The Gibson Les Paul is a legend. The growling tone that comes from its PAF style humbucking pickups is known the world over from historic recordings of our favorite rock heroes. However, the original Gibson Les Paul that is often associated with the lustrous Gold Top finish was originally equipped with P-90 pickups. The PAF style humbuckers debuted later as a means of combating 60 cycle hum that P-90 and other single coil pickups, like those found on Fender guitars, are prone too. Despite the quieter operation of humbuckers there is something that gets lost in the change. P-90 pickups have a certain character to them that is simply magical and now that Gibson offers the Standard 50s Gold Top with both options the situation was primed for a comparison. Despite the fact that the humbucker model is more ubiquitous could the P-90 tone be better? Let's find out!
Here are our 2026 Father's Day gift suggestions from us to you. Curated for every type of musician dad, from the experienced player to the dreamer who's always wanted to pick up an instrument. For the Vintage Guitar Enthusiast If...
Larrivee's Finest Guitar? OM-10 Rosewood Deluxe Full Review & Demo In the guitar space we often hear about Fender, Taylor, Martin, Furch, Gibson, or all of the major players in the business, but sometimes we forget how big of a...
The Kawai CX202 Digital Piano New digital piano models don’t often get the excitement they deserve and this is definitely the case with the Kawai CX202. The CX202 was released in the Fall 2025 season and it’s gaining attention for...
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