The Steel Guitar Forum

I am putting together my specs for a 6 string lap. I am very "retiree budget conscious", and want to limit requests that add to the base price.

I had thought of having a P90 put in for playing blues, but that will be additional cost. The EMG SES the builder uses, is a stacked dual coil, and should give me a little thicker sound, than just a single coil. Agree?

http://www.emgpickups.com/products/index/153/20/1

thanks
Martin

I don't think so. From what I gather, this pick-up is sort of like the off-set single coils, where the dual-stack hum cancels. If anything, you might lose a little of the high end due to the hum cancelling??

Maybe the EMG SEHG might be better, as it's a humbucker.

Maybe Tom Pettingill can chime in....he knows pups.

I've not used any of the EMG Select budget line so can't comment directly to that model.
I can say that from the description and knowing its construction, my best guess is it will have a bit of a compressed tone and is most likely wound with thin wire and a ceramic magnet to brighten it up.

I guess what I'm not understanding is why a P90 will push the price up. There is no appreciable extra cost in routing and mounting a different pickup and that EMG budget line pickup is not particularly cheap. There are comparatively priced P90's out there that can deliver the tone you want.

The builder was quoting me on the Kent Armstrong's which are more than twice the price of the EMG SES.

That EMG is a Strat style pickup. If once you get the steel and find it doesn't work for you, you can always get something that will work from Guitar Fetish. Their pickups consistently get good reviews and go for low dollars.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pickups_c_7.html

You might consider a tele bridge pickup mounted straight across as that will give you the wider string spacing that many people prefer on a lap steel. There is a wide selection of tele bridge pickups available.

You might also look into the steel guitar pickups that Jason Lollar makes.

Steve Ahola

P.S. If money is an issue you might want to look into some of the lap steels imported from China, like a Rondo with a P90 for $139 plus s/h:

http://www.rondomusic.com/lapproash3ts.html