Paul's TCI pickups vs P-90's?

[sumitagarwal]

Recently got my first PRS, an S2 Standard Singlecut, and I'm not completely in on the #7 "S" pickups. In humbucker mode they feel a bit hard and a little lacking in detail, and I'd prefer a little more output from the bridge pickup.

I've considered replacing them with a set of Paul's which I've read are a little hot and in humbucker mode very P-90-like. However, that got me thinking: maybe I should just be thinking about putting P-90's in instead?

For people well acquainted with P-90's and the Paul's, just how far would you go with the P-90 reference point?

 

[Tedder]

I don't have an answer but interested in what you find out.

 

[sumitagarwal]

Intuitively it kind of makes sense that Paul would be going for a P-90 type sound... it's consistent with the other aspects of finding the middle ground between a Les Paul and a Strat (i.e. scale length, etc). I'd say a P-90 could reasonably be considered to be somewhere in the spectrum between Strat single coil and a PAF.

Although arguably a proper P-90 is hotter than a PAF due to having two magnets instead of one.

 

[Rider1260]

Well you can't buy the Pauls pickups without a Pauls guitar attached.
The narrow 408s sound nothing like P-90 IMHO , they are much more refined sounding to me they are a PAF with much better coil taps , a bit more cut on the high end.
If you want something PRS with more push 59/09s or VB/HFS or Tremonti set outside of PRS try a Suhr Aldrich set

 

[sumitagarwal]

Well you can't buy the Pauls pickups without a Pauls guitar attached.
The narrow 408s sound nothing like P-90 IMHO , they are much more refined sounding to me they are a PAF with much better coil taps , a bit more cut on the high end.
If you want something PRS with more push 59/09s or VB/HFS or Tremonti set outside of PRS try a Suhr Aldrich set

Thanks for the suggestions! I guess in my case if going for "Paul's" it would actually be one of those TCI "S" sets second-hand, which as I understand it are labeled "Paul's" on the bottom.

I also know those aren't the same as the Core pickups, so I've been trying to better understand that difference too. One thing I find odd is that the Core taps the outer neck coil while the SE taps the inner neck coil. FWIW I feel like tapping the inner neck coil is preferable to get a more notchy middle position.