# P90 project



## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I have a Godin LG which is a great guitar but it doesn't seem to get played as much as some of my other guitars. It has Godin humbucker pups. At some point someone replaced the tone pot with a kill switch. I'd like to put a tone pot back in and change the pickups to P90's. I am familiar with soldering, wiring, etc. but not guitars. I'm looking for some advice on which P90's will work, which tone pot should I get, and how to wire it all.


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

Seymour Duncan has a wide selection of easy to read wiring diagrams, you can use their website to find them

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/

Are you doing 2x P90 and 1 tone and 1 Volume? If so, a simply tele style wiring would work

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=standard_tele

DW


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

TheRumRunner said:


> Seymour Duncan has a wide selection of easy to read wiring diagrams, you can use their website to find them
> 
> http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
> 
> ...


Thanks that is very helpful. The Godin has a five way switch. Don't know if that is needed or will work with 2 x P90's. I'll look at some of the other diagrams. Thanks.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

These look like something that might work.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/medium-output/prails_shpr1/

Now to figure out the wiring with a five way switch.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

I can vouch for the P-Rails as a P90/Humbucker direct replacement (no routing). The P90 sound is pretty, well, P90ish and the single coil sounds are very Fenderish. I would suggest getting the switching surround rings for maximum versatility.

FWIW, I have an older, solid mahogany LGP90 with regular Seymour Duncan P90s and it is a keeper. I put a set of P-Rails and switching rings in my Epi Dot and that is now a killer guitar for tone and playability.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I'm also looking at GFS Mean-90's. Not as many options as the P-rails but cheaper and less wiring changes if I decide I don't like them. It looks like they'd be a direct swap for the existing humbuckers.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Kerry Brown said:


> I'm also looking at GFS Mean-90's. Not as many options as the P-rails but cheaper and less wiring changes if I decide I don't like them. It looks like they'd be a direct swap for the existing humbuckers.


You'll like the GFS Mean 90s. I put a set in my cheapo Epiphone SG - they sound great.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

My Godin LG is likely one of my favorite guitars. It's hard to play a bad note on that one. 

I put p-90 from motor city pickups in there. Worth every penny. 

In Mississauga there's MJS pickups who makes a "big single" which is a special p90 they allows for more clarity and note separation. 

I'd go for a set and get them mounted on humbucker mounts to fit in your current setup. Wax potted and reverse wound to get hum cancelation in the middle position. Also change your 5 to a 3 way and make sure there's a treble bleed on there. 

Get ready to rock!!!


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

bluzfish said:


> I can vouch for the P-Rails as a P90/Humbucker direct replacement (no routing). The P90 sound is pretty, well, P90ish and the single coil sounds are very Fenderish. I would suggest getting the switching surround rings for maximum versatility.
> 
> FWIW, I have an older, solid mahogany LGP90 with regular Seymour Duncan P90s and it is a keeper. I put a set of P-Rails and switching rings in my Epi Dot and that is now a killer guitar for tone and playability.


I believe there are two different P-rail offerings now; a high output set and a low output one. Which did you opt for?


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Steadfastly said:


> I believe there are two different P-rail offerings now; a high output set and a low output one. Which did you opt for?


I did not know that. I don't think there was an option when I bought mine. But I would have gone with the low output if I had the choice. The underwound P90's in my ES330 are my perfect pickup.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Anybody here using Prails with the split setup? I am looking at buying a couple and splitting them with toggles or the switches on the mounts.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Come on I know have read some posts about these Pups on here, search brings up nothing on this.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Sorry for the silence.
I got a pair of P-Rails from forum member Sulphur in exchange for a pedal or two. Installed them on my Wilshire. Lots of variety. I also installed a toggle for each pickup to get the 3 possibilities for each. When N and B are both on, that gives me 9 possibilities.

Most guitars I see them on have the P90-type coil on the "outside" (i.e., closest to bridge and fingerboard). Because the Wilshire is set neck, and shrinks the space between neck and bridge pickups (like an SG), I decided to flip the pickups around and make the blade coils furthest apart, to achieve greatest tonal contrast. So far, I like it.

I was unaware of any different "versions" of the P-Rail. My sense is that most installations will cut the same coil on each pickup at the same time. I prefer having independent switching for each.

Is the P90 truly a P90? I suspect purists will say not. The coil itself may be very similar, but the shape of the magnetic field will be different. I haven't taken them apart (VERY unlike me!), and haven't come across any pics that show what's between the coils and baseplate. A "true" P90 has a keeper bar with bar magnets extending outwards from both sides of the keeper. Does the P-Rails employ two bar magnets, or just one, bridging the keeper bar and the blade? I don't know If it does use only the one magnet, then the field is not the same as a true P90. But, having said that, I have a P90 on the bridge position of my Coronet, and the P-Rails sunds pretty similar. The blade coil should NOT be mistaken for a Strat-like single-coil, but it's a very usable tone, though understandably a little lower output than the P90 coil and HB combination.

Is that helpful?


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## 79Deluxe (6 mo ago)

Thank you all


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