P-90

Officially, P-90 pickups were introduced in 1946, when Gibson resumed guitar production after World War II. The name refers to the part number as designated by the company. They were initially used to replace Gibson's original "bar" or "blade" pickup, also known as the Charlie Christian pickup, on models such as the ES-150, and by the end of the 1940s it was the standard pickup on all models. The soap-bar-style P-90 debuted with the Les Paul electric guitar in 1952. The P-90's reign as the Gibson standard pickup was short-lived, as a new design of pickup, the humbucker, was introduced in 1957. Equipped with double-coils, the new pickup boasted less output ( 125 mv ) and less hum, although with less high-end-response. This new pickup, occasionally named PAF ("Patent applied for"), very quickly took over as the preferred choice for all Gibson-models, relegating the P-90 to budget-models such as the ES-330, the Les Paul Junior and Special, and the SG Junior and Special, such as those used by Pete Townshend and Carlos Santana for their brighter, rawer sound. This trend continued throughout the 1960s and particularly in the early 1970s, where the P-90 all but disappeared from the entire Gibson-range. By the 1970s, smaller single-coil pickups, mini-humbucking pickups, and uncovered humbucking pickups began replacing the P-90 pickups on Gibson's budget and lower-end models. In 1968, Gibson reissued the original, single-cutaway Les Paul, one version being a Goldtop with P-90 pickups. For the 2014 model year, the Les Paul Melody-Maker featured a variant of the P-90 pickup called the P-90S, inspired by the original pickup of the Gibson ES-125. This variant possesses six rectangular Alnico-slug-pole-pieces with no individual height-adjustment. == Varieties ==

There are three major varieties of P-90 casing: • Soap-bar, which have a rectangular shape and mounting-screws contained within the coil-perimeter, is positioned between the pole-pieces of the second and third, and fourth and fifth, strings. The soap-bar nickname comes from its shape and proportions, and that the P-90s shape and white color on the original Gibson Les Paul as a means of distinguishing them and others sharing their basic configurations from latter generation P90 pickups. • Dog-ears have mounting-screw extensions on both sides of the pickup. These were commonly mounted on Gibson's hollow-body guitars like the ES-330 and occasionally on solid-body models like the Les Paul Junior. The same pickups were also available on Epiphone-models (since Gibson was building Epiphone guitars in the 1950s). • Humbucker-style allows a P-90 to be retroactively installed on guitars that came with humbuckers. The existing routing in the guitar-body must be altered to fit a standard P-90; the humbucker-style casing minimizes the effort to install one and any potential alignment-issues. As a result, pseudo-P-90s in a humbucker-style casing are common (see below). == Sound ==

Being a single-coil-design, the tone of a P-90 is somewhat-brighter than a humbucker, though not quite as crisp and bright as Fender's single-coil pickups. The tone therefore shares some of the single coil traits, but having large amounts of midrange and often described as “thick". The reason behind the tonal difference between P-90s and Fender single-coil pickups is due to P-90s using bar-magnets set under the pole-pieces, much like a humbucker, whereas Fender single-coils use rod magnets as the polepieces. Popular guitars that use or have the option of using P-90s are the Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, and the Epiphone Casino. Fender Jazzmaster pickups are often confused with the P-90; however, their only similarity is cosmetic, since there are many significant visual, dimensional, and electrical differences. The placement of the guitar pickups by Gibson before World War II emphasized the treble-response to compensate for the low frequencies of the electronics in the bass. The increased output and high end afforded by the P-90 design allowed the company to position the pickup closer to the neck. == References ==