Lollar Pickups Standard Wind P90s

The Frank Brothers Arcade Goldtop is getting a pickup upgrade — and this time, more heft. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the Lollar Standard Wind P90 Soapbar pickups take center stage in a dedicated guitar pickup demo — installed in the Frank Brothers Arcade Goldtop, into the Benson Amps Monarch at three different gain levels: clean (around 3), broken up (around 6), and cranked.

The Frank Brothers Arcade originally came with Lollar '50s Wind P90s installed by Frank Brothers as part of the build. The '50s Wind is a specific voicing — based on copies of Sean Costello's '53 Goldtop, with de-gaussed Alnico 2 magnets producing lower output, a delicate attack, and a brighter, more balanced frequency response. It's an excellent pickup for clean clarity and chime.

The Standard Wind P90 uses Alnico 5 magnets and is more midrange-forward, with more of the characteristic growl that players tend to associate with P-90s. More wind means more output, warmer attack, and more immediate saturation when you push an amp. For a maple-top / mahogany-body guitar into a Benson Monarch — where the maple is already contributing brightness and articulation — the Standard Wind's added midrange warmth and heft is the better pairing. The tone knob capacitor interaction in the middle position holds some especially good sounds in this configuration.

This is a direct A/B in the same guitar, same amp — the sonic difference between Alnico 2 lighter output and Alnico 5 midrange heft, in a guitar and amp combination that shows both clearly.

🎸 Lollar Standard Wind P90: https://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-pickups
🎸 Frank Brothers Guitar Company: https://www.frankbrothersguitars.com
🔊 Benson Amps: https://www.bensonamps.com/guitar-amplifiers

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🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade Goldtop | Lollar Standard Wind P90 Soapbars | B5 Bigsby
🔊 Benson Amps Monarch