I'm looking for something to replace the bridge humbucker on my Carvin DC135. It's the only sound I don't like on it - I'm just not a humbucker dude, I think. I did a couple of searches of the forums and found some awesome information, but nothing I felt confident acting on, because pretty much everything I found involved hollowbodies or mahogany set-neck types, and my guitar is a lot brighter naturally than most of those - maple neck-through, alder wings. I've been looking at... Bill Lawrence Harmonic Design Z-90s Vintage Vibe and a couple other random things... Phat Cats are out because I can't put a big slab of metal in the bridge of my black beauty, neh? I've heard awesome things about the Z-90s, but almost all concerning hollow bodies. What I'm looking for, ultimately, is something that has great clarity for complex chords (normal P90s might be too muddy for me...), will get nasty when I want it to, and chimes and twangs. Thanks for your help, dudes.
Not by a long shot, and they look super cool too! The P-94 is my humbucker-sized P-90 of choice --chiba Edit/Addition: I've been thinking about this all morning, and I know that a P-90 and a single coil have fundamentally different constructions no matter their size. So I think if you want a TRUE single coil sound in a humbucker sized package, you really have to go with the new Fralin 'Twangmaster', which is made (from what I understand) with magnetic pole pieces like a true single coil pickup. Disclaimer: I've not had the chance to hear a TM at all, but both this pickup and Fralin's other new split-coil, the P-92, intrigue me greatly.
The Lawrence is the only one you listed i've used. I don't think you'd like it. Sounds rather sterile and no a lot like a hummer. The Duncan Lil 59' is the only one i ever tried that sounded like a hummer to me, but i didn't care for it much due to lack of #2 position cluck. I've tried a few of em and i think many people find the same thing as i did, which is there's always compromises, none of which are acceptable in the end. Not everyone is like that, but some like myself are. I found that to be happy for any length of time with a pup it has to be a single coil or a full size humbucker depending on which i'm looking for. Most pups designed to cure problems such as the problem of wanting a humbucker sound but in a SC size slot never really pan out in the long run. They'll make you happy for a while, then you begin to hear what you're missing.
Thanks for the thoughts, dudes. Would anybody happen to have any soundclips of any of the mentioned pickups, perchance?
The Lollar SCFH is overlooked. I've tried Duncan Phats, P94's, Fralins, etc, and the Lollar gives you everything you will find in a P90 with more refinement and less of the overpowering midrange.
BG-Pups makes nice P-90s and they do have one in a bucker package. http://bg-pups.com/pure90/pure90/ I have an extra one, $60 including shipping.......
I've always been a big fan of the Strokes guys tones. Their lead guitarist describes his Riviera fitted with Gibson P94s as "the greatest guitar Gibson never made."
A year ago I bought a Carvin SH550 from a guy who had Seymour Duncan wind a pair of Jazzmaster Antiquity II single-coils on bobbins to fit the Carvin humbucker. Very good, sweet sound.
