HSH vs HSS pickup decisions :)

[mbchepburn]

Ok I have an Aftermath Set in my Les Paul to play metalcore etc. A C-bomb/Coldsweat neck combo in my Ibanez S for more technical and progressive metal. But what I want now is a guitar that is made just for instrumental purposes. Something that makes the melodies sound heartfull and full of life and character.  I'd prob be playing styles like Satriani (not his tone, more his sense of what the music is trying to speak) The reason I'm alsso looking at the HSS config is becasue I like the sounds of sweep chords on the neck pickup and I think clean playing myt sound that more sparklier. The disadvantage would I wouldnt get the creamyness of a humbucker when playing solos. Im just really torn atm haha. Any sergestions would be greatly appreciated. The guy I'm having made is an alder body with a Floyd and a maple neck with Rosewood or Ebony fingerboard. Not decided on 22 or 24 frets.

Thanks

[mbchepburn]

Oh I've been looking at the Holy Diver in the bridge if anyone has any opinions on that

[Telerocker]

The Diver does great in alder. For the single coils I would look at Trilogies.

[mbchepburn]

Thats the exact setup I was looking at and was hoping someone would say lol

[Telerocker]

Yes, I thought this is the best combi for your styles. The TS are powerful enough for fluid solo's. Slowhands would be a tad too vintage, I reckon. Sinners on the (too) hot side.

[dave_mc]

I'm not sure about the specific pickups, but I can never decide if i prefer HSS or HSH either.

I think when push comes to shove I prefer HSH for that kind of stuff, though. Both satch and vai use a neck humbucker enough that one is needed more than a single coil, I think. :)

[Philly Q]

This is all very different from my kind of thing, but I don't like HSH just because it gets very cluttered with so much space under the strings filled with pickups!

I like HSS, I also like HH with a five-way switch - you can wire it with some coil-split options which come very close to Strat/Tele sounds, but you still have that neck humbucker too.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I have a Holydiver with two Trilogy Suites in my Jackson and it's a great combination. The Trilogy Suites are excellent and the Holydiver is beyond belief.

[mbchepburn]

I sent the exact same message to Tim and Ben replied with this

'Hi Mike,
 
 There are several different things here to discuss. If you want HSS or HSH with Trilogy Suites then you will need high output, preferably ceramic magnet humbuckers - probably Miracle Man would be best or Painkiller. You will need the extra cut and drive of the ceramic magnet to balance the rosewood board.

Is it me or does this seem utter rubbish? I think ceramics are the last I need. It's like offering Slash to switch to EMGs lol

[dave_mc]

i haven't tried the TSs, but that does sorta make sense. Generally you want the humbuckers to be roughly twice the output of your singles so that thay match up in the in-between positions (assuming the humbucker splits in those positions).

[mbchepburn]

I mean because I'm after a sort of organic tone that's really smooth for solos rather than just another metal pickup. I'll be playing a lot of soft melodies and heartfelt solos, but distorted. It's just so hard to pick with all the pickups available lol

[Telerocker]

The BKP-recommendation does make sense if the position two and four is important for you. The balance will be great when the splitted the Diver has an equal dc-resistance as the middlesinglecoil. If this is not so important for your, I can not see why TS's would not work. They have the higher output for modern solotones. Otherwise I would look at IT's or Slowhands.

[nickcoumbe]

I have a thru-neck Charvel with a Trilogy Suite in the neck and a Miracle Man in the bridge.

They balance out pretty well in terms of relative volume

[Slartibartfarst42]

I sent the exact same message to Tim and Ben replied with this

'Hi Mike,
 
 There are several different things here to discuss. If you want HSS or HSH with Trilogy Suites then you will need high output, preferably ceramic magnet humbuckers - probably Miracle Man would be best or Painkiller. You will need the extra cut and drive of the ceramic magnet to balance the rosewood board.

Is it me or does this seem utter rubbish? I think ceramics are the last I need. It's like offering Slash to switch to EMGs lol

I'm with you on this mate. It's not that I don't think something like a Miracle Man wouldn't work, but I seriously believe that on that guitar and for that style, the Holydiver is a much better option and it will work absolutely fine with Trilogy Suites. In fairness, I never have my Holydiver splitted so positions 2 and 4 always use the full humbucker and it works fine. I even have it wired so I have the option of permanently engaging the Holydiver so position 5 becomes neck and bridge and position 4 uses all three pickups. I love that combination. If anything, the Trilogy Suites could do with a touch more juice to live with the Holydiver.