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by MrMattDiehl_Archive
Okay, jumping into the fray of a two-year dead thread... While procrastinating, I was researching the all-important difference between P-90s + the EGC single coils. (I'd actually had it explained to me many times over by Steve, Ben Adrian, etc., but I'm a bit thick in this area, admittedly.) In any event, one thread had a number of commenters claiming that the Lace Alumitone single coil + P-90 options were the closest to the EGC's in terms of sound/bite/hugeness/harmonic definition + a thrillingly clinical quiet (esp. for single coils). I'd never heard this before, but I am intrigued. I have never even thought about Alumitones + never used Lace pickups much in my life (although I do have an Evans Hot Rhythm in one guitar, which is the original superawesome noiseless, ballsy Strat boutique replacement pup that Lace would replace - very Stratty sound but with a density that's heavier). I am curious to check them out. Even if they are not s a direct replacement for an EGC-style pickup in normal guitars, their unorthodox-ness seems interesting. It's not often that you see a decidedly contemporary-voiced pickup that's not an EMG active or something... So any experience with the Alumitones out there in PRF land vis-a-vis EGC single coils? I will say as well that, in my personal experience, the closest thing I've heard to the EGC single coils in more standard production guitars would be a good P-90. Even though they are Tele based, the EGCs have a P-90-esque dimension, heft + crispness to me that doesn't scream Fender. The wide-range humbucker has some of these qualities, and there are some beefy Strat/Tele pups, but they're just not as slashing as the EGC, which really has its own character between the two binaries. (Please note I have attempted to use every other possible adjective other than punchy to describe what I am talking about...)At the same time, I've found that, also like a really, really great P-90, the EGCs' highs never go full icepick. YMMV, but to me, even when the high frequencies are dialed up to tha extreme like a vandal by someone like Steve (would've loved to see what treble guru D. Boon would've done with an EGC), they still hit a sonically pleasant, listenable transient while still, ya know, screaming. I'm wondering if a higher-output noiseless Fralin P-90 might be a good EGC semi-equivalent, too, in addition to/in lieu of a Lace Alumitone...