Asking for Gibson lap steel info.

[Mike Christensen]

It seems the Ultratone,Century,and BR6 alluse the same pickup. The P90. Would assume the tonal quality would be about the same. Correct?
What is it about the Charlie Christian Pickup that gets the raves? Great tone, great power,both, or is it because its old ? I do play in bars so do like to have some power. Have not had a Gibson yet. Shopping. Thanks. MikeC

[Jack Hanson]

It seems the Ultratone,Century,and BR6 alluse the same pickup. The P90.

The first generation Ultratones, Centurys, and BR-6s had the "racetrack/wide oval" pickups with non-adjustable alnico magnet slugs for polepieces. Sometime about 1951, all three models featured redesigned bodies and the new P-90 pickup with adjustable poles. With the exception of some PAF-equipped 1957 - 1959 Ultratones, and the 1966 - 1967 Centurys with the Firebird pickups, BR-6s, Ultratones & Centurys post-1951 were equipped P-90s.

Would assume the tonal quality would be about the same.

They would likely be more alike than different. The Ultratones and Centurys usually shared the exact electronic circuit and components, with two tone controls. BR-6s had only one tone control.

[Mike Christensen]

Thanks much Jack. Do you know anything about the Firebird pickups? First I have heard of them.

[Jack Hanson]

Do you know anything about the Firebird pickups? First I have heard of them.

The Firebird pickup (aka mini-humbucker) does not have adjustable polepieces, is smaller, and generally considered to be brighter than Seth Lover's original Gibson humbucker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-humbucker

The humbucker- & mini-humbucker-equipped Gibson lap steels have a special bridge with significantly narrower string spacing than those featuring P-90s.

[Mike Christensen]

Thank you once again Jack. You are You are for sure helping narrow down my choices. Looking like an early Ultratone,Century or BR6.Happy Trails. MikeC

[Noah Miller]

The Firebird pickup is very different from a conventional mini-humubcker despite having the same footprint. While the mini-humbucker is just a shrinken humbucker with one slug coil and one screw coil, the Firebird has blade magnets inside each coil with no bar magnet underneath. As a result, it has a totally different sound.