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Which GFS 90?

Discussion in 'Just Pickups' started by Rich_S, Nov 25, 2020.

  1. Nov 25, 2020 #1
    Rich_S

    Rich_S Friend of Leo's Gold Supporter

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    Check out my new cheapo LP Junior look-alike in the Other Guitars forum. The nasty little piece o’ Chinese junk is just begging for a P-90.

    My friend Mike says I should put a Fralin in it, but he lives on a different plane of existence. I have a hard and fast rule, “No pickups that cost more than the Guitar”. So we’re talking’ GFS here. Which GFS humbucker-sized ‘90 is going to give me the classic P-90 sound we’re talking Mississippi Queen, Live At Leeds, Santana at Woodstock.

    Mean or Dream?
     
  2. Nov 25, 2020 #2
    blowtorch

    blowtorch Telefied Ad Free Member

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    Mean 90 for what you are describing.
    Dream 90 and Surf 90 are also great in their own ways, but go with the Mean90 for the classic grit
     
    Wulf likes this.
  3. Nov 25, 2020 #3
    mkdaws32

    mkdaws32 Tele-Afflicted Gold Supporter

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    I’ve had the Dream 90 in an LP style guitar. It was kinda cool, but not really a P90 vibe. More like an overwound regular single coil. I’ve never tried the Mean 90, but if memory serve correctly, it’s constructed more like a real P90 under the hood - as much as an HB sized P90 will allow.
     
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  4. Nov 25, 2020 #4
    1 21 gigawatts

    1 21 gigawatts Tele-Meister

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    Why not a real P-90? You can fit a dog ear P-90 by widening the humbucker route slightly. I put a $16 P-90 in a cheap Epiphone LP Jr, and it is now my best sounding guitar.
     
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  5. Nov 25, 2020 #5
    DavidP

    DavidP Friend of Leo's

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    +1 for Mean 90!
     
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  6. Nov 25, 2020 #6
    kingofdogs1950

    kingofdogs1950 Tele-Afflicted

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    I like the mean in the bridge position and a dream the neck. The neck mean sounds good to but is a bit dark for my amp.

    M
     
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  7. Nov 25, 2020 #7
    blowtorch

    blowtorch Telefied Ad Free Member

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    I have an archtop hollowbody set up this way. Originally it had two D90s, but I wanted a little more grunt for the bridge so I added a M90 there.

    Really though I miss the beautiful sound of the two D90s in combo.
     
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  8. Nov 25, 2020 #8
    bgmacaw

    bgmacaw Friend of Leo's

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  9. Nov 25, 2020 #9
    driver8

    driver8 Tele-Holic

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    There's nothing like the real thing, but if you don't want to rout, Mean 90 is the way to go IMHO. I've had one in various guitars/positions, and it's a great sounding pickup. As mkdaws said, it's much closer to a real P90 than the dream 90s. If they're too dark, you can try different pot or cap values to tweak them.

    I have a set of D90 knock-offs (gfs knock offs, what a concept lol) that I got for a hollowbody, but haven't installed them yet. I have no expectations they'll sound anything like a P90, though. I got them more for a vintage pre-P90 kind of tone. So yeah, if you want P90, go Mean 90
     
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  10. Nov 25, 2020 #10
    bendercaster

    bendercaster Tele-Afflicted

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    I had the same idea a few years ago with a $100 Epiphone Jr. I like the Surf 90 a lot, but the bridge position is my lease favorite spot for it. I also considered putting in a dog ear p90. Ultimately though, I ended up with this--a couple bucks for the humbucker to minihumbucker conversation mount and $10 for a pair of staple style minihumbuckers--both off of Amazon. It sounded great like this. IMG_20201120_094006290.jpg IMG_20201120_094023346.jpg
     
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  11. Nov 26, 2020 #11
    AJBaker

    AJBaker Friend of Leo's

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    From what I've heard, the mean90 is actually built like a p90. The dream 90 actually has a strat sized coil.

    The surf 90 is nice, but it's very much in the dynasonic/strat pickup territory.
     
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