Nailbomb series/parallel (input appreciated)......

[ShotgunInnocence]

I recently took delivery of 2 new BKPs (a neck Crawler and a bridge Nailbomb) to install into my Les Paul-clone.  Has anyone bothered to wire a Nailbomb for the series/parallel option with a push-pull pot?  If so, please chime in with your thoughts on the Nailbomb's sound in series, as I'm considering this option.  Worth my while or stick to just series?

[ShotgunInnocence]

Hmmmm, I guess I'm the first of the forum lurkers to try this option out?  Anywho, just got it back from my tech and sweet-baby-jesus what a difference!!!  The git came with old muddy, microphonic DiMario PAFs.  It's been said a thousand times, but I'll say it again.  The Nailbomb and Crawler (and BKPs in general) have such superior clarity and articulation in comparison, and they clean up soooooooo much more nicely.  The neck Crawler is smooth and rich as butter and exactly what I was looking for.  And for anyone curious, the bridge Nailbomb in parallel is a REALLY nice option.  Played clean, it has a sweet, chimey and articulate character.  Hit it with some gain and it has a less aggressive (but only a little less) attitude than series, and it works great for more classic/vintage tones.  As for series, I knew the Nailbomb was prone to being "hostile," but I was still a little unprepared for the roar and snarl that I got.....whoa!  I have an HD in a superstrat and I didn't realize how much MORE aggressive the Nailbomb is than the Holy Diver!  I had modified the HD with a ceramic magnet for some extra OOMPH!  And the alnico Nailbomb is still more aggressive!  NICE!!!  4 for 4 so far Tim!!!

[Yellowjacket]

Who knew that, 10 years later, this post would be of use to someone.

So.

I was considering putting mules or mule neck / riff raff bridge in my Les Paul. It currently has a Rebel Yell N and an A-Bomb bridge.
As much as I really like these pickups in this guitar, I was bewitched by Mothers Milk pickups in my Strat and I got to thinking: these vintage pickups are so sweet and overdrive nicely.   Would Mules have a similar quality of sound?  My tech really seems to like Mules in a Les Paul and he recommended the Mother's Milk for my strat and I LOVE THOSE!! 

But.

Then, I also like having high output pickups to really drive my more vintage voiced amp.  The Electra Dyne just needs to be agitated to perform it's best, especially for more raunchy tones. 

But, when I started recording some more classic / vintage tones, I found that the A-Bomb in particular was just pushing a bit too hard.   I've rolled back the volume knob a bit and it's helped but yeah, just not the same.  So.  I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do then I thought about series parallel wiring with push pull pots.  When I did a google search on the subject, lo and behold, this post shows up. 
This is exactly what I am after.  Being able to downshift to a less aggressive and more classic P-90 kind of tone.  This is far preferable, right now, to getting another LP and putting mules in it.  (I may do the latter when COVID is in the rear view mirror and things are more stable financially)

But.  Here's the rub.  I didn't think ahead and I ordered my A-Bomb with braided 2 conductor wiring and I need the pickup modified for the new wiring configuration.  All out, it costs the same to get 4 conductor wiring on my current pickup or to order a new A-Bomb with 4 conductor wiring from the local git shop and then sell the old one.  Just trying to decide what is the better option here.

Basically, if I order a replacement A-Bomb I won't be out more than a couple of days for playing time on the guitar vs at least 1 month to get the current pickup wired.  But I also understand that each pickup is somewhat unique.  I could like the new one more, the same, or maybe even less.. 
I struggle with decision paralysis at the best of times but here, there is really no clear option.  Either situation is roughly the same.  Hence the indecision. 

I am not against input from people but I realize that ultimately, I'll just have to make a call here.  But yeah.  This will be exciting once I put the plan in motion.

Thanks so much for your review from 10 years ago, it really helped me. 

[darrenw5094]

Vintage with power is the Abraxas. The mule is brighter, but not as full sounding in the mids. But the mule does saturate nicely with a dose of overdrive too.

[Yellowjacket]

Vintage with power is the Abraxas. The mule is brighter, but not as full sounding in the mids. But the mule does saturate nicely with a dose of overdrive too.

When I read a comment like this, I can truly see the utility of having more than one Les Paul.

The thing I hate about trying to swap pickups in my Les Paul is that I then have to forego the aggressive snarl of the A-Bomb.  I've got some pretty sick tones out of this pickup; I just want a way to down shift it for more vintage tones.  Like, specifically when pairing it up with my Strat that has the Mother's Milk set.  That guitar is just BEAUTIFUL at the edge of breakup. 

[Nolly]

Who knew that, 10 years later, this post would be of use to someone.

So.

I was considering putting mules or mule neck / riff raff bridge in my Les Paul. It currently has a Rebel Yell N and an A-Bomb bridge.
As much as I really like these pickups in this guitar, I was bewitched by Mothers Milk pickups in my Strat and I got to thinking: these vintage pickups are so sweet and overdrive nicely.   Would Mules have a similar quality of sound?  My tech really seems to like Mules in a Les Paul and he recommended the Mother's Milk for my strat and I LOVE THOSE!! 

But.

Then, I also like having high output pickups to really drive my more vintage voiced amp.  The Electra Dyne just needs to be agitated to perform it's best, especially for more raunchy tones. 

But, when I started recording some more classic / vintage tones, I found that the A-Bomb in particular was just pushing a bit too hard.   I've rolled back the volume knob a bit and it's helped but yeah, just not the same.  So.  I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do then I thought about series parallel wiring with push pull pots.  When I did a google search on the subject, lo and behold, this post shows up. 
This is exactly what I am after.  Being able to downshift to a less aggressive and more classic P-90 kind of tone.  This is far preferable, right now, to getting another LP and putting mules in it.  (I may do the latter when COVID is in the rear view mirror and things are more stable financially)

But.  Here's the rub.  I didn't think ahead and I ordered my A-Bomb with braided 2 conductor wiring and I need the pickup modified for the new wiring configuration.  All out, it costs the same to get 4 conductor wiring on my current pickup or to order a new A-Bomb with 4 conductor wiring from the local git shop and then sell the old one.  Just trying to decide what is the better option here.

Basically, if I order a replacement A-Bomb I won't be out more than a couple of days for playing time on the guitar vs at least 1 month to get the current pickup wired.  But I also understand that each pickup is somewhat unique.  I could like the new one more, the same, or maybe even less.. 
I struggle with decision paralysis at the best of times but here, there is really no clear option.  Either situation is roughly the same.  Hence the indecision. 

I am not against input from people but I realize that ultimately, I'll just have to make a call here.  But yeah.  This will be exciting once I put the plan in motion.

Thanks so much for your review from 10 years ago, it really helped me. 

I have fallen in love with parallel-coil wiring in recent times for exactly the reasons outlined - for me it's a far more "natural" sound than a coil-split bridge humbucker and really does give you a whole new voice for lower gain, more classic tones.
With your 2-conductor situation though, perhaps in the short term you could try a treble-bleed capacitor on your volume pot so that rolling back a bit gives you a bit more sparkle as well as reducing the pickup output. This can work really nicely for emulating a lower output pickup in my experience. I particularly like to use a 100kohm resistor in series with a 220pF cap for this - having the resistor there prevents the tone getting overly bright especially at lower settings. I find with this setup, rolling back to 7 or so on the volume knob can take a higher output pickup and make it sound pretty authentically PAF-y.

[Yellowjacket]

Who knew that, 10 years later, this post would be of use to someone.

So.

I was considering putting mules or mule neck / riff raff bridge in my Les Paul. It currently has a Rebel Yell N and an A-Bomb bridge.
As much as I really like these pickups in this guitar, I was bewitched by Mothers Milk pickups in my Strat and I got to thinking: these vintage pickups are so sweet and overdrive nicely.   Would Mules have a similar quality of sound?  My tech really seems to like Mules in a Les Paul and he recommended the Mother's Milk for my strat and I LOVE THOSE!! 

But.

Then, I also like having high output pickups to really drive my more vintage voiced amp.  The Electra Dyne just needs to be agitated to perform it's best, especially for more raunchy tones. 

But, when I started recording some more classic / vintage tones, I found that the A-Bomb in particular was just pushing a bit too hard.   I've rolled back the volume knob a bit and it's helped but yeah, just not the same.  So.  I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do then I thought about series parallel wiring with push pull pots.  When I did a google search on the subject, lo and behold, this post shows up. 
This is exactly what I am after.  Being able to downshift to a less aggressive and more classic P-90 kind of tone.  This is far preferable, right now, to getting another LP and putting mules in it.  (I may do the latter when COVID is in the rear view mirror and things are more stable financially)

But.  Here's the rub.  I didn't think ahead and I ordered my A-Bomb with braided 2 conductor wiring and I need the pickup modified for the new wiring configuration.  All out, it costs the same to get 4 conductor wiring on my current pickup or to order a new A-Bomb with 4 conductor wiring from the local git shop and then sell the old one.  Just trying to decide what is the better option here.

Basically, if I order a replacement A-Bomb I won't be out more than a couple of days for playing time on the guitar vs at least 1 month to get the current pickup wired.  But I also understand that each pickup is somewhat unique.  I could like the new one more, the same, or maybe even less.. 
I struggle with decision paralysis at the best of times but here, there is really no clear option.  Either situation is roughly the same.  Hence the indecision. 

I am not against input from people but I realize that ultimately, I'll just have to make a call here.  But yeah.  This will be exciting once I put the plan in motion.

Thanks so much for your review from 10 years ago, it really helped me. 

I have fallen in love with parallel-coil wiring in recent times for exactly the reasons outlined - for me it's a far more "natural" sound than a coil-split bridge humbucker and really does give you a whole new voice for lower gain, more classic tones.
With your 2-conductor situation though, perhaps in the short term you could try a treble-bleed capacitor on your volume pot so that rolling back a bit gives you a bit more sparkle as well as reducing the pickup output. This can work really nicely for emulating a lower output pickup in my experience. I particularly like to use a 100kohm resistor in series with a 220pF cap for this - having the resistor there prevents the tone getting overly bright especially at lower settings. I find with this setup, rolling back to 7 or so on the volume knob can take a higher output pickup and make it sound pretty authentically PAF-y.

Hi Nolly, thanks for the feedback.  This is EXACTLY what I am thinking.  I love the idea of downshifting the pickups for vintage tones and that way, I can still have the blowtorch high gain tones I love so much!

So.  I just need to decide if I will ship my A-Bomb to be fitted with 2 conductor wire or if I am going to order a new A-bomb with 4 conductor wire and flip the old pickup.  The financial loss will be pretty much the same plus or minus about 14 pounds / 25 CAD depending on what I could hypothetically sell my current pickup for.

As you know, all hand wound pickups are unique.  And I'd have to wait about 4 - 6 weeks if I send it back. 
What do you think? 


(I hope all is going well with your career, etc)

[Dave Sloven]

I'd buy a new pickup and sell the old one.

I've put treble bleeds on all of my non-'50s recent builds.

The Crawler neck with the alnico Nailbomb is a very interesting combination!

[Yellowjacket]

I'd buy a new pickup and sell the old one.

Thanks for your input.  I might just do this.   Still fence sitting.

I've put treble bleeds on all of my non-'50s recent builds.

My super strats are wired this way but the LP has the 50s style wiring with PIO caps.  The whole vintage correct set up thing.

The Crawler neck with the alnico Nailbomb is a very interesting combination!

Ya.  That strikes me as odd in a guitar that tends to have a very warm and buttery neck position.  I have a Rebel Yeck and an A-Bomb bridge since the pickups were sounding too disparate for the amp I was using. 
I think the A-bomb is great and I was never feeling like I was missing anything until I was trying to pair it up with my Strat for double tracking.  Humbuckers just don't push into breakup as smoothly as a strat does and that stupid fender is just magical with the mother's milk pickups.
I would cave and try a mule set but I really REALLY like having the muscle from the A-bomb.   As Nolly has pointed out, parallel wiring sounds really great for humbuckers and it's a great way to get an alternate voice out of a HBM.

[Yellowjacket]

I am going to offer some feedback here. 

My 2002 swiss cheese LP Standard is a good sounding and playing LP.  It's always had a problem with a boomy neck position and a thin bridge position.
To try and get a more balanced tone between the two positions, I ended up going with a Rebel Yell neck and an A-Bomb bridge. 

Lately, I was wanting more mileage from the guitar: Something with a softer voice that transitions from clean to clip smoothly.  I was thinking of swapping pickups but I didn't want to lose what I already had at the same time.  Reading the original two posts in this thread convinced me to have series parallel push pull pots installed in lieu of swapping pickups.  I'm glad I did.
I sent the A-Bomb back to BKP and the shipping and turnaround time was BLAZING fast.  I think the pickup was gone about 3 weeks in total?  It shipped in a week, was done in two days, and shipped back in a week.   
Anyway, the parallel option is great on both pickups but it particularly shines with the A-bomb.   In series, this pickup is raspy with a very driven, distorted, and detailed midrange. It sounds great but it's a complex timbre.  With the pickup in parallel, it loses the edge and the filth.  The pickup has a really nice clean tone and it transitions into clip beautifully.  It's more of a 'vintage' tone with less output - and the mids are really clear - but the buttery and thick tone of the guitar is retained. 

This is great and it's a wiring scheme I would recommend for LP owners.  It just yields so much more mileage!