Tools for the Task: P-90 Pickups

Whether you’re refurbing a vintage find or want to upgrade the modern guitar you don’t play because of lackluster pickups, the 10 samples we’ve rounded up aim to take you to P-90 glory.

LOLLAR

P-90 Soapbar
The company’s flagship pickup is scatterwound, with degaussed alnico 5 magnets, and designed to be ideal for hard, driving rock with grind.
$105 street
lollarguitars.com  

WOLFETONE PICKUPS

Meaner
Intended for bridge-position placement, this hotter P-90 houses alnico 2 magnets and was designed to provide big midrange raunch and nastiness.
$100 street
wolfetone.com  

MOJOTONE

Hot Quiet Coil
Here’s a powerful P-90 created to emphasize upper-midrange growl with no 60-cycle hum, and hit an amp’s front end with more gain and bottom-end punch.
$119 street
mojotone.com  

THROBAK ELECTRONICS

Special-SB
With alnico 4 magnets charged to vintage levels, these reproductions even have their bobbins wound on the same machine used to wind P-90s in Gibson’s Kalamazoo plant in the ’50s.
$219 street
throbak.com  

TV JONES

T-90
Combining traditional P-90 design with TV Jones’ growl and clarity, this model was made to provide thick highs in the bridge, and clear and warm tone in the neck.
$95 street
tvjones.com

FRALIN

Hum-Cancelling P-90
These handmade, alnico-5 pickups feature a hum-cancelling design for a round bottom end, thick midrange, and a less aggressive top-end in a noiseless P-90.
$145 street

fralinpickups.com

 

GIBSON

P-90
From the company that invented the P-90, these alnico-5 pickups are fully wax potted and make for a good vintage replacement to help deliver the characteristic tones of the ’50s.
$135 street
gibson.com  

HOUSE OF TONE

House Special With Metal Cover
Now available with a choice of four different metal covers, this P-90 model offers a warm and smooth neck pickup, and a bridge version wound for a full and clear sound.
$145 street
houseoftonepickups.com  

KLEIN

1957 Epic Series
These reproduction P-90s were designed using vintage-spec screws and magnets to produce the same timbre and dynamics as original pickups from the late 1950s.
$125 street
kleinpickups.com  

SHEPTONE

P-90 Soapbar
These scatterwound P-90s feature alnico-5 magnets for rounded tone with plenty of snarl, and are also available in an alnico-2 version for reduced output and increased midrange.
$90 street
sheptone.com