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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
On whether a humbucker sized P90 sounds like a 'proper' P90 ... well us winders have got pretty close these days. The physical limitation is that a proper P90 bobbin is 1/2 inch longer than humbucker case so one needs to use a narrower bobbin to physically get it into the cover. In the early days, the ... er ... budget makers like GFS, simply put one coil of a humbucker in a six pole piece shell. The bobbin was too small to hold the 10,000 turns plus pf 42awg wire needed to make a proper sounding P90 ... so they swapped up to thinner wire ... once again changing the sound. Then many manufacturers took to simply cutting the ends off real P90 bobbins. Still impossible to get as much wire as you really would want in the coil without fouling the cover ... but for lower output 'classic' style P90s this works fairly well (but always check if the maker has used 42awg wire ... cos it won't sound right if he hasn't).
Lastly on the high end and 'boutique' bucker sized 90s ... like BK or for that matter my own (plug plug) we make our bucker P90 bobbins from scratch ... thus being able to make them a bit taller to take the full load of wire that a real P90 can. Being about 1/16 of an inch taller makes the coil sound a fraction more cutting (and it is only a fraction) but that can either be adjusted with 'softer' magnets ... or some people actually prefer this tiny treble boost ... after all it can be rolled off on your amp rig.
Summing up we can get pretty effing close to a real p90 in bucker guise ... and in fact most people won't be able to hear the difference.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Not really. It's very easy if you give up the idea of wanting to make a pickup (or guitar) sound *exactly* like another one, and just go for something that sounds good and is in the same ballpark.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
One problem with all P90 style pickups is the bobbins deforming under the pressure of the wide, thin coils. I have a special machine faceplate for winding standard 90s. With the Mighty Ninety bobbins however that's unnecessary as the that stonkin great flatwork keeps everything perfectly in line
Oh it's 2.5mm vulcanised fibre, but slate sounds a good idea .....
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
narrow coils 'sense' a very short length of string ... therefore the bass frequencies are to some extent 'filtered out' ... this is why Strat size mini humbuckers never have the response of a full sized pickup ... the coils are simply too narrow. Tall pickups allow more wire to sit close to the magnets or pole pieces ... in the strongest part of the flux ... this shifts their frequency response or 'resonant peak' up towards the treble end.
Then there is the effect of the gauge of wire used: this causes more confusion than practically anything else ... as the obsession people have with rating a pickup's output by it's electrical resistance is rendered totally meaningless when comparing pickups wound with different gauges of wire.
Finer wire allows more turns on a bobbin ... that allows more output within the same space ... at least in theory. Unfortunately finer wire has more resistance per turn than thicker wire ... so if you have two pickups wound with enough turns to get you to say 10k resistance ... one wound with 42awg and one with the much finer 43awg the one wound with 42awg will be miles louder or 'more powerful ... as it will have more turns. Turns matter not resistance! everyone got that?
Add to that you get something called the 'skin effect' that happens with finer wire: that is where the electrons start to prefer travelling along in the outside layers of the wire's diameter the finer you make the wire. This too filters out some frequencies ... though hand 'scatter' winding of pickups helps break up the 'skin effect'.
Oh and chuck into the mix the fact that the relative strength of a pickup's magnet will also effect tone.
No wonder many see pickup making as a bit of a dark art
Putting pickups in close proximity doesn't change things too much by the way ... but putting two magnets in proximity inside a pickup (like a P90) is a whole different ball game!
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com