i compared a vintage p90 guitar with my modern one. here are my thoughts

the vintage guitar is my 1965 sg special, with an original bridge pickup and an epiphone neck pickup of the same era. the authenticity of the guitar and its pickups were verified by a trusted tech i know who has been in the business for fifty years.

the modern one is a current production les paul special with seymour duncan antiquity p90s, which are modeled after 1950s p90s. both are in great working order.

my findings were this: the les paul special had a wider sound, with a good response all through the frequency range. thick bass, agressive mids, and good high end definition. it sounds badass.

the sg had slightly lower output (though both are pretty hot), with less low end and additional high end. it had more 'twang' to it, giving it an almost telecaster like sound when compared to the fatter sounding les paul.

my conclusion? they're both great. the brighter sound from the sg i think is more suited to recording, as it will pop in a mix without getting muddy, which the greater low end from the les paul makes it sound huge live.

there were of course some playability differences too. the sg has a smaller neck while the les paul has a baseball bat. i love them both.

tl;dr 60s p90s are brighter than 50s clone p90s, but they both bark and do the thing.

thanks for reading<3