Good Pairing for Holydiver Neck

[Aleks with a K]

Looking to experiment with a holydiver neck in an Ibanes RG652 (basswood body, maple / walnut neck, rosewood board).  Set-up will be in Drop C.

I hear amazing things about the holydiver neck, but was hoping to find something that was tighter for the bridge pup.  The guitar will probably be metal-focused, but I do hope to give it universal application, too.

Am I mistaken, and is the holydiver bridge what I am truly looking for?  If not, is there a tighter bridge pup that will play nice with it?

[ericsabbath]

well, that depends on the amp and pedals
it does sound tight with tight sounding amps and works great with overdrives
if you want a tighter voiced pickup without compromising versatility, there's the rebel yell

[Dave Sloven]

Besides the Holy Diver you could take a closer look at the Miracle Man for the bridge

[darkbluemurder]

The BKP I liked best in combination with the Holydiver neck was the Cold Sweat bridge so I would recommend that if you want a similar high end from both pickups. I also had Rebel Yell bridge/HD neck in a different guitar but put back the RY neck since the midrange of both pickups combined better compared with the HD neck.

With the HD set you get a warm powerful bridge and a clear bright neck.

Cheers Stephan

[silence2-38554]

I just finished trying out a variety of pickups in a similar guitar to yours (RG570), also set up for drop C / metal.  The set I have in there now that will most likely stay is the alnico Nailbomb bridge and VHII neck.  Do you already have the Holy Diver neck?  I personally hated that pickup (way too much pick attack for a neck pickup imo) & found the bridge version not tight enough.  Though, if I were to try the HD bridge again I would pair it with an Emerald neck, which is sort of between the VHII and Diver.