The wait is over!!!!

Hi there fellow MIJ lovers...

Im very pleased to meet you. As you can see Im totally new to this website (well I've been reading a lot of things here the last month) but not that knew to guitar or life..

I recently placed an order for this lovely guitar but apparently there was a fault with the neck.
So it's being replaced with a new one, but that means I probably wont have it untill next week.. I know waiting a month for a guitar is nothing compared to some of you who custom order through Japan, but for me days feels like weeks and I really want to do some recording with it...

Anyways, I wanted to say thanks to all of you guys, because you really helped me with a lot of information, and I'm very glad I heard more about Tokai MIJ.. I always knew they were good, but i Denmark you don't hear much about them, and seing the topclass is really rare. People just don't know their value, which I guess is fine, it'll be our secret.. :wink: Kidding.

While Im waiting I was wondering: Opinions about the PU's are very divided. Many change them right away, and some like them... I'm planning to keep them in for a least some time before I decide anything, cause quite often I find that if you fiddle round a bit then you'll find a way to dial in the tone you're seeking.

But here's the disappointing thing.. I havn't really got a clue how P90 sounds like.. Are they good when things get dirty, like Guns, AC/DC, Led Zep and stuff like that? I hear they are quite versatile..

I do have some SD Alnico 2 Pro's lieing around aswell. They would fit right? I just think that the guitar looks smokin' with P90, so Im hoping they will sound fantastic!!

Either way, when I get it, i'll post some pictures and do some sound samples if you guys aren't getting tired of theese posts..!

Good to be online..!

Kindly Mark

yeah p90s are fine with dirt, certainly classic rock levels of dirt. Like most pickups, it depends on the specific pickup in question, of course.

and yeah alnico II pros won't fit.

So did you buy the guitar because the pickups looked cool on it and you've never played P90 pickups?

They are different than humbuckers if that is what you are used to and certainly different than other single coil pickups like strat or tele pickups.

Is there not a guitar shop near you that you can try out some guitars with P90's to hear how they sound and to compare side by side to other guitars?

Really???

No actually come to think of it I've tried a LP Jr with p90 that sounded cool.. But that's a different guitar!!
But I honestly didn't think that fitting in the alnicos would be a problem.. Im very surprised!!!

Normally I play a Suhr "strat" with two single in the neck and middle, and bridge PU in the neck..

No I didn't buy the guitar cause I think it looked cool, but because I heard nothing but good things about it.. That means that fitting them would need drilling??

Just hope it sounds good then.. I played and owned different guitars like les pauls and Ibanez, Hagstr?m.. But I always wanted to own a Les Paul GT, but I just hope it sounds good.. Got it at a decent prise so here's to hoping...!!

I can't answer to the fitting of the Alnico pickups.... if they are a different size than the standard soapbar P90's or if they are a dogear configuration, they won't fit ..... or it would involve routing out the pickup cavities. There are plenty of other replacement soapbar pickups that are a drop in fit if you don't like the factory pickups...... like you said, play it first for awhile before you replace anything.

Thanks..

I'll wait and let some time pass.. I normally don't change pickups the first couple of months and often never.. But I listen to some sounds samples, and I do recognize the sound.. But it'll probably sound different when I get it in real life.. Anyway I learned something new today

Either way it's good to know that if I really can't live with the tone then it is possible to find something with a different sound, output or whatever...

But now is just the whole waitng..

Btw.. I honestly don't have a lot of options when it comes to trying guitars out.. I had to order my Suhr just hoping it would be good.. And I've done that a couple of times.. To my luck (or because of people kind reviews) I haven't been disappointed yet...

Kind regards Mark

Dave_Mc said:

yeah p90s are fine with dirt, certainly classic rock levels of dirt. Like most pickups, it depends on the specific pickup in question, of course.

and yeah alnico II pros won't fit.

Click to expand...

That Sounds great!! that's my main thing!!

$nakepit said:

Dave_Mc said:

yeah p90s are fine with dirt, certainly classic rock levels of dirt. Like most pickups, it depends on the specific pickup in question, of course.

and yeah alnico II pros won't fit.

Click to expand...

That Sounds great!! that's my main thing!!

Click to expand...

P90's are badass.... dig this tone from a real 1954 gold top being played by a buddy of mine:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4TAlbqq1k

$nakepit said:

No actually come to think of it I've tried a LP Jr with p90 that sounded cool.. But that's a different guitar!!
But I honestly didn't think that fitting in the alnicos would be a problem.. Im very surprised!!!

Click to expand...

Hi $nakepit!



As mentioned before, a P90 will fit, no problem. An AlNiCo V (if that is, what you mean) which you will find e.g. in the neck pickup position of 54-57 Les Paul Custom won't fit without modifications of the pickup routing. And it is a crazy expensive pickup, as well as tricky one , too. It actually has not 1 magnet, but 6 staple magnets which a very powerful, and if they are not set up properly, they suck tone due to their strong magnetism.
But once it is properly set up, nothing sounds like an AlNiCo V pickup. But I wouldn't recommend it for heavier distorted sounds.

The P90 you find in a Junior won't fit with the dogear mountings, as mentioned before.


If you think about that, that the humbucker was developed to be a hum free version of a P90, it sin't much of a surprise, that an early PAF sounds pretty **** close to an old P90.
A P90 is well suited for rock, maybe not for Metal hi gain ,though there are P90 variants like ones from Seymour Duncan that even are able to cover that field, but lack the characteristic P90 sound in clean and overdriven sounds imo.



Kind regards


Jonas

marcusnieman said:

$nakepit said:

Dave_Mc said:

yeah p90s are fine with dirt, certainly classic rock levels of dirt. Like most pickups, it depends on the specific pickup in question, of course.

and yeah alnico II pros won't fit.

Click to expand...

That Sounds great!! that's my main thing!!

Click to expand...

P90's are badass.... dig this tone from a real 1954 gold top being played by a buddy of mine:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4TAlbqq1k

Click to expand...

That sounded top dollar!! I'm very appealed by how they can sound.. Surely the Tokai won't sound like that, but I suspect it'll hold it's on all right..

My amp is pretty much on the bassy side (well actually there are two inputs, one that lets more treble pass) so I think that'll fit keenly with this without the muddiness generally asociated with some LP's

Hi $nakepit!



As mentioned before, a P90 will fit, no problem. An AlNiCo V (if that is, what you mean) which you will find e.g. in the neck pickup position of 54-57 Les Paul Custom won't fit without modifications of the pickup routing. And it is a crazy expensive pickup, as well as tricky one , too. It actually has not 1 magnet, but 6 staple magnets which a very powerful, and if they are not set up properly, they suck tone due to their strong magnetism.
But once it is properly set up, nothing sounds like an AlNiCo V pickup. But I wouldn't recommend it for heavier distorted sounds.

The P90 you find in a Junior won't fit with the dogear mountings, as mentioned before.


If you think about that, that the humbucker was developed to be a hum free version of a P90, it sin't much of a surprise, that an early PAF sounds pretty **** close to an old P90.
A P90 is well suited for rock, maybe not for Metal hi gain ,though there are P90 variants like ones from Seymour Duncan that even are able to cover that field, but lack the characteristic P90 sound in clean and overdriven sounds imo.



Kind regards


Jonas[/quote]

Hi Jonas..
So that means any humbucker wouldn't fit without modifications, only P90's?
I thought the whole idea with p90's was to have singlecoil action in a Humbucking size.. Don't know where I got that from though... But that means i should expect a certain amount of hum from the P90's??

Not to sad about the whole Hi-gain.. I can live with the Led Zep kinda tone. (I know Im not gonna sound like Jimmy, just refering to the gain level)

Mark

P90's are not the same size as humbuckers. If you put humbuckers in, you'll have to route the openings to fit.

Hi!

$nakepit said:

So that means any humbucker wouldn't fit without modifications, only P90's?
I thought the whole idea with p90's was to have singlecoil action in a Humbucking size.. Don't know where I got that from though... But that means i should expect a certain amount of hum from the P90's??

Click to expand...

Well, basically a humbucker is the humfree version of a P90, at least it was intended to be in the first place,-)))
A P90 will hum. If you don't like the hum, try a dummy coil loaded P90, like Gibsons P100. They don't sound that open to my ear as a normal P90, but that's up to you to decide.
There are humbuckers available on the market, that will fit a P90 route (I don't mean mini humbuckers, but ones with full size coils).

I think your confusion could come from pickups like the P-94, which is a P90 in a humbucker size. There are a lot of variations of this pickup on the market and are also used in production guitars, not only as a replacement. They can be swapped for humbuckers with no modifications at all.


Kind regards

Jonas

Arhh okay.. Well im not that sensitive, but it depends how bad the hum is... But I can hear that there are some alternatives if I can't live them.. I haven't heard good things about the P-100, maybe it's because they don't sound like p90's..

Do you know any humbuckers that would fit in there without the hassle? And are they any good? Sorry for all the questions, but I might as well research this topic while Im waiting...

What I did find out is that you can get P90's with alnico 2 and 5 and even ceramic for the heavier sounds.. So there's a variation of sounds out there.. But Im confident that some cool sounds will come out of it with some fiddling with guitar, amp and effects.. Only problem would be that Im playing it

Time will tell..

Hi there, I've owned this model since 2007 - you can find my review and photos if you search LS145s on this forum - same same model just different model number due to the Yen price at time of purchase.
It's fine to research P90 pickups but don't build it up in your mind that you will have to upgrade the pups before you've even received the guitar!! I've A/B'ed my model against the cheaper LS85s and the pickups on the higher end model are far superior on the premium series guitar than on the vintage series.

As already mentioned, high gain metal might not be their forte but all the classic blues/rock/heavy tones are there in abundance. I myself play 1st generation Pistols/Clash inspired punk and they're great for that too. They're also great for recording as they are very punchy but still retain their clarity even on higher gain settings.

You're buying a GBP1500 guitar - live with it for a few months and explore what it already has to offer as stock - then decide....I recall one poster fitting several different quality P90s to his LS145s and then returning to the stock pickups because they sounded best....

All the best and I hope your guitar arrives soon and you have lots of fun getting to know it...

John.

$nakepit said:

Do you know any humbuckers that would fit in there without the hassle? And are they any good? Sorry for all the questions, but I might as well research this topic while Im waiting...

What I did find out is that you can get P90's with alnico 2 and 5 and even ceramic for the heavier sounds.. ..

Click to expand...

Hi $nakepit!


As far as P90 sized humbuckers go, I think, any custom winder can do that for you (David Plummer, Lollar, Van Zandt etc.pp.).

A german winder offers all of his humbucker creations in P90 sizes:

http://www.haeussel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=13&lang=de


The magnets on a P90 are interchangeable, that means, if you spare a few magnet types, you can check out, what you like best.



Kind regards


Jonas

Johny642000 said:

Hi there, I've owned this model since 2007 - you can find my review and photos if you search LS145s on this forum - same same model just different model number due to the Yen price at time of purchase.
It's fine to research P90 pickups but don't build it up in your mind that you will have to upgrade the pups before you've even received the guitar!! I've A/B'ed my model against the cheaper LS85s and the pickups on the higher end model are far superior on the premium series guitar than on the vintage series.

As already mentioned, high gain metal might not be their forte but all the classic blues/rock/heavy tones are there in abundance. I myself play 1st generation Pistols/Clash inspired punk and they're great for that too. They're also great for recording as they are very punchy but still retain their clarity even on higher gain settings.

You're buying a GBP1500 guitar - live with it for a few months and explore what it already has to offer as stock - then decide....I recall one poster fitting several different quality P90s to his LS145s and then returning to the stock pickups because they sounded best....

All the best and I hope your guitar arrives soon and you have lots of fun getting to know it...

John.

Click to expand...

yeah, you got a really good point there John.. It's better to wait and se what the stock got to offer.. I'll do a search for the review, thanks..

As I mentioned I normally don't change pickups, I've done it once in a Epi a long time ago.. I think I will like them fine, and the it seems that it'll cover the field of music I play just fine..

I hope to, but Im sure it'll be worth the wait..

Thanks.. Mark

Jonas said:

$nakepit said:

Do you know any humbuckers that would fit in there without the hassle? And are they any good? Sorry for all the questions, but I might as well research this topic while Im waiting...

What I did find out is that you can get P90's with alnico 2 and 5 and even ceramic for the heavier sounds.. ..

Click to expand...

Hi $nakepit!


As far as P90 sized humbuckers go, I think, any custom winder can do that for you (David Plummer, Lollar, Van Zandt etc.pp.).

A german winder offers all of his humbucker creations in P90 sizes:

http://www.haeussel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=13&lang=de


The magnets on a P90 are interchangeable, that means, if you spare a few magnet types, you can check out, what you like best.



Kind regards


Jonas

Click to expand...

That sounds great.. I will wait and see how the Tokai performs the first couple of months.. It seems others can live with hum for the tone, so I think I can to..

But thanks for the help guys.. I think I know what to expect from the pickups after reading, and your advice.. I will post again when I get it..

Mini humbuckers (the ones with the LP surrounds) fit perfectly into a P90 route. Probably something to do with the fact that the surrounds were made out of P90 soap bar covers, ha ha!

This is something I will definitely try on my 56 type LP at some stage.

marcusnieman said:

I can't answer to the fitting of the Alnico pickups.... if they are a different size than the standard soapbar P90's or if they are a dogear configuration, they won't fit ..... or it would involve routing out the pickup cavities. There are plenty of other replacement soapbar pickups that are a drop in fit if you don't like the factory pickups...... like you said, play it first for awhile before you replace anything.

Click to expand...

i just assumed he meant duncan alnico II pro humbuckers- if so, they won't fit. I don't think duncan does alnico II p90s, but I could be wrong.

Regarding the tone of P90s... if you like humbuckers, and if all you need are classic rock levels of dirt, you'll probably like them. I hear them described as a halfway house between Fender-style single coils and humbuckers, and i'd sort of agree, except to my ears (the ones I've tried, anyway), they sound a lot closer to humbuckers than to Fender-style single coils. Output-wise, they have a similar output to PAF-style humbuckers (assuming you haven't gone for hot p90s), they are a lot rawer/grittier than humbuckers (which tend to be smoother), don't have as tight a bass, and also have a bit of the high-end that single coils tend to have (and which humbuckers tend to cancel out). They still have that general warm and fat tone that humbuckers have, and will drive an amp in a similar way. Like other single coils, they don't cancel the noise that humbuckers do.

As already mentioned, several pickup manufacturers offer humbuckers in p90 size, so that'd be the way to go if you decide you don't like p90s. I haven't tried them, though, so I don't know how close they get to a "real" humbucker in tone, though I'm guessing it's closer than a p90 gets.