Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Cpt_Gonzo on May 19, 2011, 11:56:55 AM
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No, seriously. Since this is my first post, hi all. Cpt_Gonzo here, from Germany.
I play everything Rock/ Hard Rock/ Metal from the 60s to the early 90s.
I currently have a Swamp Ash/ maple neck/ fretboard Strat for that.
It's loaded with DiMarzio minihums, Super D bridge, chopper middle, Air Norton neck.
And I don't like them.
Since the guitar is routed for an HSH setup, I thought I might aswell go the Fullsize-hum route now.
The Super D is bearable, but just not my style. It's kinda weird, since the full-size Super D is a very nice Pickup to me - has to be something with the singlecoil size. The middle has WAY to much power and doesn't deliver the famous 2 and 4 position sounds a Strat does usually, even with split humbuckers. The neck is way to hot, too, and is lacking Sustain.
The overall clean tone is also not what I consider "clean". It's quite distorted, has no top-end, whereas I like well defined, warm clean tone with a little "sparkle" on top (neck position and/or split, that is).
So I've been thinking about the Holy Diver set and a Single Coil for the mid position.
Would that work? What single coil can you recommend for the middle?
thanks in advance!
BTW, here's the fiddle in question:
(http://www.abload.de/img/p1020518zt2o.jpg) (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=p1020518zt2o.jpg)
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I think that guitar is screaming out for Holydivers! maybe with a Irish Tour centre single coil, you will get very good split coil sounds from the HDs as well.
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Yeah I was thinking that the Holy Divers go well with my obsession for 80s metal...Iron Maiden, Scorpions. You get the idea.
Also, I like the idea of having a set of Zebra pickups on a black pickguard/ orange finish guitar. Sort of like Seymour Duncan's "TeleGib".
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Yes, that should work really nice with a Holy Diver in the bridge!
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First: that's a nice guitar!
Second: I recommend the Diver too. This one will beef up (ash is a percussive tonewood) your guitar, being quite middy, but will not be overwarm in ash. The middlepos. could be an IT. I have the Crawler/IT's in an swampashstrat and it's a great combo. I use pos. 2 + 4 (Crawler splitted) very much. These deliver the classic Fender-quack. The Diver splits great too. If you want a bit more mids in the middle, look at a Slowhand.
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The Holydiver is the best pickup I've ever played without exception and would be perfect for what you want. I'm sure Irish Tour and Slowhand would work really well with a splitted Holydiver. I use Trilogy Suites myself but then my Holydivers are never splitted.
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Looks like a Holdy Diver and the Irish Tour will be it for bridge/ middle.
How is the Holy Diver in the neck position? I understand that it has less output and is somewhat modeled after the SD SH2?
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red strat screams Vivian Campbell
like a bloody rainbow in the dark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRX5nQPWUEA
(I know that wasn't a strat)
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God, how I love that era of DIO.
And that song in particular.
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Bump, does anyone have detailed information about the neck Holy Diver? How does that one sound? It has quite a lot less resistance than the bridge model so I'd expect it to be quite a clear pickup.
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It's a great match for the bridge model, and one of the favourite neck pups in the BKP range, you wont be dissapointed!
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Up from the dead! Why?
This is why:
(http://www.abload.de/img/2011-07-1309.59.53ecb2.jpg) (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=2011-07-1309.59.53ecb2.jpg)
Thanks for your help fellas, really looking forward to getting these installed!
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Congrats! Hope you like them.
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They'll be wired up in a rather complicated way, with automatical pot value split (so the split HB sees 250k and the HB 500k potentiometers...) and a neck blend pot.
So I'll be able to get pretty much any sound out of it. Went for a Slowhand in the middle, too. Wanted it a tad smoother.
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(http://www.abload.de/img/p1030960qr1t.jpg) (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=p1030960qr1t.jpg)
Allright, the only thing I wanted was a decent set of Pickups for my Strat. Doesn't sound too hard, eh?
What I got though...totally blew me away in any aspect. I'm of course still honeymooning with it, but MAN, I didn't know my Strat could sound that good. I'm amazed. Full humbuckers are pure rock, neck pickup is "teh creamz", split sounds are wonderful...just wonderful...
Thanks Bareknuckle Pickups, this journey was definately worth it.
Period.
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:) Even looks better now. BKP's usually open up the guitar, more air bec of superb stringseparation. With loads of gain they stay defined/refined.
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Yeah, exactly! I'm surprised that this pickup is so thick and creamy and yet has loads of definition and muscle.
Just overall great stuff.
Wiring is as following:
1. Bridge HB (500kOhm)
2. Bridge HB + SC (500kOhm)
3. SC (250kOhm)
4. Neck HB + SC (500kOhm)
5. Neck HB (500kOhm)
Minitoggle: Humbucker Split (250kOhm)
Lowermost potentiometer: Blend Potentiometer for either neck or bridge PU, depending on switch location. Works split or not.
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That's pretty versatile. You can play nearly anything on this axe now.
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HOLY MOLY!!! You have a stunning guitar! CONGRATS!!!!! Man its hot!!
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That's pretty versatile. You can play nearly anything on this axe now.
Absolutely, also I wouldn't have thought that the Humbuckers give me that good of a clean tone. It does do absolutely anything. Jazz, Blues, Rock, Hard Rock, Metal.
HOLY MOLY!!! You have a stunning guitar! CONGRATS!!!!! Man its hot!!
Why thank you :A Yep, she's a rather classy lady isn't she :D
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Glad you like the Divers ;).
That switching with the pots sounds rather complicated but pretty cool! How does it work and did you wire it yourself?
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Basically you add a resistor in single coil mode. My guitar tech did the job and he pretty much invented it, so I won't go into the details here.
But similiar stuff can be found at this website (http://www.acys-lounge.de), he's another guitar tech that does this sort of stuff. He calls it the "ultimate split wiring".
And believe me, it works. No more shrill split sounds. I love it.
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Allright, the only thing I wanted was a decent set of Pickups for my Strat. Doesn't sound too hard, eh?
What I got though...totally blew me away in any aspect. I'm of course still honeymooning with it, but (...)
My experience with BKPs is that when it's instant love, the honeymoon tends to last for quite a long time... Still in love with my Crawlers and BGF52s like it was the first day, always amazed at how good they sound (and how good they make my guitars sound), and it looks like the Mule neck / NB bridge on my SG is going to be a long lasting love affair too ;)
Glad you enjoy your first BKP set (and nice guitar indeed, BTW, even if I'm not really into HSH / floyd-like superstrats) 8)
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I'm still in the honeymoon phase with my Holydiver, and i bought it a year ago :lol:
I'm always playing with height, which sort of makes me "rediscover" the pickup every time I play.
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Allright, the only thing I wanted was a decent set of Pickups for my Strat. Doesn't sound too hard, eh?
What I got though...totally blew me away in any aspect. I'm of course still honeymooning with it, but (...)
My experience with BKPs is that when it's instant love, the honeymoon tends to last for quite a long time... Still in love with my Crawlers and BGF52s like it was the first day, always amazed at how good they sound (and how good they make my guitars sound), and it looks like the Mule neck / NB bridge on my SG is going to be a long lasting love affair too ;)
The same here :)
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(http://www.abload.de/img/p1030961fuk1.jpg) (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=p1030961fuk1.jpg)
you know...new amp day, good reason for another picture :D
VOX VTX150, I am the first one on the Internet to have one. Actually, I kept my eyes open for it for weeks and I grabbed the first one available from absolute music solutions in Poole, UK.
Can't recommend them enough, If you want to buy stuff there, ask for Tim.
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Bump for the following:
Took the guitar to band rehearsal yesterday and I wasn't really satisfied with how the Diver performed. Too much bass, not enough cutting power. Didn't stick out in the mix.
Then I adjusted the height. Holy moley, it's true! It got brighter and more aggressive the closer I came to the strings.
5 minute job of finding the sweet spot and It's like a whole new dimension now.
Awesome.
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That is a very beautiful guitar now. It looked nice before but even better now.
Glad the Divers work for you. I haven't played the HD neck but love the HD bridge in my PRS Custom.
Cheers Stephan
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I experienced the same with my Crawler. Find the sweet spot and it smokes. Hope you have fun with the Diver. :)