A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Being a P90 and hollowbody fan, my interest was piqued when Gretsch released the G2655 (horrible name) with the Fidelisonic staple P90 pickups. Demos made them sound good to me. The fact Gretsch made no lefties made them unobtainable though.

So I'm interested in the pickups alone, and have other guitars I could put them in. I know there are other staple P90s out there, but I find them price-prohibitive. I see a few sets of pickups here and there on Reverb and Ebay claiming to be Gretsch Fidelisonics. I don't know whether they are or not. They look alike, but I see something really odd...

Of course the thing about staple pickups is their unusual rectangular pole pieces:

Real staple P90s show the poles being rectangular through the whole pickup, but these listings purporting to be Gretsch Fidelisonics keep showing round pole pieces on the back like this:


So for anyone who has a set (especially in a G2655 because Gretsch doesn't sell the pickups alone), a couple questions... Are they real staple pickups, or just round pole p90s with staple looking tops. or some other explanation? Google's not answering these. Thanks!

I just found answers to my own questions in this awesome article:
https://www.pressreader.com/australia/g ... 7510639904
Bottom line, the FideliSonics look like staple P90s, but real staple P90 poles are rectangular all the way through and are the magnets. The FideliSonics are pretty standard P90s with the bottom magnets, and staple looking tops.

Incidentally, if you think Gretsch does not make what you want in a lefty give Jerry at Jerry's Lefty Guitars a call, you might be surprised.

mickey wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:28 pm Incidentally, if you think Gretsch does not make what you want in a lefty give Jerry at Jerry's Lefty Guitars a call, you might be surprised.

You're right, he gets some special runs made, and that's cool. Typically though, he has to get enough people to pre-order the same guitar to make that work. So then it's a question of:

How many lefties think they need an arch top hollow body Gibson scale double cut with snarly staple type P90s? I know, this is a question for a defunct lefty forum (where I've seen forum guitars get made). (picture flipped for emphasis on lefty)

Well, if it is something Gretsch makes in righty's all he has to do is order 4 lefty's and they will make them.
For a special run, he has to order 32 to get them made.
So if it is something he thinks he can easily sell 4 of, the odds of getting one are a lot better.

mickey wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:44 pm Well, if it is something Gretsch makes in righty's all he has to do is order 4 lefty's and they will make them.
For a special run, he has to order 32 to get them made.
So if it is something he thinks he can easily sell 4 of, the odds of getting one are a lot better.

I did not know that, thanks!

I’ve always thought staple alnico V pickups are pretty close to dynasonics. So if you’re after that sound that might be another option. This is from recent Gretsch dynas and my 72 Gibson 54 reissue with staple neck pickup. I’ve never heard a staple bridge pickup. The neck staple is also somewhat similar to a strat neck pickup but with a bit more midrange/P90 tone.

Both staple and dynas are great for clean tones because they give this big round complex tone, and they do ok with a little gain but even moderate gain and the complex goes to mud pretty quick. On my Gibson 54RI, that’s when I flip to the bridge P90

Longblacktie wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:10 pm I’ve always thought staple alnico V pickups are pretty close to dynasonics. So if you’re after that sound that might be another option. This is from recent Gretsch dynas and my 72 Gibson 54 reissue with staple neck pickup. I’ve never heard a staple bridge pickup. The neck staple is also somewhat similar to a strat neck pickup but with a bit more midrange/P90 tone.

Both staple and dynas are great for clean tones because they give this big round complex tone, and they do ok with a little gain but even moderate gain and the complex goes to mud pretty quick. On my Gibson 54RI, that’s when I flip to the bridge P90

Well initially I understand Les Paul put a Dynasonic in place of his P90 because it was darker than he liked. I'd say a staple P90 is not exactly a Dynasonic, but intended to address the same issue the Dynasonic was intended to address.

There's a thread here that has some side by side shots: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... s.2055742/

mickey wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:44 pm Well, if it is something Gretsch makes in righty's all he has to do is order 4 lefty's and they will make them.
For a special run, he has to order 32 to get them made.
So if it is something he thinks he can easily sell 4 of, the odds of getting one are a lot better.

Unfortunately, Jerry tells me that's not the case currently and can't get them made. It sounds like Gretsch is just as impacted as everyone else by the supply chain issues and potential recession. I'll live.

BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:43 pm

mickey wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:44 pm Well, if it is something Gretsch makes in righty's all he has to do is order 4 lefty's and they will make them.
For a special run, he has to order 32 to get them made.
So if it is something he thinks he can easily sell 4 of, the odds of getting one are a lot better.

Unfortunately, Jerry tells me that's not the case currently and can't get them made. It sounds like Gretsch is just as impacted as everyone else by the supply chain issues and potential recession. I'll live.

Sorry 'bout that! I know that is how it used to be (pre-covid.)

golem wrote: ↑Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:15 pm

Longblacktie wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:10 pm I’ve always thought staple alnico V pickups are pretty close to dynasonics. So if you’re after that sound that might be another option. This is from recent Gretsch dynas and my 72 Gibson 54 reissue with staple neck pickup. I’ve never heard a staple bridge pickup. The neck staple is also somewhat similar to a strat neck pickup but with a bit more midrange/P90 tone.

Both staple and dynas are great for clean tones because they give this big round complex tone, and they do ok with a little gain but even moderate gain and the complex goes to mud pretty quick. On my Gibson 54RI, that’s when I flip to the bridge P90

Well initially I understand Les Paul put a Dynasonic in place of his P90 because it was darker than he liked. I'd say a staple P90 is not exactly a Dynasonic, but intended to address the same issue the Dynasonic was intended to address.

There's a thread here that has some side by side shots: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... s.2055742/

Thanks for the thread link. Their description matches mine exactly. The staple is a bit more P90 than the dyna, and with the physical differences I guess that makes sense.

I did pop, and bought a set of the Gretsch FideliSonics. Even though they're not really staple pickups, I like the demos I've heard and the look. When they arrive, they're either going into a taxi yellow Jazzmaster style P90 based Reville or will be replacing the toasters in my Harm 1.

I have a staple pickup from EYguitar. Very inexpensive and has the rectangle mag all the way through.

Original staples were radically different on the underside.
* Still cant attach images on this forum. sigh.