster.

Notice my custom lightning bolt thinline. These were all built by me. Warmoth and Edenhaus.

 

[JeffBlue]

You can special order a thinline pickguard from Warmoth with whatever pickup routs you desire. You would need to rout the body to fit the pickup.