Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

[jumpblues]

Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

Hi,

the Franz pu´s in my Guild T-100 are rather bright and thin sounding for my taste - especially the bridge pu. I like the guitar very much, great playabilty and fantastic neck but I´m thinking about putting 2 Gibson style P-90´s in it. Do the P´90´s fit? Will I have to do some extra routing?
In Case I don´t like the P-90´s in the Guild can I reverse the mod without traces?

What P-90´s would you recommend?

Thanks,
jumpblues

 

[zizala]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

I like Franz pickups just fine......and most of my Guilds will keep'em.....

But just a few days ago I fitted a P-90 type pickup to my '60 CE-100 just to see if I could do it without altering the guitar....
I wanted it to be reversable......

And yes......it pretty much dropped right in, at least on my particular CE-100.

A P-90 has metal tabs that sit on the surface of the top.....fortunately they just happen to have the same spacing as the screw holes for the Franz pickup cover, so one can use those existing screw holes. No routing of the cavity was necessary and on my guitar the height of the pickup under the strings was perfect.
A bridge pickup swap might present a different problem, but I think it would be OK.

I made a new "Gibsonesque" Guild shaped pickguard for it as the P-90 required a wider cutout and I didn't want to cut the Guild guard. To my way of thinking, might as well try to make a conversion look like it was designed that way.....

As far as recommending a P-90, be it vintage or something thats currently made, I'll leave that up to someone thats tried more versions than I have. Mine was made by a local guy and is sort of an experiment for me......its a lower output pickup that actually sounds somewhat like a Franz/P-90 hybrid.

I do like the sound of this "Guilson" though.......its odd playing my trusty CE-100 and hearing a different voice.

Maybe I better duck and run now...... :arrow:

ziz

 

[Walter Broes]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

Sell the Guild to someone who likes them, and get a Gibson, maybe?

 

[jumpblues]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

Hello zizala,

thanks for sharing your experience. If the P-90 pretty much drops right into the cavity and the spacing of the scew holes is the same I think I will make a try. And putting a new pickguard on the guitar seems like a good idea. I wouldn´t want to mess with the beautiful Guild pickguard.

Could you describe the differnce in sound of the 2 pickups? Will you leave the P-90 in the Guild or reverse it back to stock?

Thanks also for the great picture.

No need to duck and run - the mod is reversable without any signs of alteration. So there´s nuthin to worry bout....

Thanks,
jumpblues

 

[alpep]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

lollar makes a great P 90 as does duncan and peter florance of voo doo pickups

 

[Zelja]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

^^^^
Also consider Zhangbucker (Dave Plummer). I tried 4 different P90s before settling on his in a Hamer Korina Jr.

 

[guildfan7]

Re: Do Gibson style P-90´s fit into a Franz pickup cavity?

I have heard great things about the Lollar P90s.