The Blue 90 is a dynamic, clear, balanced P90 pickup set. It has a little less low end push than a traditional P90 but with clearer highs. They’re designed for the player wanting a clean sounding P90 tone but with the ability to push an amp when asked. Ideal for clean tones, jazz, funk and blues.
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Blue 90 Tone
The phrase ‘fat single coil’ is really the essence of this pickup set. They have a full, chiming tone but with the dynamics of a true single coil pickup. They have that distinctive P90 tone but with more clarity. If you ask them they will push your amp into overdrive but less than my Sassy P90 set. They have the magnetic and coil geometry of a P90 but the under wound coil gives a clearer, more dynamic tone.
The Concept
I had been thinking for a while about making another P90 set. Something a little less powerful than the Sassy P90 pickup but with more sparkle than the smooth Cool 90 pickup.
I had experimented a little with under winding the Sassy and really liked the results. I liked the dynamics and how well it worked with modulation effects and delays giving a well balanced platform for these effects to shine. With my prototypes I had reduced the lower mid range ‘clonk’ that traditional P90’s have. It seemed like a pickup with a definite place in then World..
It felt to me like a very useful set of tones and I needed to investigate more. Like with many designs I hadn’t done much about it other than making a prototype, playing around with it, taking it to a gig to hear it next to a drummer and leaving it at that. I always liked this design, I just didn’t get around to putting them up for sale.
The Blue 90 story
Then in September 2024 I received a phone call from guitarist Nick Granville.
Nick has a few of my pickups in various guitars and I have huge admiration for his playing. He knows guitars and he knows tone.
The reason he called was that he had a problem with a P90 loaded guitar (not my P90’s). He wanted a cleaner P90 tone.
Like many pro players he’s very good at describing sound and his requirements. I felt my Sassy P90 set might be a bit grunty for him so after a little think I decided my new P90 idea might suit his needs.
For me this is a great situation where I get to borrow the ears of a top pro player to test out a new pickup. Although I had done a lot of testing myself already I knew that if Nick liked these pickups it would push it over the line and I’d have a new model. I always have prototypes on the go, sometimes it just needs a nudge.
I wound a set, sent them to him and a few days later got a message which read:
“They really do sound good. Have a nice sparkle but still sound like P90’s, and enough push to get it driving enough and vintage in vibe. I like them a lot.”
So that was it, a new pickup set was born. I’m very pleased to welcome this new P90 set to my website.
Available in dogear or Soapbar, black or cream. If you’re ordering Dogear (or even if you aren’t) I’m happy to send you a 3D printing file for height shims.
Setting P90 Pickup Height is an essential part of your tone. More than any other pickup they really do like being up close to the strings. In this blog post I’m going to give you some measurements and info on how to measure pickup height. And there’s help for you dogear P90 players too. I’m going to give you some free dogear P90 height spacers.
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How to measure P90 Pickup Height
The pickup height is measured from the top of the pickup pole (or cover) to the underside of the string. Make sure you are fretting the highest fret while you do this. Not easy to describe in words so here’s Roboguy demonstrating to clarify:
Measuring Pickup Height
Here is the P90 Pickup Height I suggest. I’d like to emphasize these are not set in stone, just a guide.
P 90’s like to be close to the strings. If you prefer the sound of them further away that’s fine. Its up to you and your ears. The closer a pickup is to the strings the louder it is. More importantly, the more dynamic and touch sensitive it is. So with the pickup further away, your sound is more compressed and less dynamic. There is no right or wrong here. Especially for lead playing a P90 close to the strings gives a great sensitivity.
There’s also the matter of sustain. If the pickup is too close the magnetic field it produces can inhibit the vibration of the strings. This can reduce sustain. So it really is all about finding that sweet spot for you and your sound.
So start with this measurement and then find your sweet spot. I think the other important factor is that when you find what works for you, stop fiddling. It’s all about playing guitar . It’s easy to spend all your practice time adjusting things instead of playing . I’m as guilty as anyone of this.
P90 Height Measurement
What about dogear P90’s?
Now, that’s all well and good for a soapbar P90 or humbucker size P90’s. What if you have a Les Paul Junior or an SG Junior with dogear P90’s it’s not as easy. How do you adjust that P90 pickup height? Dogears aren’t height adjustable but don’t worry I have a plan.
As you can see below I’ve drawn some height adjustment shims for 3D printing. They have a few different heights and the taller ones are angled at 3 degrees to match Gibson neck angles. That way your pickups are kept parallel to the strings. A set of these should be all you need for a 2 pickup guitar. So this set should have you covered.
We don’t all have 3D printers but here in New Zealand larger libraries have 3D printers. There are many businesses offering printing services. So it should be pretty easy to get things printed out. And, of course, having a mate with a printer is ideal. It’s very easy to get done and it’ a way I can help you out without the delivery costs. I’ve sent this file to players all over the World for all brands of Dogear P90’s.
In Conclusion
P 90’s like to be close to the strings
Use the height guide only as a starting point.
Experiment and listen – its your sound
Correct P90 pickup height makes a huge difference
Dogear P90 height shims for free
If you want the file just get in touch with me and I’ll send it to you, no charge. You don’t have to buy my pickups (though that would be nice), I’m just happy to help out. simply email me at mrglynspickups@gmail.com
The Cool 90 is a P90 pickup available in both Dogear and Soapbar. Designed with Jazz and Blues players in mind it produces a clear, full, well balanced tone. Never harsh, always full and musical.
The bridge pickup has an organic sound with a lower mid push ideally suited to dynamic lead lines and tight rhythm playing.
The neck pickup is clear and chiming with enough clarity to always be heard in the mix. It has that lovely woody tone especially in an archtop.
Thanks to Brett Kingman over in Melbourne for this great demo.
Brett has played a few of my pickups and in May ’25 got in touch looking for a dogear P90 for his Tokai Les Paul Junior.
Here is what he said about it:
“I love my little Tokai Junior. It was relic’d by my friends Joel and Colin at Nepean Music and they fitted a Dimarzio Phantom in it.
That’s not a bad pickup but I really wanted a lower output affair – more of what a traditional P90 offers.
I had this conversation with another friend, Glyn Evans of Mr Glyn’s Pickups, who are located in the smaller paddock across the creek (New Zealand) and he said I should give his Cool 90 a shot. I did and I’m really impressed!
He even shipped it with a selection of 3D-printed height spacers so I could nail the nominal pickup height. Nice touch, Glyn! So, here it is – This one’s a keeper.”
Here’s a demo of the Cool 90 sent to me by one of my customers. Go check out his band – The Bull Kelp Surfers
Why Alnico II?
I use rough cast alnico II magnets in my Cool 90 set for its smooth, well balanced tone. My other P 90 pickups use the more conventional alnico V giving them greater attack and power but I didn’t want that with this pickup. Alnico II has a very balanced tonal range, the lows aren’t to boomy, mids are present but not too far forward and the highs are smooth. It is a magnet with less power than the alnico V so suited for less aggressive playing.
The Cool 90 Story
Like many of my pickups the this one started with a repair job. A customer sent be a faulty Gibson P90 out of a 1955 Les Paul Junior. Naturally, I took measurements and completely analyzed every detail of it. Unlike the information in the books (and internet) it had less windings and Alnico II magnets instead of Alnico V.
And what a great sounding pickup it was.
I decided to make my own version of it to compliment the ‘Sassy” P90 pickup I was already making. The Sassy has the classic “full fat” P90 tone, plenty of growl and cut through.
The idea was to make a lower powered version for the cleaner player. Still keeping the classic P90 character but with less grunt.
I experimented and tested and eventually came up with this design.
When I was contacted about repairing a Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955 I was naturally very keen.
P90’s are very interesting pickups. They have a single wide flat coil usually of around 10,000 turns of AWG 42 wire but the really fascinating aspect is the magnets. They have 2 bar magnets underneath the pickup (a PAF just has one) causing a much wider magnetic field than other single coil pickups.
To put it simply – P90’s hear more string than other pickups. Hearing more string gives a fuller, fatter sound and that distinctive woody P90 tone. Not everyone likes them but those of us that do absolutely love them.
I make my own version of the P90 called the ‘Sassy’. It’s a full fat version of the P90 with alnico 5 magnets with all the warmth and plenty of grunt that you find in the old Gibsons.
So I’m always interested to have a good look at a genuine vintage pickup especially from a Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955. I’m a big fan of the Juniors.
Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955
The pickup was sent to me because it wasn’t working and both the customer and myself suspected it might need a re-wind but I never jump to conclusions. It could be just a dry joint on one of the hookup wires – always worth checking.
As you can see the hook up wires look a bit scruffy so I re-solder and test, remove the wires and test, remove the tape and test – still nothing. The next step is to start removing a few layers of the winding wire just in case there’s a break. There was no obvious break. The problem was deeper inside the pickup – this one is a re-wind.
Now, I talked about magnets earlier, take a look at these two. Firstly they’re wonky. Some amazing Gibson vintage tonal secret or just being a bit sloppy in the factory? Probably the latter.
But for me the most interesting part is they’re rough cast alnico 2. For this era I was expecting Alnico 5.
Alnico 2 have a smoother, purer sound than the more powerful rougher sounding alnico 5’s.
So after I re-wound this lovely old pickup I started experimenting. I started winding P90’s with Alnico 2 magnets and from that was born a new pickup set in my range – the “Cool 90″.
There’s always more to learn ant this Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955 has taught me a few things.
It’s cleaner than the Sassy, less grunty but still full and fat sounding.
Ideas can come from anywhere. It reminds me of the quote from Picasso – “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”
The Sassy is a full fat P90 set designed for that traditional P90 tone. Suitable for styles from blues to rock. Full and dynamic, aggressive but controllable. It has a touch sensitivity that makes this set a lot of fun to play with.
Sassy Demo
Description
The Mr Glyn’s “Sassy” P90 is a pickup set influenced by the Gibson P90’s of the late 50’s. The “Sassy” have a distinctive woody aggressive tone, full of character. The highs are smooth yet punchy, there’s a chiming bottom end and a very obvious mid range that pushes through the mix. If you tickle the strings they’re clean and clear but dig in and there’s no shortage of power to drive the front end of your amp.
I’ve grown to love P90’s over the years, it’s the sound of those early Gibson Les Paul Juniors. It’s a guitar pickup that needs no extras, just straight into a good amp. They’re happy to power pedals but there’s a fullness and balance that seems to need nothing else.
I think the Sassy is best served through ’50’s wiring – it really gives you the dynamic, touch sensitive range that made this style of pickup famous.
Philosophy behind the Sassy
Here’s a short video explaining my thinking behind the Sassy P90 pickup set.
The Sassy P90 story
I wanted the Sassy P90 set to live up to its name and have the dynamic range that I love about P90’s. The wide flat coil of a P90 gives a richer, less percussive tone than other single coil pickups and this is where the full tone comes from. I mounted both neck and bridge pickups on top of a pair of Alnico V magnets. This gives the power this pickup needs and helps add that bit of grit when played hard.
I’ve made the neck pickup smooth and fat but with clarity and chime enough for jazz. The bridge pickup has the dynamic, pushy mids and aggressive highs when pushed. But it cleans up when you ask it to in true p90 style.
This is a pickup set that would be happy in almost any situation, blues, rock, punk, reggae… If it’s a full bodied, dynamic P90 you’re after look no further. I have extensively gigged with a Sassy P90 loaded guitar and loved the woody mids and high end clarity. Back the volume off a tad and there’s a single coil chime, crank it and you have full fat lead tones.
The Sassy for lap steel
The Sassy is available in Dogear p90 and Soapbar P90.
I’ve named this set the Sassy”P90 set to reflect these pickup’s attitude, they’re bold, spicy, disrespectful and a bit cheeky.
If you need shims to adjust the height of a Dogear P90 just let me know, I can send you a file for 3d printing.
I also make a humbucker size P90 set – the “Black Sand” if you need some P90 goodness in your humbucker guitar, here’s a link to them:
The Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 has all the clarity, punch and fullness of a P90 but built to fit humbucker guitars.
Perfect for most styles especially Blues, Classic Rock, Punk and even Extreme Metal.
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Black Sand Description
The humbucker sized P90 (HBSP90) is a great pickup – it sits tonally between a humbucker and and a strat type pickup.
If your neck humbucker is a bit thick and woolly sounding, you want more clarity, or just want a different tone, then this versatile pickup may be the answer.
The physical size of this pickup is identical to that of a “normal” humbucker so it will pop straight in to any humbucker guitar. They’re designed to be used with 500k pots too so you don’t need to change anything.
P90 pickups do have a reputation for being noisy but the Black Sand not only comes with shielded cable but is encased in a metal cover. This cover makes a huge difference in reducing interference from outside sources making this a very quiet pickup.
There really is no musical genre the Black Sand Humbucker size P90 is best suited to, from blues to punk, rock or even funk there is a place for this sound just about everywhere. Have a listen to these demos, you’ll hear how well it adapts to any situation.
I don’t guide demo players in any way, I just ask them to do what they feel the pickup wants. That way we get different interpretations of the pickups and in this case it really shown off the versatility.
And scroll down to the picture at the bottom of this page – there are a lot of funky cover options to look cool in any guitar.
Here is Warren Mendonsa aka blackstratblues. He uses a Black Sand set in his Gibson es335. Go check him out, you can thank me later.
P90’s are different to other single coil pickups. They have a wide, flat coil similar to that of a Jazzmaster but the magnetic field is a very different shape. Fender single coil pickups have the coil wound around the magnet giving a focused, precise percussive sound. A P90 has 2 bar magnets underneath the coil; this broadens the magnetic window allowing the pickup to listen to a bit more string and thickens the sound. I chose Alnico V bar magnets for this model to help give some grit and power characteristic of a P90.
Of course, too much power and the pickup would sound too thick and bass heavy which is not its purpose. Too little power and it just won’t snarl. I have aimed this pickup set at the clearer end of the P90 spectrum.
To give you an idea of this pickup’s versatility here it is in drop E tuning:
Leon Todd visited the workshop in February 2024 after which I sent him a pickup set. It’s a Cloud Nine humbucker in the bridge position and a Black Sand humbucker sized-P90 neck pickup. I think you’ll agree they really give an extra dimension to his Les Paul.
The Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 story
The development of my Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 was a bit backwards.
Usually I make a bridge pickup first and work from there but with this one the neck pickup came first.
I had a customer ask for a neck pickup for an es335 to sound clearer than his existing Gibson humbucker. He was finding the lower mids of the humbucker were getting in his way and needed a clearer sound with more character.
I worked on the Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 neck pickup for a while using my Les Paul as a test guitar. There’s a balance to getting the right neck pickup sound. There needs to be a bit of power but a danger of becoming too boomy. It was a case of tweaking the windings until it was right. I sold a few neck pickups before thinking it would be a good idea to have a set. So I started work on the bridge pickup.
I wanted this bridge pickup to have clarity in the lower mids to stand out from humbuckers while having enough power to grit up nicely. I wanted it to be clean when tickled and to growl at you when you dig in. P90’s are all about dynamics. It had to match the existing neck pickup or work well as a stand alone in a HSS situation.
Of all the pickups in my range the Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 came together the quickest. There were only 4 or 5 prototypes and I was happy. Experience and intuition combined with a notebook where I’ve written down details of every experimental pickup I’ve made since 1995.
The main challenge with this pickup was taming the bass. The bass needed to be clean and ringing without a dominant boom. That’s where testing with a band is so useful. A pickup can sound great at home volumes but when its up loud the bass can be overpowering. If the bass is too far forward it walks all over the bass guitar and can ruin a mix.
There were a load of prototypes in and out of a Les Paul, Tele Delux and PRS, through different amps and in the hands of different players. I never trust just my own ears with my pickups. I like to get opinions and suggestions from a few players before making any final decisions. I listen to what players say and I adjust prototypes accordingly, but at the end of the day the final decision is mine. I’m always aware of the phrase “a camel is a horse designed by committee”.
It took a while to get this one right. A pickup would sound great at workshop volume, then I’d play it in a band situation and it would be too boomy, too much like a humbucker. So I’d have a think and make another. In the end persistence paid off.
The pickups I finally settled on went into my Les Paul and off to a gig for the ultimate test, and that’s where they’re staying.
The neck “Black Sand” is a great match for either my “Integrity” or “Cloud Nine” bridge humbuckers or as a set with its equivalent “Black Sand” bridge humbucker sized P90. It is equally happy with Gibson or Fender scale lengths as you can hear from the demos. Currently I gig a Flying V with a Black Sand neck pickup with a Cloud Nine in the bridge position. With the extra clarity from the Black Sand I find I use the neck position a lot more and it’s so good for playing ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’.
Black Sand design
Here is a short video to explain my thinking behind this HBSP90 design. Initially it was just going to be a neck pickup. The aim was to solve the problem of neck humbuckers sounding too wooly in some situations. Then came the Black Sand bridge pickup to match. Now the set has taken on a life of its own live and has become one of my most popular pickup sets.
Naming pickups is not easy, I agonized over what to call this pickup set.
I wanted a name that would reflect the apparent contradiction in P90’s. From the perspective of a humbucker player they are clear and chiming. From the viewpoint of a single coil player they are powerful and gritty. They’re one thing while looking like another. I wanted a oxymoron to reflect this contradiction, one that might include the unique magnetic structure that gives the P90 its character.
So I went for a run along Muriwai beach to think. And there it was staring me in the face (literally). Muriwai has black volcanic sand due to its iron content and it’s also magnetic. So I’ve called this set the Black Sand Humbucker sized P90.
Jimmy Christmas – D4
I’m very happy with this pickup – hopefully you will be too.
I’ve been working on some new funky cover options. This pickup set finds it way into so many different kinds of guitars I felt it needed to have a lot of looks to match.
Black Sand Humbucker sized P90 cover options: sliders, nickel, black, toaster top, open, chrome; or cover in P90 style soapbar or dogear covers in black or cream.
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