alternative for MM90 pickup

[gitman]

Hi everybody ! this is truly a great group here and so far i've already learned quite a bit by just browsing around the variuos threads ... and now i post my own first question: has anybody had any experience with Rio Grande Jazz- and/or Bluesbar pickups as an alternative to the MM P90's ? I've read up on the reviews on harmony central and the fellows there are full of praise. the reason i'm asking : having played my MM AL with 3 MM90s for over a year now i've grown increasingly unhappy with the performance of especially the neck pickup - just not clear and bluesy enough for what i want to do ...difficult to describe as you all surely know javascript:smilie('')
any hint would be greatly appreciated ! take care, gitman

 

[KungFu Grip]

One of the guys here tried to put Rios in his MM90 equipped Albert Lee and they were way too tall. Didn't fit, no matter what. I believe this was unique to the Rios, as Gibsons may not be as tall.

Also, I just ripped a set of Rio strat single coils (2 tallboys and 1 stelly) out of my Albert Lee and put the stock back in. From my experience, Rio goes for the whole overwound hot pickup thing, but it takes away almost all the sweetness of the instrument. The increased magnetic pull also killed a bit of the guitars responsiveness.

Of course, your milage may vary.

 

[PurpleSport]

Gitman -

I've not tried them in any other guitar, so I'm not sure how they'd fit, but the DiMarzio DLX is supposedly a drop-in soapbar replacement, and it sounded good in the Yamaha guitar I tried it in (lots of others agree that it's a winner as well). If you want a fatter humbucker tone, they make a Plus version which sounds like their Steve's Special model, and two less hot models that are calibrated as a vintage neck and hot bridge set.

Suggestion: shoot 'em a line and see if maybe they've heard if someone's been able to get them into an AL, perhaps they can provide dimensions that you can post here that moderators can check.

If you go this route (and hopefully you won't have to do any routing ), let us know what you find!

 

[marc_odijk]

I'm a user of p-90's as well, and have tried Rio's, but that didnt do it for me, to thin-sounding.
In my custombuilt tele i have two Seymour Duncans, a vintage at the neck and a custom at the bridge. Real bluesy and the bridge is real trhick and heavy. Of course, it depends on what music you play, I'm a rocker.

 

[tvanveen]

That was me.

The Rio's are both too tall and the leads come out in the wrong spot. EB's are routed specifically and precisely for their pickups.

If you want to replace them you need to find a pickup that is precisely the height of a standard Gibson P-90 and has the lead coming out of the corner.

Take a look here -

http://www.bigdayphoto.com/guitar/130938-7890-0520201158.htm

The MM-90 is on the left. I think that's a standard Gibbie "casing", but Gibson takes the lead and solders it over so that it too comes out the middle. So, an actual Gibbie won't work either unless you can desolder the lead from the case. (It's tough, I've tried it.)

One of these days I may install some hotter P-90's in an AL. If I do I'll have Jason Lollar make me a custom set. I think this is the only way to go, as I don't think any stock set would sound as balanced from pickup to pickup. Remember, you can't adjust the pickup height, they're screwed directly onto the wood. Each pickup would need to be wound in relation to the others.

Of course, you could also do some routing.

The BluesBar sounds *very* similar to a Gibbie P-90, but it's slightly more detailed. The Jazzbar has less output. I think the Jazzbar is probably similar in output to the MM-90, but I prefer the MM-90. At first I was disappointed in the MM-90's because they don't have a typical P-90 sound. They're grown on me and I think they're great, unique, P-90ish pickups with their own unique thing going on.

tv

 

[gitman]

alternative P90/MM90

thanks a lot everybody ! fast responses, that's really super !('') having pickups custom made is a bit out of my current budget though ... i'll let it rest a while and maybe the MM90s will "grow on me " too in the meantime smilie('')
the guitar certainly grew on me in the last 12 months and i will not part with it.
greetings, gitman