Good Surf Guitar with P90's and Tremolo?

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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Good Surf Guitar with P90's and Tremolo?

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aqualadius Joined: Aug 30, 2010 Posts: 414 Charlotte, NC	Posted on Jun 30 2015 09:24 AM This with some Lindy Fralin P90's and you've got a Freddie King machine! — Jeremy Top
JakeDobner Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 12159 Seattle	Posted on Jun 30 2015 09:53 AM Except Freddy King played ES-355s and ES-345s... Granted I did see a photo of him with a Les Paul with P-90s. An ES-330 sounds very different from the Les Paul with P-90s, and the ES-355 and ES-345. Top
aqualadius Joined: Aug 30, 2010 Posts: 414 Charlotte, NC	Posted on Jun 30 2015 10:05 AM Ah good point, although with the Fralin P90's it has that real gibsony snap. I prefer it over the humbuckers quite a lot. Maybe it was the amp he was playing through? But for some reason the P90's sound much more reminiscent of his tone to me through my '65 concert. — Jeremy Top
Frelonvert Joined: Sep 21, 2009 Posts: 275 Toulouse	Posted on Jun 30 2015 03:10 PM Syndicateofsurf wrote: Shiny. Where's the wiggle stick? — http://noskons.bandcamp.com/ Top
Syndicateofsurf Joined: Oct 08, 2014 Posts: 1073 Northern Ohio	Posted on Jun 30 2015 03:20 PM Frelonvert wrote: Syndicateofsurf wrote: Shiny. Where's the wiggle stick? I'd play that! — Da Vinci Flinglestein, The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/ http://sharawaji.com/ http://surfrockradio.com/ Top
crmartin Joined: Jul 19, 2010 Posts: 36 Western NY	Posted on Jul 03 2015 07:02 PM Syndicateofsurf wrote: Frelonvert wrote: Syndicateofsurf wrote: Shiny. Where's the wiggle stick? I'd play that! I have the honey burst one and it makes a great surf guitar. Top
Frelonvert Joined: Sep 21, 2009 Posts: 275 Toulouse	Posted on Jul 05 2015 05:04 AM The P90 Yamaha seems very surfable... — http://noskons.bandcamp.com/ Top
insectsurfer Joined: Mar 22, 2006 Posts: 363 Los Angeles	Posted on Jul 05 2015 05:41 AM i usedta play a Ventures Mosrite and a G&L F-100 with Insect Surfers, they were sadly stolen after I'd been in LA for a few years. So I just went back to the 1st guitar i ever bought, which was a cherry-red 61 Gibson SG, with 'Maestro-style' tremolo bar. The original small pickguard had been replaced by a larger one by (now a vintage tubes dealer) Angela Instruments' Steve Melkisethian. I realized that it sounded great through my Fender Super Reverb,and so it kind of became my signature sound by default. As it is a pretty old instrument and i kinda beat my guitars up a bit while playing them, my main (live) guitar now is a Pelham Blue Epiphone SG model, with the same style tremolo bar. And it stays in tune a lot better! I DID replace its stock humbucker pickups with groovy blue-abalone-looking P90 pickups from the 'Vintage Vibe' company, although to be honest the humbuckers didn't sound bad, but I just like the P90 sound better.I still use the 61 for recording. Recording w/ P90s in a studio situation can sometimes be tricky, as they can buzz a little if you're not facing in the exact right alignment to the amp. I just saw this thread a few minutes ago, and it's got all kinds of cool guitars listed, cool thread, fellow reverb-nauts ! Top
blackheartsfan Joined: Jun 13, 2009 Posts: 274	Posted on Jul 09 2015 07:15 PM After going through a succession of guitars, Strats, Jagmaster, etc and switching pickups to GFS Surf-90's I'm digging my new SX Liquid w/stock trem and P-90's, it friggin' sweet and a great bargain too. Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Oct 06 2017 10:06 PM JakeDobner wrote: Surf 90s are not P-90s. They are Dynasonics. They just use 90 in the name to trick people into thinking they are P-90s. ...and they sound like dookie. THey make them look like DeArmond pickups to fool the other people. There is a reason they are so cheap... — Squink Out! Top
JakeDobner Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 12159 Seattle	Posted on Oct 06 2017 11:00 PM Jo, absolutely. More musings on P-90s... A P-90 is ubiquitous. It is what the majority of guitar players think of when they think of single coil pickups. For me, for surf, I think the P-90 is one of the worst choices for single coils out there (Tele neck pickup being worst in class). I love a good P-90, I also love the tele neck pickup. Just, their tonal properties aren't best suited for playing in a surf band, having tons of reverb, and just the tone we've been conditioned to. Honestly, give me a PAF over a P-90 for surf anyday. Humbuckers aren't the devil, P-90s aren't the fix to get your guitar 'surfable'. You can play surf music with any guitar. One should never ask the question "does it surf", because the phrasing of that is so ridiculous and also because it doesn't matter. You have to be able to be a strong enough guitarist to write and play your 'surf music'. Give Joe Schmo a '61 Showman, '62 Reverb, '62 Jag and its going to suck like fuck all. Give a good surf player a modelling amp, a Topanga reverb, and a Les Paul and he is going to make much more compelling music than Joe Schmo. That's just a fact. I've played Supros, a Guild, Gibsons, an Epiphone, a Gretsch, Fenders with my band. They all do the same thing. Some sit better with my band than others, some I just prefer to others. I've used 4 different Fender amps, a Valco amp, three different reverb units, pedals at times. What's important is that the guitars are playable and that you play well enough. Top
Syndicateofsurf Joined: Oct 08, 2014 Posts: 1073 Northern Ohio	Posted on Oct 07 2017 07:26 AM This one is plugged in 90% of the time. — Da Vinci Flinglestein, The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/ http://sharawaji.com/ http://surfrockradio.com/ Top
Chippertheripper Joined: Mar 11, 2011 Posts: 819 Semass	Posted on Oct 07 2017 08:44 AM JakeDobner wrote: Jo, absolutely. More musings on P-90s... A P-90 is ubiquitous. It is what the majority of guitar players think of when they think of single coil pickups. For me, for surf, I think the P-90 is one of the worst choices for single coils out there (Tele neck pickup being worst in class). I love a good P-90, I also love the tele neck pickup. Just, their tonal properties aren't best suited for playing in a surf band, having tons of reverb, and just the tone we've been conditioned to. Honestly, give me a PAF over a P-90 for surf anyday. Humbuckers aren't the devil, P-90s aren't the fix to get your guitar 'surfable'. You can play surf music with any guitar. One should never ask the question "does it surf", because the phrasing of that is so ridiculous and also because it doesn't matter. You have to be able to be a strong enough guitarist to write and play your 'surf music'. Give Joe Schmo a '61 Showman, '62 Reverb, '62 Jag and its going to suck like fuck all. Give a good surf player a modelling amp, a Topanga reverb, and a Les Paul and he is going to make much more compelling music than Joe Schmo. That's just a fact. I've played Supros, a Guild, Gibsons, an Epiphone, a Gretsch, Fenders with my band. They all do the same thing. Some sit better with my band than others, some I just prefer to others. I've used 4 different Fender amps, a Valco amp, three different reverb units, pedals at times. What's important is that the guitars are playable and that you play well enough. This forum needs a like button. I don’t necessarily agree the surf90 is total garbage, I’m sure it has a place in some rig somewhere where it sounds killer. I’m pretty firmly in the sum of the parts camp. Top
Vince_Ray Joined: Aug 26, 2015 Posts: 252	Posted on Oct 07 2017 04:01 PM Jake's right of course. I loved the recordings of the Apemen and think the guitarist had a great surf sound on a cheap SG. I tried P90s and couldn't wait to rip them out. Tried to like them but found them plain nasty and harsh. Maybe the wrong models but the general ballpark was wrong. So I ended up with surf 90s at the mo. May try vista tone supro pups next, life is for living hey Top
JObeast Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan	Posted on Oct 08 2017 02:33 AM Ray-man, You might want to give the winding of Brett Brubaker (<foggymtn2002@yahoo.com>) a try. His p'ups in the Rowe-DeArmond style ("Goldfoils" to all the hipsters) totally nail the sound of those in a mid-60s Harmony Rocket I lost to a burglar. Brett can fit his Goldfoil copies them in various cases, for $70 each shipped. I — Squink Out! Top
mad_dog Joined: Sep 23, 2008 Posts: 349 Montclair, NJ	Posted on Oct 13 2017 08:10 AM Jake makes some great points. Me, I love P90s. They can twang, can do most anything. But then again, I'm not in a surf band, don't use many of the specific sounds most favored in classic surf. That said, two of the best surf capable P-90 guitars with trem I've found: Reverend Jetstream 390. Mine was an early one, chambered with thin spruce top. Beautiful sounds. Essentially a strat with p-90s. The wilkinson trem is the best I've used, smooth, completely controllable. Eastwood Sidejack DlX. A big surprise here, how good a guitar this is for a cheapie. JM style trem, actually better feel than any JM I've tried, or the Dipinto Galaxie 4. The P90s are warm, big sounding. Basswood body ... never to my taste, but it works with this guitar. Quality varies with these, so shop around. Mine had been set up just right, and clearly is one of the good ones. MD Top
Firetiger93 Joined: Aug 31, 2016 Posts: 11	Posted on Oct 13 2017 09:32 PM Honestly I was in the same predicament and I decided on the jay turser mosman. I highly recommend this guitar. It has a zero fret, a bigsby trem and p90 pickups. The quality on this guitar is amazing for the price as well. Top

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