Are P-90s taking over the world?

They’ve claimed the hearts of some big-name players in recent years. Is this the end of the humbucker?

For decades, the humble humbuckers have been the pickup for metal and beyond. But P-90s have risen through the ranks in recent years, and they’ve got some high-profile advocates.

Among them is Modern Metal Academy’s own John Browne, who once told us that P-90s were the closest he’s gotten to seeing God. But what are they, why are they suddenly in vogue, and should you get one? Or two?

A quick history

Their origin story dates back to the 1930s, when Gibson's first-ever pickup was loaded onto its ES-150. In a time before Alnico magnets, it rocked a 38AWG magnet wire and weighed 2 lbs. When Alnicos arrived on the scene, Gibson employee Walt Fuller looked for a compact solution to using these magnets, with the P-13 introduced in 1940, before being usurped by the P-90 shortly after World War II.

Compared to single coils, the pups are deeper and narrower, resulting in a tonal flavour halfway between snappy single coils and fatter, fuller humbuckers. They have chub, but, in equal measure, they have twang too. And who doesn't love a little twang?

Famous fans

Speaking to Gibson last year, Joe Bonamassa claimed that “most people who are dyed-in-the-wool Gibson people,  behind closed doors, will say that their favorite pickup is a P90.”

That was a theory compounded by Warren Hayes turning to P-90s for his signature Gibson Les Paul soon after.

“We’re all looking for new inspiration,” he said. “Some of us have been playing humbuckers for a long, long time.”

But don’t take those old bluesmen’s word verbatim. Liverpudlian lovers of chunk, Loathe, have been wielding baritone guitars saddled up with P-90s (as well as mini humbuckers) for years, inspiring fast-rising Germans, Vianova, to do likewise.

Now, Yvette Young has joined the fandom, finding P-90s to be perfect for spangly math rock and much more. They’re versatile little fellas.

“I don’t know why I’m so late to the P-90 game,” she admits. “I’m kicking myself because these are just so chunky.

“I feel like I’ve been into a lot of heavier stuff lately, kind of leaning into the more grungy sludgy stuff, a lot of fuzz tones, a lot of overdrive and things like that.”

As Loathe's Erik Bickerstaffe says, “a lot of people have realised you can chug them,” so don't write off these pickups when it comes to heavy. Harley Benton’s budget 30” baritone is one such guitar capitalizing on the hype.

Browne noise

We asked Browne to tell us why he’s among the pickup’s growing list of converts, and he said: “They have the fatness of a humbucker but with the open, large soundscape of an unrestricted single coil.” It’s that best-of-both-worlds approach that makes them so well suited to a rich array of genres.

On baritone and extended-range guitars, especially, where the strings are thick and the tunings are low, P-90s help clear up some of the muddiness that humbuckers can have. They’re quieter than single coils, but they borrow the cut and bite from that world without compromising the low-end.

It’s for these reasons, with Loathe as the progenitors for most, that P-90s have become increasingly common in the metal scene. And if you haven’t experimented with any before, this could be your sign to dive into the deep end.  

Now, of course, their rise doesn’t mean the death of the humbuckers is happening any time soon. But what it does highlight is that there is another world out there. Metal guitars don’t have to have humbuckers.

A pickup that was, for years, associated with classic rock is proving its worth in darker, nastier tonal worlds. And with good reason.

P-90s are unlikely to achieve world domination any time soon, given the market strength and historical significance of single coils and ‘buckers, but the rise of these hybrid pickups proves it's far from a two-horse race.

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