Wes "best" associated with the P90??

[Jazzman301]

I am in the hunt for a new pickup for my Peerless Monarch with routed/set humbucker and I am after a warm, dark, smokey tone. Think Wes, Pat Martino. I shot an email to Mike over at Djangobooks.com asking for advice etc. He sent me this

Good Tone Hunting: The Gibson Pickup Guide (Now with Audio Clips!)

I consider myself a big Wes fan and this is the first I have heard of him being associated with the P90. I think of Wes mostly playing with an L5 of one form or another with a humbucker(often times with the poles upside down).

Anyone else ever heard of this?

'Mike

[Synchro]

It's news to me. That having been said, a P-90 is a great Jazz pickup IMO.

[mattymel]

he made "the incredible guitar..." with a 175 with a p90. but overall i def associate him with a HB. personally i like p90s, more definition.

[cjm]

Approximately half of Wes Montgomery's career as a professional guitarist was before you could buy a guitar with a humbucking pickup.

[mattymel]

...but his first recording was released in 1958, a year after Gibson introduced HBs on a widespread level.

to my ears it sounds like he IS def using a p90 or some other single coil on "fingerpickin", "far wes", and possibly "the wes montgomery trio" though, i hear either a different guitar, or different amp than the previous two. in the liner notes he's holding a 175, but its hard to see if its got a single p90 or PAF.
im guessing p90 from the sound. the HBs he used later gave him a slightly fatter sound, not better IMO, just different. also I've never seen an original PAF on any 175 earlier than a '58.

i think when people think wes' sound, most think L5 with a single PAF.

[Flyin' Brian]

Wes used P-90s no doubt. On the album Moving Along, some of the songs sound like a baritone guitar as well.

[cjm]

Originally Posted by mattymel

...but his first recording was released in 1958, a year after Gibson introduced HBs on a widespread level.

Yes and no. Montgomery was actually recorded prior to that. Most people today haven't heard the recordings.

i think when people think wes' sound, most think L5 with a single PAF.

This is a true statement, in that most people do associate his sound with a PAF equipped L5.

His sound however, was well developed prior to the availability of such an instrument.

[mattymel]

what wes albums are there prior to '58?

[cosmic gumbo]

He toured and recorded as a sideman with Lionel Hampton 1948-50, and as session sidemen with his brothers prior to 1958.

[mattymel]

what records?

[mike g]

Originally Posted by mattymel

what records?

Check out this link:

Wes Montgomery Discography

[mattymel]

Cool!

[oldane]

Wes has used P90, HB and he had a variant of the P90 - the so called "Alnico V" PU on one of the L5s. It looks like a black dogeared P90 but with square pole pieces (actually the magnets - same principle as Strat PUs) and was used on high end instruments like L5s and Super 400s during the 1950s (can be seen in a couple if the pictures higher up in this thread).

See a close up of the "Alnico V" pickup and a description here: http://www.scottymoore.net/alnicov.html .

He used a wood bridge earlier and later switched to a tuneomatic which also accounted for the sound difference between his earlier and later records (together with different amps).

[mattymel]

Those alnico V p90s are cool. Noticeably hotter than the other p90s from the 50s. Work great for jazz. And they look bitchin.

[ncs]

concerning the very early Wes recordings: I have some from 1957 (on a blue note LP) and one video with the lionel hampton orch. from 1949 :-) with wes even soloing ...

[daveg]

Originally Posted by ncs

concerning the very early Wes recordings: I have some from 1957 (on a blue note LP) and one video with the lionel hampton orch. from 1949 :-) with wes even soloing ...

Miming to a pre-recorded track.

On a Gibson ES 125?

DaveG

WES MONTGOMERY ON COMPACT DISC

[ncs]

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attac...d=1 330478519

no, it looks like a 40ies L-5 ...

Norbert

[daveg]

My copy of the video is a lot clearer and there are no inlays on the fingerboard. An ES 125?

DG

[oldane]

Originally Posted by daveg

My copy of the video is a lot clearer and there are no inlays on the fingerboard. An ES 125?

DG

In Adrian Ingrams book on Wes there are photos from one of the Pacific recording sessions with Harold Land, where Wes plays an ES125, but from what I have read elsewhere, it was an instrument he borrowed from Barney Kessel for that session. It could have been the "Fingerpickin'" session, as his sound on this is different from the customary dark at that time (brighter, thinner, string slap as if lighter strings with a lower action was used).