Adding a Gibson P-90 to my Stratocaster

T-Rex

T-Rex

Well-Known Member
Country flag
Well I worried this to death, but it's done enough to play. I have never owned a guitar with P-90's in it, and have always thought I'd like one.

My partscaster Stratocaster, Fender Player series body, Warmoth neck, Tonerider Pickups has been my gauge to check out the amps when finished with them, but I hadn't found a Strat Bridge pickup that I enjoyed in it. Tried several. UGH !

So I'm web surfing late one night and a guy has a Gibson Les Paul P-90 pulled from his Custom Shop Historic LP for auction sale on Fleabay. Starting bid is $45. I think why not throw a starting bid on it just for fun. Turns out no one else bid on it and I bought it. This Player Series body was routed for pickups up to P-90's. Found a S., S., P-90 pickguard, bought some parts and started worrying how to put this all together. Used a stacked Volume pot so the P-90 has it's own 500K Volume, and I also used a separate 250K Tone pot for the P-90.

I rarely ever used the Bridge pickup, but enjoyed the "Quack", so the neck and middle stayed as is, wired to a typical Fender 3 way switch, shared tone pot. Still have a Quack option (from the neck to middle) on the 3way. Used a mini switch to break the feed from the jack so the P-90 is a stand alone pickup. This turned out "Tits on a Ritz" and am damn happy. I don't care for the P-90 cover color, but it's a bitch in this config to mount it through the pickguard hole to the body, so I'm living with it.


https://imgur.com/a/41WXFA4

https://imgur.com/a/LtoZueo

https://imgur.com/a/qdV3Ibd
 
T-Rex said:
I can pull the P-90, but trying to realign the screws in the body holes and springs under them is very trying on me
Click to expand...
First of all, that was a pretty nice deal for a Gibson P90. But I can picture in my mind what a big hassle the installation had to been!

Did you look into single coil sized P90’s? I did a search and Fralin makes a couple versions. Another outfit called Magneto Design Lab, out of North Carolina, has a version or two.
 
syscokid said:
First of all, that was a pretty nice deal for a Gibson P90. But I can picture in my mind what a big hassle the installation had to been!

Did you look into single coil sized P90’s? I did a search and Fralin makes a couple versions. Another outfit called Magneto Design Lab, out of North Carolina, has a version or two.
Click to expand...


I had thought of something similar, even tried sourcing Gibson P-94's which currently are made of unicorn horn and are un-obtainium. I wanted to try at home a real Gibson P-90. My other 3 guitars are humbucker LP's. I've never had a deal for a P-90 LP yet, so lacking there.

The cavity fit luckily worked, even with the stacked Volume pots. Finding a 11 hole Strat pickguard with the P-90 Bridge route was hard, only found it in this color. Came from Chineseawam.

I had a small amount of wood to exacto knife out in the corners to allow the pickup to fit good. took my time with the pickguard in place to help figure out how much to relieve.

The hard part is trying to align the screws to the holes in the body with the springs dangling over them while the pickguard had to be mounted first to allow the braided shield pickup wire (soldered to the pots) to tuck in afterwards.
 
T-Rex said:
The hard part is trying to align the screws to the holes in the body with the springs dangling over them while the pickguard had to be mounted first to allow the braided shield pickup wire (soldered to the pots) to tuck in afterwards.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a PITA to me... :BH:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top