"You're not paying a technician for the 20 minutes it takes him to do it, you're paying him for the 10 hours it doesn't take you to do it" made my day!! XD
Or... “You’re not paying a technician for the 20 minutes it took him to do it, you’re paying him for the 10 years it took him to learn to do it in 20 minutes.”
Truer words have never been spoken, in both cases. True value for dollar. Paying someone for their hard earned skill and not wasting my time, and bourbon(which increases my time spent on said project).
Hey Mick! It's always a pleasure to see your videos, guys. I have the same problem with the excess of bass in my neck pickups (humbucker and P90)... To get rid of the bass you can solder a non-polarised capacitor as a high pass filter from the middle leg of the volume pot to the pickup selector. That's all. You can try different values (0.047uf, 0.022uf, 0.01uf, etc.) and even different brands to dial in your perfect tone. I've soldered a 6,8nF SOZO Mustard Cap to my Hamer P90 neck pickup and it is glorius now!. This is a very easy fix and it will re-EQ you pickup forever!
It definitely sounds brighter and clearer to me now, especially in the mix, so GOOD ONE for Lollar and especially for you!! Definitely sounds different than the Collings, which is still special, but that's good. Now you have similar guitars, but ones that each do their own thing. Nice job all around! Thanks!
Good to see the “McCarty mud bar” getting an upgrade. Your P90 episode finally pushed me into building a p90 guitar. Styled like a jazz master strat cross. 25.5 scale with Almafitano P90s with A4 magnets. Gotta say that while I’m biased since I built it. It’s now my #1. Never would’ve gotten there without your p90 episode I don’t think. So thank you!
I love this video. If you've ever done any of this work yourself, you've used too much lead, you've punctured your finger on a string end, you've wired the switch backwards. But when you get done with the job, you feel even more connected to the instrument. Well done.
i had the same issue with the p90s that came with my chapman ml3 semi hollow, i switched to lower output alnico 2 bareknuckle Blue Note's and they're amazing. brought new life to the guitar and i love the way it plays and sounds now.
PRS S/D: Pronounced midrange, therefore more muddy Collings: Mid-scooped, definitely more clear Lollar: The perfect balance between the two, upper mids are more present Definitely sounds similar to Rhett Shull's number one pink sparkle Novo, one of the best P-90 sounds out there.
Hey mick! I’m back at work in an e cigarette store, I have lots of time doing very little, though very glad to be back at work. Love having these experimental pickup and bridge etc videos. Love sitting down and absorbing everything. Cheers
Hey Mick, really enjoyed this! Was laughing all the way through, at myself! I have PhD in electrophysiology. Did all sorts of soldering and electronics maintenance during those years. Fast fwd a decade and it was with considerable confidence that I approached my first ever guitar mod. I swapped the pickups in my Japanese HH Jaguar for the classic Seymour Duncan pair. I never thought to make a cardboard template (genius mate), did all the work in the cavity of the guitar (horror story) so it looked like a dogs dinner, and I put the bloody neck pickup in backwards 😂 You did a wicked job mate, round of applause 👏👏👏 Thanks, as ever, loving your fine work 🙂🙏
Another great vlog! This was a fun watch and I loved the track mix and edit at the end. I would take the Collings any day of the week though. Soapbar and Dogear have different construction though, so that is a factor too. For a neck P90 that isn't all wool, I have to shout out Mick Brierley pickups (Based in South Australia)- I have almost finished a new LP style guitar build (neck pickup butts up against end of fretboard at 23rd fret position) and will be re homing my 50s P90 set from Mick B. In testing before applying finish, the neck pickup breaths...a few times I forgot I was on the neck. Brett Kingman's demo's contain Mick Brierley pickups in some videos.
Wow, the PRS started out in the mud, you could say the Collings left it in the dirt! But now, I think the PRS actually has a little more sparkle and clarity while still keeping that classic vintage character. The transformation is truly amazing! I can see you getting a lot of use out of this going forward.
Thank you Mick :) I've been wanting this for a while. It's nice to see this guitar featured! I hope you enjoy the new pickups, I think it's a drastic improvement with the lollars. Hopefully you enjoy this guitar enough now to play it on the show every now and then and we get to enjoy it too!
Bravo. A wonderful improvement overall. The clarity of the new pickups brings a lot of detail and articulation to the individual notes, and they seem to have a more pleasing harmonic complexity to them. The originals had a lot of push in the mud-range (sic), but lacked that detail and note separation. The surgery was a success, Dr. Mick, transforming a really good guitar into a great one, albeit with some frustration, sweat and tears, but only a tiny loss of blood. Excellent! And, the wiring is just fine. A week with the cover on, and you'll probably forget about the kinks and that the shrink tubing was too large.
@@ThatPedalShow It's lovely how bit of fog on the rear view can blur our vision beneficially. My hair is growing back, finally, from a recent rebuild. In a week or so, I'm hoping I'll remember it as fun as well. ;)
I imagine this PRS must be a truly excellent guitar for Mick to hold it for such a long time. Normally anyone wold sell or trade for something more suitable. I really like to see the engagement that Mick have with his guitars, even when the love is not there entirely. This vlog's are awesome because they show the transformation happening. Very inspiring!
Very interesting, Mick. Intrepid and brave. Re doing it yourself, your process reminded me very vividly of growing up on the farm, where we fabricated much of our own equipment. Every prototype was a learning experience of what to improve next time. And yet we needed only one... Farming was the great teacher that mistakes are part of the game and the only embarrassment is failing to try. I loved your patience and humour in this process. Geezy does it. Cheers
These DIY vlogs are highly instructive in, as you say Mick, learning things. I installed a Faber Wraptonate bridge in my DC LP Jr today, rather than have a tech do it - satisfying and its intonation is good now! With more dynamic range and less complex overtones compared to the Duncans, those Lollars sound and suit your style much betterly. That Collings is killer though! 🤓
Hey Mick. I’m currently in hospital recovering from cervical spine surgery and yours and Dan’s vlogs and TPS episodes have really been helping me. My symptoms left me unable to play guitar quite suddenly which was quite scary. I’m now in physical therapy trying to get my strength and coordination back. I think the PRS sounds magic with the new pickups! Night and day compared to the old ones. I even prefer them to the pickups in your Collings. I like their midrange more. It seems to be more pronounced in the upper mids. Great job. Cheers to you, Dan, and the whole TPS family!
Hey Darin, just seeen this. Sounds like you’ve been through the mill man. We wish you a speedy and successful recovery! All the best to you and yours - thank you for being with us!
Great playing, great quotes and great laughs. I do think you may need to season your Tolle with a touch of Dyer: if you say it won't work, it might not - but we were all pulling for you along with Dan - and it doesn't matter if many of us did not watch this live. In a Universe like this, with action at a distance, we are all like the Eschaton sending shards of cheer and "yes it will work" backwards through time to you!! Chew on that madness for a bit, mate. LOL. Great show. Thanks for taking us on the ride with you.
I was in a similar place: in a PRS single cut I have a Lollar 50s-wind bridge P90 and a Lollar P-90 Staple for that Fender-ier™ neck. Another great combo is the Kinman P90 in the bridge and a Kinman "Surf Staple" 580 in the neck if 50/60Hz hum bugs you. FWIW!
Wow those Lollars sound amazing. The initial play with the stock pickup I thought' Yeah, those sound good". Then you you switch to the Collings and it was instantly apparent that not only they sound more rich but also you prefer them because I could hear it in the way you played. When you switched to the lollars you started to dig in more because I think you could feel the difference right away.
Brighter brighter brighter! That was the only word that came to my head. My instinct is also now telling me that saying yes to my colleagues Epiphone LP to upgrade was a great idea, thoroughly looking forward to making a project guitar out of it and perhaps even putting some Lollars in it...!
Hi Mick, Top tip for your cardboard template, just hold the cardboard up to the guitar and stick the screwdriver through the holes- no maths Also I put a set of SD P90s in a guitar 12/15 years ago (if memory serves me correct simular output figures) and is by far my least favourite sounding guitar, I only play it unplugged . All the best Karl
I was skeptical Mick. Thought it sounded great before the change, but I gotta say that you made the right decision. It really brought that PRS to life.
Wow those new pickups sound much clearer and crisp to me. I agree with you on the covers as well. Cream or white really goes much better with the gold finish. Great video as always!
I encourage anyone watching that heard Mick mention Six String Supplies to check them out. The man is an artist where it comes to wiring. Absolutely as clean as that Emerson picture.
Much more clarity, openness and chime! I love SD's pickups but I can't get on with his P90's as I have always found them muffled. You made the right choice.
Worth doing. The Lollars' sound has that little bit more sparkle, less mud. I skipped your flailing about with tools section, I'm sensitive about these things 😜 ... I went from Intro to Results One thing you might try at the neck pickup is to lower the pickup but raise the poles. Try 3mm . I've found that that can give a nice change to the sound character of pickups, P90s as well as HBs.
@@ThatPedalShow Although I had already done it a bit to the Seymour Duncan Vintage Soapbar SP90-1n in my Yamaha Pacifica 611VFM, I did it a bit more today. 3 half turns further down for the body and raised the poles correspondingly. And Yes it gave me more of what I wanted. It's a trick I first tried on a pair of no-name P90s in a Harley Benton Gold Top; brought the P90 'Grit' out lovely. I've even done it to Strat type single coils; but there the poles had to be Pushed up through the wax. There's a risk of compromising the enamel on the windings with the single coils though. I was lucky That time ...
I have owned a bunch of Paul Reed Smith guitars from SE, 20th Anniversary Core, Wood Library, and Private Stock. They make some of the most visually beautiful guitars out there. The craftsmanship is truly impeccable. And yet, they all end up sitting in the case and eventually sold on Reverb. You would think with PRS taking the best of both the Fender and Gibson worlds, you’d have the ultimate hybrid.. The Custom 24 is a double-cut guitar with 24 frets, 5-way selector, a trem, maple top on a mahogany body, set neck and a scale right down the middle... and yet the guitar just lacks the mojo and character of a great Fender or Gibson. Some of the finest luthiery but it just doesn’t hit all the buttons for me in tone and that special something. That’s just me.. and I know I’ll continue to buy and sell them hoping to find that holy grail because they are truly stellar craftsmanship. That said I have a Patrick James Eggle Macon in the works and that may be my answer for my PRS blues. It will have a P90 in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge with plenty of “Mojo” 😉
Brian Para the PRSs all have a weird upper-mid peakyness that’s just not musical. When you combine warm tone woods with longer scale length the end result is fine for metal but terrible for vintage tones.
Exactly my findings. The way I have come to think about is, that they are just perfect, and that perfection stands in the way or that special “mojo feel”. Its probably all psycological, but still, it just never hits me emotional, way more my brain. Its a strange thing…
This was fun. Your swap out of the pickups reminded me of my own P90 adventure. So I played along to the track at the end with my SG junior and everything compared pretty favourably, which means either that your PRS sounds much better than before, or all of our guitars sound equally crappy! I converted an SG special copy with a nice fat neck into an SG Junior with one Mick Brierley P90 in the bridge (Dan should know about him, he’s an Aussie too) and used a 50s style wiring kit from Guitar Sauce in Australia to make sure the electronics were top notch. Look like it worked for both of us then!
Cool! Have a listen and see what you think Tim. All I can say is that for me personally, the new pickups have made it a guitar I really want to play now!
Wow- I thought it sounded great at the start, but the lollars are REALLY good- so snappy, articulate, 3D- I'm shocked at the difference. My goodness. If you bounce back and forth between section of the video- for a back to back on the same licks, it's just amazing. Honestly, it toasts the Collins Jr. now, which sounded basically the same as the PRS before the pickup change.
I can relate. Just replaced the original humbuckers in my 2000 Epiphone Dot with... a Lollar Imperial Low Wind set. OMG! What a difference! Improved clarity and presence. Sounds so much better clean and into an OD.
There's something genuine, sort of intimate and kind of primal in sitting quietly and listening to your hums , Mick. it's really nice. And further more this time your experiment has been a cherry on the cake , those Lollar's do sound great. Looking forward to Dan's opinion about 'em. Be safe and happy!
Amazing clarity in the new P90s. The old pickups did sound muddy - more rounded and low end to them. The new pickups definitely have more spank. Love it. How to transform an 18 year old guitar, what I love about playing a guitar. Thanks for this share and walking through the gotchas.
Man that tone at seven minutes in... I have to stop the video and make this comment... holy mackerel does that sound amazing! Love it! Now back to the video! 😎🎸🐦
Man o man it brought it back to life ! I recently bought a vintage Gibson P90 from the 60s to put in my 2015 Junior.. much more twang, a bit like those Lollar. It's become a point a reference to me when I wanna test an amp or pedal.. Great stuff, you should definitely feature it more in your regular shows :)
those black covers look actually very cool.. maybe better yet with that gold finsh.. i would keep them.. .. and that cable obstructing the jack input story is so funny to hear.. it is just exactly what happens to everyone these little things and one takes hours to find out what happened..bte... definitely more clarity in those new pickups! another great video.. thanx!
Mick, I just want to add something that I think is pertinent. Your choice of guitars, etc. indicate, and you and Dan have often said that you appreciate clarity and brightness without spikiness, as do most of us. Well, one way to achieve that or at least to go in that direction is to use lighter gauge strings. I suss that you went to the heavies primarily because, as a great fan of SRV, you perceived that as he used them that they were largely contributory to his tone. While this may be true to some extent (although he did tune ½ step down to Eb which also changes guitar sound to a great degree), many, many great guitarists (Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, etc.) have gotten very big, sustaining and harmonically tone-ful sounds from 8 and 9 sets. Lower gauge strings add to guitar clarity as we know that they produce less lower and more upper mids. While you are surely comfortable with whatever you may be using (10 1/2s?), you may be working too hard and maybe have become a bit hide-bound regarding concepts you accepted many years ago. Exploring things that are out of our comfort zones is usually a good thing for all of us to do from time to time. We become so used to things that are not necessarily any longer the best choice for us that they sometimes become an anchor on our progress. Just saying. Cheers.
I’m down with the argument, and I agree that there’s different nuance and tone to come out of lighter strings. For playing at home and all that I quite enjoy a lighter string. But.... I physically cannot play them live. I just can’t play them in tune and I definitely prefer the resonance of the guitar with bigger wires. Maybe one day when I’m old and playing quiet, after they ban electric guitar above 82dB for being too socially challenging. :0)
@@ThatPedalShow I hear what you are saying about playing live. You might ask yourself just how often you do this and just how much live playing you think you’ll be doing as time goes on. With the draconic live volume restrictions that exist in your part of the world, how much of it do you really want to do? I understand that in some places, one nice, passionate power chord and off goes the electricity. Also, and most unfortunately, the Covid pandemic has closed many live music venues and many, if not most, may not re-open. You might want to ask yourself why the adrenaline stimulation of live performance affects your playing to such an extent and if this is not something you might want to get under better control, and just what it is that you want to express when you play music. With maturity comes a lot of aches and pains and what-all; but also, if we are fortunate, comes wisdom, calmness and reflection where, in our youth, we were all piss and vinegar. Always so nice chat with you here. Best to Dan, your crew on TPS and to all of your and their loved ones.
Awesome to see and hear you went for it! I actually did the same to my 2001 McSoapie, but soon swapped out the regular Lollar P90s for the Fifties Wound ones. These are much brighter, lower in output and less near PAF territory. Might be something to try for the neck, and bridge if you want more difference to your Collings. Take care!
Hey Mick! I had the same experience as you regarding P90 neck pickups. I'm also a longtime strat player, and love the neck of course. I acquired a P90 guitar a while back, fell in love with the bridge, but not the neck so much. Long story short, I put an underwound "Alnico poled P90" in the neck, and its heaven(I use 300k pots with it. It's like the fender pickup leo never made). I think the Lollar alnico poled P90 is what you should consider trying.
Good stuff Mick, I picked up a prewired kit from Tone Man Guitar for an L.P. mod, and then copied it again for another with a '50s style wiring, and parts from his shop. And I just did my D.P. Squire with a '66 wiring (ala Buck Owens, Steve Cropper,and John Hiatt) and the new Duncan/Paisley "La Brea" set. Wahoo...
You've inspired me! In the process of putting Lollar P90's (humbucker size) in my 2004 SG, and Ron Ellis Signature humbuckers in my 2004 PRS Custom 22. Between this and your strat vlog you've given me the courage to give it a go.
The new pickups sound much more usable and versatile. It's always nice to do a good tidy job wiring. Just remember about the aesthetics - it under a backplate! Still nice to do it tidy - it's your passion so why not do it nicely? And a big thanks for videos over recent months. One small part of brightening many lives who share a passion for all things guitar - A job VERY well done, and appreciated.
Hello, Mick! Enjoying the upper mid bark of the Lollars. As one whom is primarily a fender player, I've discovered that the wooly nature of neck position P90's can be tamed by adjusting my picking hand somewhere closer to the bridge. Cheers, mate!
Replacing experience with time is always inspirational. Doesn't matter if you're not a wizened engineer, just follow the plan slowly and it gets done. Get in there Mick. The old SDs were a bit hairy, or frayed around the edges, but the Lollars retain the P90 character whilst cleaning up much easier. Very nice.
Thanks for taking us along this Pickup journey of yours Mick. TBH, I couldn't tell the difference, but hey.. I'm not playing the guitar either... Just along for the ride...
As a fellow 2008 DGT's owner the contest was over when you grabbed that one. It's just on another planet. With that said, the lollar sound great. I still have to play a Lollar pickup that doesn't sound good.
So, an old band mate of mine that is now a master luthier is building me a bespoke CS-336 like guitar, but with 3 PUs. Two P90s and a strat type in the middle. I was waffling between sammys and lollars for the P90s, but this video made up my mind. Lollars are the dog's bollocks. Loved the clarity and harmonic content.
A touch less output and those new pickups could stay out of their own way so you could hear everything you want to, brilliant. Also, don't be hard on yourself about the wiring, I can't tell you how many times I have flipped the leads on the switch, sometimes you re-solder it, sometimes you just spin it in the cavity if you have enough room from the leads.
Such a beautifully written track - and it really shows off the new pick ups and the extra dynamics on tap and is an example of great chords doing lovely things. Thanks for this, as a P90 fan (my first and only electric guitar until quite recently has been an Epiphone 1956 gold top LP copy with american designed P90 pick ups. Thanks for the constant entertainment, education and inspriation you make a big difference to my life, mental health and musical approach.
Mick, I bought my McSoapie brand new in 2002, and didn’t care for the Duncans either. I replaced them with Lollars about 15 years ago, and they turned a good guitar into an exceptional guitar.
A lot of people say a P90 is in between a single coil and humbucker sound. This is a good example. To me, the PRS/ SD combo is a bit meatier/ thicker and leans more towards a humbucker sound whereas the Colins is a little more scooped, has more jangle in the top end and leans more to the single coil sound. Both are great.. Different strokes for different folks.
I keep coming back to this video (multiple times a day!) to listen to 43:55 until 45:06 - it's the most elevating tone I have ever heard. Everything else just doesn't compare!
