P90 pickups question.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Fair enough!  Everybody’s got different tastes in tone and ergonomics…and thankfully so!

[CEB]

I forget ... Does Reverend use Rio Grande P90s.  I really like the hotter Rio Grande P90s.  I was thinking Rio Grande was part of the same parent company as Reverend or maybe Robin guitars. 

 

Robin like Reverend, had some cool guitars.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most of Reverend’s pickups are wound in-house by Joe Naylor, Reverend’s founder.  You will see some with RailHammers, but that’s Joe Naylor’s other company.  In some cases, they use Fluence or other pickups, mostly on signature models.  They’ve never used Rio Grandes AFAIK.
 

That said, Naylor knows what he’s doing.  IMHO, his pickups are some of the best stock pickups you can get, especially his miniHBs and P90s.  I have several Reverends with P90s.  When I bought a Fret-King that sported a trio of Wilkinson P90s, I noticed a difference.  The Wilkinsons were decent…but obviously overshadowed by the P90s Naylor made for his guitars.  So I went shopping for replacements, and settled on a trio of BareKnuckle Stockholms.  The sound was VERY close to Reverend’s stock P90s.  (Surprised the hell out of me!)  And Stockholms are a hotter, more modern P90 tone than an original one, so those- and most Reverend P90s- should be up your alley.

 

His RailHammers also stack up nicely against pricier boutique brands.  The only problem is that- last I checked- all RailHammer pickups are either humbuckers or (noiseless) HB-sized P90s.  They’re available in several different output levels, so there’s something for anyone…looking to fill a HB route.

 

And Rio Grande IS related to Robin guitars.  They were founded by the same person.  When you play a Robin, you’re hearing the proto-Rio Grand sound.