Mississippi Queen

[Peterku]

All I've read about this model is that it's a P90 under a humbucker-sized metal cover. Neck's 6.5K w/ plain enamel wire, same gauge as the Mule, and it can come either with Alnico III, IV or V. It has less output than the Mule and the tone's bright and vintage.

I'd be thankful, if someone could answer my questions:

- Does its sound have a tight bass like single coils do? Can I achieve a clean, barely overdriven blues sound with that metallic edge on the wound strings (think SRV), or does it rather have a more rounded bass like humbuckers?

- Does the metal cover also act as shielding, so that the Queen's less noisy than regular P90's?

- Does the bridge model sound twangy in a Strat, or does it have more of a raw, fat sound?

- Won't the two Alnico mags facing each other slowly demagnetize each other?

[Peterku]

Now a bit more specific:
I have an ash-body Strat with rosewood fretboard. I've been gravitating towards the idea of getting a single Nailbomb for it, but today I came home after a three-day non-stop rehearsal with my band, and what we played was: blues that's sometimes funky and clean, while sometimes gritty and smokey. We also played some pop/rock songs, but didn't venture into metal at all. My Artist with the Mules will be probably able to handle harder music occasionally.

So, I've heard that P90's sound great in ash. My aim with the neck pickup: more of a clean, dynamic blues sound that's bright and tight but nicely withstands hard picking and sings like the Irish Tour singles. With the bridge pickup: I like fingerpicking (it's called chicken-picking, or flatpicking, I don't know), so there I rather need a sound that's gritty and raw when overdriven. It's a raw nature, an 'in-your-face attitude', that I hear with some Tele's or Alnico II bridge singles in Strats. In this case, tightness isn't really an issue in the bridge position, but the neck pickup should have that quality. Would you recommend me getting a set of MQ's after reading this description?

The reason why I thought of going the P90-way, is that I've heard a lot of live recordings where the Strat's got completely lost in the mix, especially when soloing with the bridge pickup, while LP's or anything with humbuckers did cut through easily. So I thought that something tougher than a regular Strat single could be nice for me. I'm also thinking about trying a 4-way Tele switch with two singles (maybe with the two MQ's as well?) to get a fatter and noiseless lead sound for live situations.

My questions:

- Based on the description above, which magnets would you recommend for a calibrated set?
- How can they be ordered at the online shop?
- Do they only come in chrome, or are nickel, gold, black, camo and burnt chrome covers also available?
- Can I choose a spacing of 52 mm's for the bridge position?
- What value pots are the best for P90's?

Thanks for your help in advance, and sorry for the long post. :)

[PhilKing]

I have a tapped Mississisppi Queen in the bridge position on a custom made walnut guitar (set walnut neck with an ebony fingerboard).  It is a bit brighter than swamp ash, but similar to hard ash.  The tap moves the tone of the pickup rather than the gain or output.  It basically drops out some of the mids.  

With this pickup I can get most of the sounds that you are asking about.  I have a 'Black Dog' voiced pickup with Alnico V magnets.  It is one of the originals, so it is in a chrome cover (it is the one in Steve's picture).  The new ones now have nickel covers available.  I have another one on order (without coil tap), for the neck position of an Explorer, with a Warpig in the bridge.  Both of these will be in gold covers (though I am still thinking about them in the unpolished nickel - I think that looks great).

To order them, I would call Tim and talk to him, he can fill you in on anything that I missed here  :lol:

I am using them with 300k pots, though I think that 250 or 500 work fine (my Juniors have 500k, my PRS with P-90's has 250k).  I picked 300 because of the other pickups (a slowhand in the middle and a mini-Mule neck).

They are a lot quieter than regular single coil pickups, the cover and baseplate seem to make a Faraday box and keep out a lot of hum.

[Tim]

All I've read about this model is that it's a P90 under a humbucker-sized metal cover. Neck's 6.5K w/ plain enamel wire, same gauge as the Mule, and it can come either with Alnico III, IV or V. It has less output than the Mule and the tone's bright and vintage.

I'd be thankful, if someone could answer my questions:

- Does its sound have a tight bass like single coils do? Can I achieve a clean, barely overdriven blues sound with that metallic edge on the wound strings (think SRV), or does it rather have a more rounded bass like humbuckers?

- Does the metal cover also act as shielding, so that the Queen's less noisy than regular P90's?

- Does the bridge model sound twangy in a Strat, or does it have more of a raw, fat sound?

- Won't the two Alnico mags facing each other slowly demagnetize each other?

We make them with Alnico V in the bridge and Alnico IV in the neck, they're bright and tight like a P90 should be and the cover does offer a degree of protection from RF.
The tone is raw rather than twangy but it will depend on body timber.
The two magnets will demagnetise very slowly over time but barely more than a single magnet.The magnetism is guided up through the pole screws via the pole shoe, exactly the same as a stock P90.As I've said before, the Mississippi Queen is a real P90 in every way, just inside a humbucker cover and I must admit the tone has exceeded my expectations-I'm 100% happy with the result :D and totally blown away with the tone!

[Tim]

My questions:

- Based on the description above, which magnets would you recommend for a calibrated set?
- How can they be ordered at the online shop?
- Do they only come in chrome, or are nickel, gold, black, camo and burnt chrome covers also available?
- Can I choose a spacing of 52 mm's for the bridge position?
- What value pots are the best for P90's?

I'd go for AV bridge and AIV neck.
Yes, order a stock P90 and write Mississippi Queen in the special instructions box, I'll sort it from there.
Covers at the moment are the new '57 PAF clones in nickel or chrome.I'm waiting on the platers to do gold.Custom camo can be arranged if you'd like it.
There's only ever been one P90 bridge spacing which is 50mm but the magnetic field is huge from the 2 bar magnets so it's not a problem and works well on F spaced bridges.
I prefer eithe 300 or 500K pots.

[Peterku]

Thanks for the replies! :D

[Elliot]

I have an Alnico IV bridge MQ being fitted into my Fender Esprit as we speak - I can wait for the tech dude to ring to say its ready - I'll let you know as soon as I can plug it in! 8)

[Peterku]

OK, thanks!

[Ced777]

I received my MQ neck today (don't know the magnet but I think it's a Alnico V when I talked with Steve@BKP).

... man, this is it!  :good:
It has the best neck tone I've ever heard. Period!  No question. The best.

The bass are tight, the treble have that sparkle only single coils can give,  the overall tone is to die for! Zero mud. I try them with clean/crunch/lead stuff and they did everything with ease. They keep tight and cutting when doing rythm stuff with lots of gain (where HB neck can be muddy).

They impress me as much as I played first my Mule bridge. Even more! Total crazyness!  

I'm running out of guitar to put some BKP PUs in them  :D

Seriously, I even think to try a MQ bridge in place of my Mule bridge. Just to try. Just curious to hear them and see the difference.  (anyway I planned to get a LP-like some day, so I would have room for them).
How different are a Mule A4 bridge from a MQ A5 bridge??

Goin' crazy... from BKP!

PS: I get the tapped version with 3 conductors (black/red/white) + ground.  How should I wire them (to use the tap)? I suppose red go to hot, bare+black together to ground, and white is the tapped wire?

PS2: forgot to say: the MQ is deadly quiet. I mean as much as my Mule humbuckers. Do you believe it?!

[Ratrod]

Can the P-90's/Mississippi queens do rockabilly? How would you describe it?

[Ced777]

I don't play rockabilly, and don't know this style very well....

I can compare the Mule neck/Riff Raff neck and MQ neck I have.

The Mule neck is the rounder, softer of the lot. Round bass, healthy midrange and sweet highs. Creamy/liquid under gain. Very vintage tone. Great for warm jazzy tone to creamy solo. Sweet clean sound, very rich.

The Riff Raff neck is close to the Mule neck, but with a bit more punch (mine is Alnico V), and a bit more "edge".

The MQ is a bit different. More tight attack, tighter bass, a tad more treble than Mule. Less mids than the A4 Mule too. When the Mule neck is Jazz/Blues/Classic rock, the MQ is more of a "rocker" to my ears. You can hear it's a single coil, but it has more body than a SC and more output.

[Ratrod]

From a rockabilly pickup that's basicly what you want. You want the body and power of a humbucker and the brightnes and treble of a single coil. Has anyone put a BKP P-90 in a hollowbody?

[Elliot]

Ratrod - How would you describe the rockabilly tone = as a surf guitar dude myself (which is near in places to rockabilly) I would say its like surf with more beef.  Is that right?

[PhilKing]

I get the tapped version with 3 conductors (black/red/white) + ground.  How should I wire them (to use the tap)? I suppose red go to hot, bare+black together to ground, and white is the tapped wire?

That's how mine was.  I like the tap, it gives a different tone, bit the volume stays the same.  I had the bridge one originally, but now I am getting a neck to match a Warpig bridge!

[Ced777]

How does sound the bridge MQ? Output?