Your favourite type of pickup?

[sliding-tom]

My reply to Brian's thread on what's on our radar gearwise had me pop up a question: so what's your favourite type of guitar pickup? Do you have any at all or does it depend on the type and style of guitar? Mine is the Gibson P 90. Since I got my first P 90 equipped guitar ( LP Pro Deluxe in 1979) it's my favourite pup for slide. Best of both worlds (fat and defined in the top). For standard tuning and playing I play mostly humbucker-equipped Gibson 335 type guitars but prefer the tone of lower power HBs that are closer to P 90 specs.

[PeeWee]

I'm right with you, Tom. The P90 is the ultimate pickup for my uses. Sometimes I stray away but I always come crawling right back to 'em. The set I have in my goldtop are stellar and being that the magnets have weakened over the last 53 years they're more versatile than what came stock in the guitar. The neck pup produces a tone very similar to the old hollowbodies you hear on records made back in the '40s and early '50s, especially when paired with my '59 Deluxe. The combo of the two has a Tele-ish character to it and the bridge pickup will flat out scream with a harmonic complexity that I can't get with my humbucker loaded R9 or a Fender. The more aggressive your pick attack, the meaner and grittier it gets!

I just started using my P90/tweed Deluxe/reverb tank rig again over the last two weeks. Over the last 18 months, I'd been using the R9 and my '66 DR and was happy with it......at least that's what I thought until I took the other rig back out. Once again, I'm hooked and was reminded just why that was my #1 rig of choice for nearly 4 years straight.

[B Vance]

I would have to agree with you guys. If you're looking for a do-it-all pickup, it's difficult to beat p90's.

For me, it just really comes down to what style I'm playing and what guitar I'm playing.

[MelvinDale]

Since I've really only been playing six strings for about 10 years or so and came from a bass background my choice was simple - as far away from the bass sound as I could get and went with Seymour Duncan Antiquities in a tele.

Also being an rather vain - I looked at guitars that had P-90's and said no way! that has to be the ugliest look on any guitar - ok, so you know where this is headed, right?

I also must admit to loving toys and was the first on my block to buy a Variax and took to band practice. Without really looking at my settings I just went for what sounded the best to me. I had picked two settings that I just loved - yep P-90's

I had/have a Brian More (single cut away) with coil taped bucks that I never really bonded with - now loaded with P-90's, as well as went to a local guitar show here in Detroit and talked with Joe Naylor and ordered a maple neck, orange git loaded with P-90's.

I still love the tele twang, but usually will take at least two guitars and one will be P-90.
I just love the mid-range bark that they have.

MelvinDale

[B Vance]

Sounds like a lot of guys like the P90's. Here's something else to consider for this question...

What is your favorite pickup pairing?

I really like the Tele bridge matched with a humbucker neck. Much like P90's I find that such a pairing allows me to get all sorts of different tones, both on the clean side and on the gain side. In discussions like this, I tend to try and make my selection as if I were picking a one-and-only, therefore it's primarily based upon maximizing my utility.

[sliding-tom]

That's O.K., Brian - if you or someone prefers a certain "combo" instead of one single model pickup - why not? How about a Tele with a Tele bridge pup and a P 90 in the neck position? :D

[Boogieman]

I don't think I could pick just one type of p/up. Thats one reason I suppose why I have so many guitars. If I got stuck using just one I think I'd get bored pretty quickly.