BKP's For RG1570

[drumsguitaranddeath]

Ok, hopefully soon I'll be a first time BKP customer, however, first I think I need some advice.

I have an Ibanez RG1570 -
Basswood Body
H-S-H
Edge Pro
Rosewood Board etc.

At the moment, while the guitar is very nice, the pickups leave a fair bit to be desired. They are fairly muddy, bland and lifeless. The stock P/Us from my MIM Stratocaster are far nicer.

I play through a Hughes and Kettner Statesman Dual EL84.
Mostly I play bluesy rock, with a bit of alternative/funk/jazz/harder rock.

In the neck i'm looking for a very warm, smooth, singing tone -  Think some Satriani/Santana.... Also, needs to have nice warm cleans.

The middle, maybe a slightly warmer version of a classic single coil - Slowhand perhaps?

Bridge - A nice bit of crunch, used mainly for rhythm, but also some more 'trebly' leads... Think Led Zep/Older Santana

They must all clean up pretty well with the volume knob.

Currently i was looking at (for the humbuckers) sets of Abraxas, Black Dogs or Mules....

Cheers for your help
Adam

[MDV]

Welcome to the forum!

Middle: I think you have the right idea.

Neck: I'm thinking Crawler or abraxis

Bridge: Mule, Black dog or maybe VHII.

That said, I'm out of my element here, so mainly: welcome.

[drumsguitaranddeath]

Cheers! It seems to be a nice forum, glad I found it.

Hmm, the crawler does sound nice - the neck OD clip on it's product page. Anybody know how the Abraxas would compare? I have read it is a good choice for warm fat leads? Due to their DC resistance being similar does that mean they would sound close to one another, or does the Alnico IV vs.V magnet make a large difference?


Would a crawler/abraxas/similar be too hot (well, loud)  for something like a Black Dog in the neck? Again, i'm just going on DC resistance, which seems to increase with 'heat' of the pickups, but I don't really know loads about it.

Cheers
Adam

[MDV]

I'm not too up on the minutia of the differences between the lowr output pickups - look down the products list to "Contemporary" - thats my bag.

That said, I can tell you this: dont get too hung up on the DC resistance. Thats only one part of the puzzle of how a pickup sounds.

That, and Tim can wind pairs of any two pickups to be well matched. For example I have a perfectly ballanced pair consisting of a Ceramic Warpig (the most powerfull BK ordered with any regularity) and a cold sweat neck. I also have a normal warpig and 2 irish tours - they are all ballanced beutifully.

There is magnet info at the top of the page you may find helpfull. I think the biggest difference that a magnet makes isnt in power (it does make a difference there, obviously!) but it what frequencies are emphasised and de-emphasised.

[drumsguitaranddeath]

Ahh, yes. From that Abraxas would be out in front I guess, AIV sounds a bit nicer for the neck than AV.

Black Dogs, well, surely that's Zep tone all over!

So so far, I think I will get

Neck - Abraxas
Mid - Slowhand
Bridge - Black Dog

Unless anybody has any other suggestions?
Of course I will ask Tim first, but may as well wait until I have the money to buy them!

Cheers
Adam

[il˙ti]

If I were you I'd go with an Abraxas set (+ a single coil in the middle). You'd get vintage tone, lots of Santana-sing and enough output from the bridge to get a nice range of distortion with the volume knob. Very versatile set aswell.

(by the way, the Crawler neck is AIV aswell, it just isn't specified on the product page)

[drumsguitaranddeath]

Ok, that does sound good - slightly cheaper as well :p

But it seems the Abraxas bridge isn't quite as popular, does anyone know why?

Cheers
Adam

[il˙ti]

Ok, that does sound good - slightly cheaper as well :p

But it seems the Abraxas bridge isn't quite as popular, does anyone know why?

Cheers
Adam

Same thing was brought up in this thread:
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=13056.0

I never got my answer confirmed though, so I'm not sure, but I think it makes sense. People have had great results using it in strat style guitars. And for "bluesy rock, with a bit of alternative/funk/jazz/harder rock" and obviously with the mention of Santana, Abraxas should be the ideal set for you. But as always: if in doubt - email Tim.

[drumsguitaranddeath]

Thanks, I will E-mail him of course, but I'm getting the funds together first, don't really want to come to an agreement before I can pay!

Cheers everyone!
Adam