What Are P90 Pickups? | Too Afraid To Ask

What exactly are P90s? How do they differ from humbuckers? Are Soapbars and Dogears the same thing? We discover the answer in this Too Afraid To Ask episode.

P90 kits were supplied by Alegree -

Time Codes:
Introduction - 00:00
History - 00:39
Construction - 02:07
Sponsor Ad - 04:41
What I've Wound - 06:30
Sound Samples - 08:09
Tone Discussion - 09:57
Conclusion - 11:02

This video contains paid product promotion from Surfshark VPN.
#P90 #Soapbar #sponsor

More from CSGuitars:
____________________________________________________________________
*Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for CSGuitars at no additional cost to you.*

Affiliate Links:

Title graphics and logo by:

Join the discussion at:

Music available at:
____________________________________________________________________

[ScienceofLoud]

What exactly are P90s? How do they differ from humbuckers? Are Soapbars and Dogears the same thing? We discover the answer in this Too Afraid To Ask episode.

P90 kits were supplied by Alegree -

Time Codes:
Introduction - 00:00
History - 00:39
Construction - 02:07
Sponsor Ad - 04:41
What I've Wound - 06:30
Sound Samples - 08:09
Tone Discussion - 09:57
Conclusion - 11:02

This video contains paid product promotion from Surfshark VPN.
#P90 #Soapbar #sponsor

More from CSGuitars:

[kapalanokenta]

You don't know how educational this is, especially for a person who's living in a Third World country like me. New day, new knowledge. Thank you, as always!

[RunCMD]

You could just say P90s are spicy single coils and boneless humbuckers

[ibalrog]

Excellent video. Building a P90 from the baseplate up definitely helps demystify these things.

[georgedeconto]

A topic for another TATA: treble bleeds, how do they work and what they do exactly. Are they some sort of high pass filter?

[armax]

Never I thought I would willingly watch an add. well done, sir

[benraimonde]

Three or four years ago you made a 7 minute video for the shred guitar build on pickup winding which got me interested in the subject. After trying my hand at it I found It is kind of tricky to make a GOOD pickup winder from scratch and requires a little bit of engineering prowess and creative thinking.

After attempting to use an electric drill, hand cranked drill, and an electric motor with a superglued plate on the driveshaft, I finally settled on an old Industrial transformer winder from the 50's. After printing a 3d printed a plate for the bobbin at my school, and just kind of jumped into it. I was able to wind a few single coil pickups, but the motor inside produces enough torque to snap 42 AWG if you are not careful. It took me 7 tries to produce 3 pickups, and my final pickups ended up having a slightly looser coil than usual. I couldn't do more than 7800 turns (I know that's more than most single coils) which from my calculations at the time should have been around 7 k-ohms but only produced a 6.2 k-ohm coil. The pickups don't have that signature Stratocaster sound with my setup but at least they don't buzz!

I ended up consulting two electrical engineers and learned that transformer winders are geared for winding thicker wire, usually 38 AWG or thicker, and due to the wider and more uniform coil experiences a lower shear force on the wire due to the more consistent winding pattern which spreads the tension on the wire reducing the chance that the wire will shear. But one of the engineers proposed an interesting idea to me. Why not use a lower gauge of wire, like 38-41 AWG?

Sure, you may not be able put as many winds on the coil, and the coil density would be a little lower, which would reduce the area for skin effect in the wire, but the increased thickness of the wire would make for a more reliable wind, and would be a bit cheaper in an industrial setting. Maybe that could be an interesting experiment, testing lower wire gauges to see if their is a noticeable difference?

[Magoosle]

The old UK black/white rotating thing to highlight the incoming ad was a nice touch ;)

[JC-]

Hey Colin. Can you do a TATA on covered vs uncovered humbuckers and show their Sonic differences on your oscilloscope? Would that be possible? It'd be pretty sweet if ya could! 🙏🤞👍

Edit: frequency analyzer, not o-scope, as pointed out below 👍

[freddieellis]

I used to be a P90 naysayer but I have seen the light. Now I am fully convinced that the holy grail of tonal variety can be achieved with a P90 at the neck and a hum at the bridge.

[robinleebraun]

The best description and details about P-90’s. Thanks.

[michaelleyba]

Another awesome video Colin! Thank you for doing these!

[Carphunter]

A really informative video, I have gained a much greater understanding of what these pickups are all about, many thanks. They sound awesome as well

[DeekJohnson]

Ooooh ooooh the sound....!!! Cannot get tired of that sound...great sound balance. Thx!

[dumbamerica]

The content has become exceptionally good on this channel. I just subscribed.

[Nomad_za]

Awesome video. I really wish that you could play the P90's and give a comparison between a standard single coil and humbuckers as well. I have only ever played on single coil and humbuckers in my life. I like the way you made your P90's have a humbucker mode. The rest of the P90 you answered a ton of questions I could have. So a P90 is basically an over wound single coil.

[phatcataudio]

Great job Collin, I absolutely love you videos! Keep up the good work 🤩

[opthCR]

That was some serious tone out of those! Rock on!

[scguitars]

Despite knowing what a P90 is I come for the entertainment value 😆 "it's one of these things!" 😅

[Vrdavila]

That pretty much covered every aspect of the P90 great vide as always Colin.👍🏾🔥👏🏾