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Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:47 pm
by ancientbones
I'm trying to find pickups similar to the single coils in the Travis Bean TB500 or in EGC guitars. It kind of looks like a p90, but I've never seen a p90 that has what looks like magnet pole pieces instead of screws. Just wondering if anyone knows of something like it. I don't think EGC sells pickup sets or anything.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:00 am
by Gone Fission
The 2014 Gibson Melody Maker had a P-90-ish pickup with slug pole pieces instead of screws. Also, Bill Lawrence/Wilde has some models in that zone--L-609 and/or 610?

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:08 am
by doommeow
Rose makes an HB sized p90ish single coil w pole pieces. The Mozart? Short money too.

Pretty sure Novak or VVG could wind you something similar as well.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:11 am
by ancientbones
Gone Fission wrote:The 2014 Gibson Melody Maker had a P-90-ish pickup with slug pole pieces instead of screws. Also, Bill Lawrence/Wilde has some models in that zone--L-609 and/or 610?
Interesting. The L-609 definitely sounds like something I'd like if it's supposed to be a cross between a jazzmaster and a p-90. Is it humbucker size? It kind of looks like it from the ring around it.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:14 am
by ancientbones
doommeow wrote:Rose makes an HB sized p90ish single coil w pole pieces. The Mozart? Short money too.

Pretty sure Novak or VVG could wind you something similar as well.
Woaaah another good suggestion! Another humbucker sized jazzmaster style pickup?? AND it's cheap?!? Y'all are blowing my mind right now. I guess humbucker sized p90s would be alright though aesthetically I like the size of big ol p90s but hey we don't live in a perfect world.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:31 am
by doommeow
And add Zhang to the list. Rod 90.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:13 am
by ALLisNOISE
Have you asked Kevin?
He'd probably make you a set.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:15 am
by ancientbones
ALLisNOISE wrote:Have you asked Kevin?
He'd probably make you a set.
I haven't. I guess I could try and get a quote from him to see how much they are.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:14 am
by Gone Fission
ancientbones wrote:
Gone Fission wrote:The 2014 Gibson Melody Maker had a P-90-ish pickup with slug pole pieces instead of screws. Also, Bill Lawrence/Wilde has some models in that zone--L-609 and/or 610?
Interesting. The L-609 definitely sounds like something I'd like if it's supposed to be a cross between a jazzmaster and a p-90. Is it humbucker size? It kind of looks like it from the ring around it.
If I recall, the pickups are sized for a P-90 cavity, but the rings sit above. (Unlike the original mini-hum and rings setup.) This is the same deal on the L500XL pickups--they're supposed to have a bit of slop at the front and back with standard pickup rings. Shoot them an email or check out the discussion forum they link--your fit issues may already be answered.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:04 pm
by ancientbones
I got a little more info on the EGC pickups. Apparently they're based on the tele pickup except overwound and epoxyed into a p90 enclosure. They also mount from the back because that's just how EGC guitars are I guess. So it might be tricky to mount unless you have an EGC.

I'm guessing since the pickups are just overwound single coils I could get a similar sound out of just an overwound single coil.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 2:54 pm
by ancientbones
A little update. Still on the hunt for TB500 style p90s. EGC gave me a price quote on their pickups and it's $400 a set. A little too steep for me.

I also found a german company that makes replacement Travis Bean stuff (travisbean.de) but with euro conversion a set of their p90 tb500 styled pickups is still a lot of money. $225 with conversion now. Not to mention they'd charge me extra to import to the US so it'd probably be more like $300. Never really heard about them being mentioned before either but they have some pickup specs.

Bridge - 6.9k
Neck - 6.4k

So I guess I should look for something in that range. The only other pickups that come close are Fralin's alnico p90. It says those are wound 6k - 10k, so I guess I could order a pair of those wound to these german specs. Still looking for more info on genuine TB500 single coil specs though.

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:38 pm
by skullservant
Lace alumitones are my favorite non-EGC pickups because they have most of the output and clarity of the EGC's

Re: Pickups similar to TB500/EGC single coils?

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 12:52 am
by ancientbones
skullservant wrote:Lace alumitones are my favorite non-EGC pickups because they have most of the output and clarity of the EGC's
Seems like a lot of people love the alumitones! I've only ever seen one guitar that actually had a set. Thinking about either going with a set of their p90s or maybe going for a set of noiseless kent armstrong p90s possibly too. I have a lot of choices to narrow down.