P90 Soapbar Staple Pickup - Neck - Black

Roswell P90 Soapbar Staple Pickup - Black

Description: This is a well-made and highly-regarded alternative to the various boutique Alnico V "Staple" pickups that can cost $200 to $300 each. The Roswell P-90 Staple recreates the sound of the Alnico V P-90 pickups of early Gibson Archtops, using the traditional construction and winding recipe. An individual '"staple" magnet for each string provides clear string separation.

History: Gibson introduced the Alnico V "Staple" pickup in 1954. Designed under the direction of Les Paul himself, it was created to add top-end clarity, definition, and a brighter tone compared to the warmer P-90 single-coils used at the time. It earned the nickname "staple" pickup due to its unique, rectangular Alnico V pole pieces that look like small staples. The pickup was prominently debuted in the neck position of the premium 1954 Les Paul Custom (the "Black Beauty") and was also installed on several of Gibson's high-end jazz archtop models. Its run in original production was short-lived, however, as Gibson largely phased it out around 1957 following the invention of Seth Lover's revolutionary PAF humbucking pickup.

The "Staple" Reissue: The Roswell P90N-STP-BLK is a highly accurate replica of the Gibson Alnico V "Staple" pickup.

Sonic Profile: Because the individual rectangular magnet bars extend upward as the actual pole pieces, it offers much tighter string separation, added presence, and a more powerful, immediate "twang" than regular screw-pole P90s.

Construction: While the staple pickup features looks a lot like a standard P90 soap bar pickup and has the same footprint dimensionally, these pickups are constructed differently. They are actually somewhat similar to a Strat or Tele pickup, with six individual pole magnets, rather than a single large base magnet of traditional P90s.

Specs:

• Magnets: Six individual Alnico 5 pole magnets
• Pole spacing: 50 mm
• DCR: 8.7k Ohms
• Recommended position: Optimally voiced for the neck position
• Lead type: Vintage style, single conductor, braided shield wire
• Lead length: 14"

What Players Like:

• Incredible value: Custom "staple" P90s from high-end brands like Seymour Duncan, Lollar and Ron Thorn are expensive. Players appreciate that Roswell offers this high quality staple design at a fraction of the cost
• Boutique tone: Guitarists widely agree that the staple design is perfect for the neck position. It provides extraordinary clarity, a wide open sound, and high-end "chime" that's not muddy or boomy
• Punches above its weight class: In blind listening tests, reviewers find that this pickup holds its own against premium pickups costing over 3x as much, with some listeners actually preferring the Roswell tone.

About Del Mar Lutherie: We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California, and part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Carvin/Kiesel). We build custom electric guitars and vintage-style hand-wired tube amps. We also buy, sell and trade vintage and used gear.  Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional engineer and designer by training.

Why buy from us?  Our clients have peace of mind knowing they’re buying from an established and highly rated professional shop.  We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers.  We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class personalized service for each client.  We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is close to 100%.

Condition:  Our used parts have been tested and verified to work as they should. Used and vintage items will show signs of use. Please look at the photos.

Videos:  We often include links to YouTube videos to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the item in our listing. 

Shipping:  Includes ground shipping within the continental USA with insurance. Cost includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off with the shipper. We ship smaller items via USPS.