Why Staple P90's in the neck position (only) of Les Pauls?

[TheCheapGuitarist]

Browsing through photos of Les Paul Customs with dual P90's, I'm noticing some with the "staple" variety of P90, but in the neck positions only. Why is this?

 

[mandoloony]

Les himself wanted a brighter pickup in that position. On his own LP Standard, he replaced the neck pickup with a Dynasonic; the "Staple" was Gibson's ripoff of that pickup. It was a bit later that Gibson started using them in the bridge position, too, albeit on other guitars.

 

[Zenyatta]

P90s in the neck position can sound pretty jazzy, which is a sound not everyone is looking for. Staples have a bit more chime

 

[Ed Driscoll]

In a 1992 interview with Tony Bacon, Seth Lover said that visual design aesthetics (what the kids today would call "looking totally cool and b*tchin'") were important to him on both the staple pickup and the humbucker:

Why did you make the pole pieces [of the staple pickup] rectangular?

I wanted to be different—I didn't want round [laughs]. Also, by doing that I could put these screws here like that [in between the pole pieces] for adjustment. I don't like to copy things. If you're going to improve something, make it different.

[Seth Lover on the design of the humbucker:] Sales had to have adjusting screws so they could talk to the dealers about it.

You think the adjustment screws weren't especially useful?

Umm, not really necessary, because this pickup was very sensitive and you could pull it up close to the strings, so long as when you picked on 'em they didn't buzz against the cover. It also had a good treble, because of this type of cover material. Now if it was brass on that it'd deaden it, and aluminum would have deadened the high end. I went through the chemical handbooks and looked at metals that had a high resistance, not low resistance. And I found that non-magnetic stainless steel, which this happens to be, has high resistance.

 

[Fiesta Red]

I believe the esteemed @brookdalebill has a Les Paul with two “staple” pickups in it…

Or am I misremembering?

 

[brookdalebill]

I believe the esteemed @brookdalebill has a Les Paul with two “staple” pickups in it…

Or am I misremembering?

I did.
They were Duncan Custom Shop Alnico V (staple) pickups in my R6.
I sold that guitar to my friend, Tim.
The pickups sound great!

 

[Wooly Fox]

I'm have gas for the 1954 custom, the R4 Goldtop is great but a full on custom would be epic.

Only tried one staple pickup. To me, they're a more mids focused Charlie Christian, brighter than a P90 but not Rickenbacker bright. I imagine as a bridge pup it'd be pretty nice if you're a treble hound like me

 

[Chiogtr4x]

This is silly nerdy, but weren't the staple pickups called 'Alnico' vs. P-90's ( as they were different) ?

Not for everyone I know, but here's Jerry!

( He has that earlier Dead, has that edgy 'pop psychedelic blues' thing going here- which gets annoying- maybe because its not overdriving (?), still clean, but this was the scene)

I do love the look of any version of a Les Paul Custom- SG style too!

 

[Fiesta Red]

I did.
They were Duncan Custom Shop Alnico V (staple) pickups in my R6.
I sold that guitar to my friend, Tim.
The pickups sound great!

So I’m not crazy.





Well, at least not about that particular situation.

 

[red57strat]

This is silly nerdy, but weren't the staple pickups called 'Alnico' vs. P-90's ( as they were different) ?

Yes! I remember that.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

Yes! I remember that.

Something about a Les Paul Custom!

 

[red57strat]

Something about a Les Paul Custom!

I remember an old timer in the late '70s/early '80s saying that the old Customs with the alnico (or maybe even "alnico 5") neck pickup were the best.

 

[39martind18]

Back in the early 70s, there was a pawn shop near where I lived that had a 1968 LP like the earlier pics. They wanted around $350 for it, and I lusted mightily. for it However, this was very shortly after I bought my avatar for $425, and just could not afford both (glad I kept the Martin)!

 

[Zepfan]

I say the reason people didn't want a Staple pickup in the bridge position is because they didn't want a pickup that was just tame. They wanted a bridge pickup that could do it all.

 

[telemnemonics]

Might help to know how the pickup differs.
It is more like maybe a Jazzmaster pickup with alnico poles rather than bar mags underneath.
Bigger hunks of alnico but I guess Gibson wound a weaker coil too.
Similar to the old DeArmond Rowe Dynasonic with wide flat coil and big hunks of alnico inside the coil also adjustable for height with a complicated elevator system.
Not popular and short lived.

This is not an original and lack the elevators.

This has the elevators

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

Okay, I ordered a staple-type P90 neck pickup on Reverb from a Chinese company for $46 including shipping. It took 12 days to get here and the dang thing sounds fantastic. So I have a standard alnico 5 P90 at the bridge, and this staple P90 in the neck. The neck pickup has a super-rad "hi-fi" kind of sound, much more usable to me than the wooley muddy tone that was there previously. Even with the amp's overdrive cranked, it cleans up with sparkling clarity. From underneath, it looks completely different from a normal P90 in that the bars you see at the top extend all the way through and out the bottom. The center pickup position sounds gnarly as well.

 

[StampWah]

Okay, I ordered a staple-type P90 neck pickup on Reverb from a Chinese company for $46 including shipping. It took 12 days to get here and the dang thing sounds fantastic. So I have a standard alnico 5 P90 at the bridge, and this staple P90 in the neck. The neck pickup has a super-rad "hi-fi" kind of sound, much more usable to me than the wooley muddy tone that was there previously. Even with the amp's overdrive cranked, it cleans up with sparkling clarity. From underneath, it looks completely different from a normal P90 in that the bars you see at the top extend all the way through and out the bottom. The center pickup position sounds gnarly as well.

View attachment 1230444

Was Looking for the cheap one but they are all without elevators

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

Was Looking for the cheap one but they are all without elevators

Honestly, I didn't even know that elevators were a thing with those, until just now. But now looking at an earlier comment, I see that some have them. It didn't occur to me that the one in the photo was a staple P90.

 

[Wyatt]

Was Looking for the cheap one but they are all without elevators

The traditional “elevator” models are not drop in replacements for P-90s, they require a proprietary two-tier route. The popular trend is versions that are interchangeable with P-90s.

 

[StampWah]

Honestly, I didn't even know that elevators were a thing with those, until just now. But now looking at an earlier comment, I see that some have them. It didn't occur to me that the one in the photo was a staple P90.

The traditional “elevator” models are not drop in replacements for P-90s, they require a proprietary two-tier route. The popular trend is versions that are interchangeable with P-90s.

Thank you for the information didn’t know that they are higher but otherwise I want to be satisfied with string balance. I have Gibson P90 on bridge Could replace it with tone rider alnico II