Recent Posts

1

Pickups / Pickups for Charvel Ash body, HH, fixed bridge,

« Last post by ekkybedmond on December 31, 2025, 12:08:00 PM »

Hi there,
bought the above mentiod axe relatively cheap. It came with Holy Divers and the mind boggling switching of pickups (single coil,) and a 3 way switch that sucks (it cr@ps out between settings....)

The guitar is great, setup real expertly and the fixed bridge is also great.

I play pop rock in a cover band, and hardrock at home.

The pickups (HD's) I do not like for this. They are far too direct and modern for my tast. So looking for alternatives, more classic pickups. Ik like a clear neck up and a thick-ish bridge. Taking in account an Ash (brite) body, what youáll think and recommend.

2

Pickups / Re: Fan of Holydiver looking for advice on new guitar Ibanez QX54qm

« Last post by Arthurus on December 23, 2025, 01:34:24 PM »

Thanks a lot ! That was really informative.
I just shot an email to the sales service because I had more questions on the singles, but more of the logistical kind.
Happy holydays

3

Pickups / Re: Fan of Holydiver looking for advice on new guitar Ibanez QX54qm

« Last post by timmy_b on December 23, 2025, 09:40:24 AM »

I certainly think that a Holydiver CAN work in this guitar, but there are also several options to move to which have less going on in the low mids, but use the same Alnico v magnet as the Holydiver, so have a similar feel and dynamics. The Rebel Yell would be a good option, which shifts things a little brighter across the board, trimming some lows and low mids and bringing a little more sparkle in the highs. Also the Black Dog is somewhat of a cousin of the Holydiver, using the same Alnico v magnet and SPN coil wire, but in a thicker wire gauge which produces a lower resistance coil and shifts the resonant peak upwards. It still has a strong midrange, but it isn't set as low in the frequency spectrum as with the Holydiver.

For singlecoils, if you want versatility for metal and fusion tones, the Trilogy Suite coils are tough to beat!

4

Pickups / Fan of Holydiver looking for advice on new guitar Ibanez QX54qm

« Last post by Arthurus on December 21, 2025, 06:50:47 PM »

Hi ! I've had the Holydiver in my Music Man Silhouette for years. I just bought a new guitar (Ibanez QX54qm) and am looking into changing the stock pickups.
What I'm worried about is that this guitar in particular, played acoustically, has a lot of low mids (like a bump in the 250 to 300hz).

So I'm looking into first a replacement bridge pickup that wouldn't be as pronounced in that frequency range as the Holydiver but would have a similar character, and next some single pickups to pair it with, since the guitar is in HSS.

I'm not really well versed in single coil pîckups, but I intend to play fusion and metal in standard tuning on this guitar. Not really looking for a vintage sound.

Note that the answer to my question might very well be that yeah, the Holydiver could still be the right pickup for me.

5

The Dressing Room / Re: Good Morning

« Last post by richard on December 14, 2025, 10:24:54 PM »

I haven't been here much lately. Used to be very lively a few years back but now it's pretty dead.

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Pickups / Re: Tokai UALS62F LP Style new pickups

« Last post by DarkshinE81 on December 12, 2025, 01:33:41 PM »

Thanks for your reply, Timmy
After several days thinking about it, I am pretty sure to choose the Black Dog set. I like to get both vintage and modern sounds without giving up to that PAFish things. I am quite confident that this is the right choice.

7

Pickups / Re: Tokai UALS62F LP Style new pickups

« Last post by timmy_b on December 08, 2025, 01:07:57 PM »

Ultimately, your Tokai should be a great host for pretty much any humbucker, so I wouldn't say that you need to compensate in any specific way to compliment the guitar.
For a versatile sound, something with a medium output is usually going to be best, as it gives you a nice balance between power and dynamics. Alnico v pickups certainly offer a good balance in that regard and a pickup like the Holydiver is absolutely going to give you great variety, but does sit reasonably high in terms of power, so you would get a more dynamic result from something a little lower down the scale such as the Black Dog for sure

8

Pickups / Tokai UALS62F LP Style new pickups

« Last post by DarkshinE81 on December 05, 2025, 09:05:18 PM »

Hi all,

It's my first topic on this forum.

I recently bought a TOKAI UALS62F LP Style Honey Burst made in China, I will soon be looking to replace the standard pickups in order to add a new set and I am evalueting the Bare Knuckle ones. I play guitar in an instrumental post metal band called The Last Sound Revelation so I would need pickups as more versatile as possible in order to cover all the moods, from high-gain punching and fat palm-muting to progressive and wet clean sounds. I was thinking about the Holydiver model because it seems very suited for most of applications. Is there any other model that you should suggest for the Tokai LP? Not sure if an high or a lower output would preferable for that specific guitar model. I like The Mule and Black Dog as well.

Waiting for your suggests.

Thanks in advance.

9

Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by timmy_b on December 02, 2025, 10:44:07 AM »

We do alter the number of turns between 50mm and 53mm versions, but a 53mm set will come out with a slightly higher DCR in almost all cases. It also has a physically larger coil, which will sound a little warmer and less punchy than a more compact 50mm coil set - not a dramatic difference, but certainly audible and could go a fair way to explain any difference that you're hearing between different sized pickups. I think it's a fair indicator of how precise and nuanced pickup building is!

Otherwise, the most likely variable between two sets is simply inconsisitencies in the wire / coating between different spools - potentially the two pickups you had could have been wound many years apart and, although our wire supply hasn't changed over the years, each spool will have a slightly different coating thickness, which we keep on top of and adapt wind counts as we go to mitigate any variance, but is always going to add in some level of variation, which would be the case for any coil, regardless of whether it's hand or machine wound.

10

Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by b.gandt on November 22, 2025, 05:32:27 PM »

Odd.  I’ve always heard that a particular string or two will be weak in terms of volume, especially with vintage output humbuckers.  The only personal experience with out of alignment I’ve had was the treble side  of the bar of a Dimarzio X2N.  However, that pickup is so hot that it picked up the treble e string sufficiently.