Gibson Nighthawk - which pickups!?

[Papa J]

Hi there, first post, looking for some guidance!

I have a '97 Gibson Nighthawk with Floyd Rose which I adore, but as with many Gibsons imo, the stock pickups let it down  :(
So, I want to get the 3 pickups rewound to BKP specs. It has a mini humbucker/firebird pickup in the neck, single coil in the middle and slanted humbucker at the bridge. The humbuckers both have coil splitting too.

Obviously with this setup, I can already get a huuuge range of sounds, but wanting more clarity and output. Some people's tones I am into are: Hendrix/SRV/Eric Johnson Strat, Richie Kotzen Tele and Nuno Bettencourt, Guthrie Govan or Greg Howe on the humbucker side of things.

Not into really high output, so I've been thinking VHIIs or Rebel Yells for the humbuckers and maybe an Irish Tour for the middle? Anybody have experience with these (particularly coil splitting them)? What else do you recommend?

Many thanks 8)

[PhilKing]

You won't be able to get huge output from the mini-humbuker.  The best is probably something like a VHII tone, but without the same power.  The coils are too small and you can only wind so much on them.  I'm not sure what you can get from the bridge, but BK do a set of pickups called Knuckle Dusters which are a slanted hb from 2 tele bridge pickups an a mini-hb from 2 tele neck pickups.  With a slowhand in the middle, they might work for you, unless you want to rewind the originals.

[Papa J]

You won't be able to get huge output from the mini-humbuker.  The best is probably something like a VHII tone, but without the same power.  The coils are too small and you can only wind so much on them.  I'm not sure what you can get from the bridge, but BK do a set of pickups called Knuckle Dusters which are a slanted hb from 2 tele bridge pickups an a mini-hb from 2 tele neck pickups.  With a slowhand in the middle, they might work for you, unless you want to rewind the originals.

Thanks Phil,
Yeah, looking to rewind the originals. Cheaper I think anyway and VHII specs do seem like the best idea. Although this Knuckle Duster setup sounds interesting! I will have a look. Cheers.

[Philly Q]

The Knuckledusters were made for a company called Nathan Sheppard guitars - I don't know if they're still going?

They might or might not fit the Nighthawk.

[Telerocker]

The VHII is a screaming rockpickup which I start too like every day more. It's balanced, very touchsensitive, it cleans up great and when you dig in you can get wicked tones. Mine is sitting is an ash American Series Fender HSS-strat. Due to the offset-coils it's not thin or overly trebly, even in ash.

[Papa J]

Cheers Telerocker! Nice 1. I will probably go with VHII for the bridge.

Philly, I've since seen some of the old posts on the knuckle duster (Nathan Shepard guitars look great btw!) and that guitar does look exactly llike a Nighthawk in its layout. I would love that in the neck position. Might see if Tim would be up for it...

[PhilKing]

The Knuckledusters were made for a company called Nathan Sheppard guitars - I don't know if they're still going?

They might or might not fit the Nighthawk.

Don't mention Nathan Sheppard around me - he took a tousand quid deposit and then vanished - I even went around to his house to try to get it sorted, but he wasn't in.  He's working as a builder with his father and doesn't seem to be doing anything with guitars anymore.

[Philly Q]

Don't mention Nathan Sheppard around me - he took a tousand quid deposit and then vanished - I even went around to his house to try to get it sorted, but he wasn't in. 

Blimey, that's out of order!  :o

I wonder how many other people he shafted?

[FredD]

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