Vintage Vibe Guitars HS90AM

Pickup features: A very special custom wind and design
Impedence or other specs: 11.3 K Bridge and 9.1 Neck

Model of guitar or bass: Lefty Greco 61' SG lawsuit model copy
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock/standard Greco humbucker equipped
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: UNBELIEVABLE! that more high profile musicians don't use these handwound pups.
You musical style(s): Classic Rock with a little Blues mixed in.
Reason for pickup change: I actually very much liked the stocker Greco HB's, excepting that for SG HB'r equipped pups go, they were surprisingly lacking in good midrange response. Greco is actually Ibanezfrom what I understand. This lefty vintage red SG looks, feels, acts, responds just like an actual vintage Gibson 61' SG in every way. Pete said he could make me a pair of these custom pups for $135, and lefty staggered alnico magnets for us lefty's to boot! This is what Pete did for $135, first Pete made the pups with lefty staggered magnets for a lefty SG, second Pete calibrated the pup positions thereby delivering a nice balance of vol/tone between pup positions, third Pete used Alnico II staggered rod magnets on the E-G strings for a sweeter/softer attack on the unwound strings, and a crispier, punchier, and cleaner sound from the D-A strings, fourth Pete made bobbin covers that are either: TORTOISE SHELL or ABALONE SHELL. My HS 90AM pup set has the ABALONE SHELL veneers, bluish abalone highlights the vintage red Greco SG's mahogany body, fifth Pete made one of the pups RW/RP which is to say that in the Middle guitar switch position, the neck & bridge pup combine to make a HB'r, sixth Pete shielded the bottom of each HB'r spaced P-90 with copper foil such that each SC pup is extremely quiet.

Perceived output level: For P-90 design 11.3-9.1 K Ohms is generally considered a hot wind, I asked Pete for that punchy mid range bark of a vintage P-90 but with smooth non-jagged highs
Tone: EXTREMELY BALANCED from string to string, and from neck to bridge pup position and visa versa. These pups gave me the mids that I was missing in the stock HB'rs, the volume, headroom, punch that these P-90 design provided rivals the best HB designs and kills them! PLUS all that gutsy vintage P-90 bark reminds one consistently that these are true SC pups. The Highs, Mids, and Lows are absolute Velvet the smoothest of the smooth and PUNCHY!
Sonic evaluation: I have used Seymour Duncan pups for years and they are very good, but Pete has the small shop mentality special attention to detail, Pete delivers the goods (giving the customer specifically what the they ask for), charging a very reasonable price $135/pup pair for all the features mentioned. I have quite a few tube amps, but lately I have played the SG through (1) Fender 63' Vibroverb reissue combo hooked to a Marshall 4x10 cab, (2) Mesa Boogie Mark I reissue w/6V6 tubes in Class A/B config. and alternatively with EL-84 tubes in Class A config.(A/B to A conversion)(3) Fender Pro Junior 15W 1x10 tube combo. Lately I've been using a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive or my Korg Toneworks Pandora for overdrive. I do have several other effects however, I am minimalistic with effects when it comes to not wanting to "overprocess" my signal.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play classic rock and blues, and these HS 90AM pups are astounding! I honestly think these pups can do it all from absolute clean to absolute crunch you name it.

Comments: I like these pups extremely well, but I am not one to go replicate the same thing in another guitar, that's why there are so many pup options out there in order to give a specific guitar its own specific voice and I want a certain amount of tonal variance. Played on and off for about 30 yrs. Have/have used : Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacher, Marshall, Vox, Sunn, Carvin, Peavey, Ampeg, Mesa Boogie, etc. there ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about these pups that I dislike! Pete as far as I know is the ONLY person so far to use the Seymour Duncan Nashville 52' pup concept in a humbucker spaced P-90 pup (Alnico II magnets under the E-G strings and Alnico V magnets under the D-E strings) Seymour Duncan's Phat Cat pups are $80/piece w/o all the frills, that's $160/pr. + tax. My HS 90AM Vintage Vibe pair was $135 TOTAL w/ at least 6 features that the Seymour Duncan Phat Cat's don't have. My recommendation is to buy all the sets that one can from Pete before he's no longer around (that's how good Pete is at what he does)to create these wonderful masterpieces. I remember meeting the a certain Mr. Van Zandt several yrs. ago at a Texas Guitar Show(great man/great pups) his handwound pups are now going at premium prices if one can find them for sale.