Which pickups for an HS custom?

[Kaamraan]

Hey, this is my first post here, and it's about my choices for my first pair of BKPs. Sorry for the long post, and about my horrible explanation skills.
 
In a few months, I will be ordering my first custom guitar. The builder's a local guy, and I live in South Africa, so I don't think anyone here will have heard of him, but the guitar will most likely have a mahogany body with a quilt maple top, and a bolt-on mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard.

In terms of electronics, I was thinking of a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck, with a 5-way and a 2-way switch; the 5-way will give me:
1. Bridge in series
2. Bridge in parallel
3. Bridge outer coil
4. Bridge inner coil
5. Neck

and the 2-way will give me the option to add the neck in the first 4 positions

I was wondering which pickups would allow me to use that system most effectively. I don't really know how to describe my style very well, but it's probably something along the lines of like progressive alt rock or something.
I'm influenced a lot by The Smashing Pumpkins, Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, Jeff Buckley, and Periphery, but my music doesn't (nor is it really meant to) sound a lot like any of theirs. I move a lot between cleans and medium gain kinda stuff, and occasionally pretty heavy-ish (kinda like when Muse do their RAtM jams at the end of some of their songs)

I want to get some good, clear cleans- not too bassy, but still full-sounding- I want a good rock tone when distorted, and I want good response to variations in pick attack and the volume knob. I want to be able to get some relatively heavy stuff out, but still be able to hear every note I'm playing. I'd prefer an Alnico magnet (IV or V) to a Ceramic, because I'm not too sure how I'd feel about the clean tone from a Ceramic magnet pickup... I'd also prefer something slightly more modern sounding, but I still want some interesting clean sounds.

I'm really sorry I'm so bad with explaining stuff, but I tried... It would be great if someone could help me choose based on those descriptions.

Right now I'm thinking about a Trilogy Suite in the neck and either a VHII or a Rebel Yell in the bridge
What do you guys think?

Thanks so much for the help

[GuitarIv]

I'm not an expert, but one thing I can tell you for sure: the Holydiver is awesome. I have it in my Strat and it handles clean stuff nicely, has an amazing note separation, a warm and organic tone for blues and handles metal very well, without ever being muddy. Very reactive to pick attack and the volume and tone knob. :)

[Kaamraan]

So a Holy Diver would be good for the bridge then? :) That description sounds really good to me, I think I'll check them out
Thank you very much for the advice  :D

[GuitarIv]

I have read only good things about the Diver and I'm loving it in my guitar, however woods always matter and as said I'm not an expert, so your best bet would be to wait for more responses in the thread or email BKP directly :)

[Kaamraan]

At least I know I've got time :P I'll probably only order them when I order my guitar around March, so I'll see how things go til then, but at least I have one good option so far :)

[itamar101]

I'd personally pick either a Rebel Yell, Holy Diver or Alnico Nailbomb for the bridge. As for the neck pickup, I personally think that both the Irish Tours and the Trilogy Suites would be great matches for the bridge humbuckers. It really just depends on whether you want a more vintage sounding neck pickup or a rather modern one.

[Kaamraan]

Actually the Irish Tour seems like a good option as well, because it would be nice to get a vintage clean tone too
Would it be able to match the (probably) Holydiver though? I mean it wouldn't be a lot softer, would it?

[itamar101]

Actually the Irish Tour seems like a good option as well, because it would be nice to get a vintage clean tone too
Would it be able to match the (probably) Holydiver though? I mean it wouldn't be a lot softer, would it?

It should be able to, yes. The combination are a recommended BKP HSS set so the volumes should match.

[Kaamraan]

Oh perfect :D
So far Irish Tour and Holydiver seem like my best option, but I'll wait and see what happens :)

[Mr. Air]

If you want a more vintage sounding bridge pickup take a look at the Abraxas. Forum member HTH have made some great clips of it in a LP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzYzVdtZuYU&list=UUzqKEsk80v098n1C-pey1HA&index=38&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t6FSI6vxVE&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-vNNMyWMU&feature=plcp

[Kaamraan]

Those tones were pretty ridiculous- thank you for those links :D Abraxas now seems like a pretty good option too- the official clips didn't interest me too much, but those videos were really good, in my opinion :)

[Telerocker]

All mentioned here will work, they're just differently voiced and have different output. If you look for a vintage(hot)-alnico sound I would add the Black Dog, which is pretty tight and delivering for heavier styles too. If you prefer a more modern voiced middy pickup then the Rebel Yell comes to mind. Is all about mids and uppermids. The Diver has more bass and the Nailbomb has a topendsizzle (90's metal) you have to like, but it's great for Muse-stuff and metal-styles.
For the neck an IT would provide you the vintagehot-singlecoil cleantones you're looking for.

[Kaamraan]

The Rebel Yell seems like a good bridge option too
I'm actually deciding now whether I want an HS 6 or an HH 7 though... If I get the 7, I'd probably put the IT and Abraxas/Holydiver/Rebel Yell in my Kelly (I'd put a custom pickguard of some kind put on there)

Thing is though, I've never actually played a 7 before, as they're really hard to find down here... Would a custom 7 be a good idea for me? I actually started playing bass about a year before guitar, and I use the lower strings a lot with my guitar songs, and I feel like an extra string would also allow me to create more complex chords and stuff, if that helps. I'm just a little worried that I'll start using the low string just because I feel like I have to, or that I won't even use it at all. Basically that I won't be able to use it effectively... How easy would it be to translate my 6 string skill onto a 7, and would it be better to get the HS 6 custom or a 7 custom? The other guitarist in my band says I should rather get the 6 as my first custom, because that way it won't be a waste if I don't like 7 strings

[itamar101]

The Rebel Yell seems like a good bridge option too
I'm actually deciding now whether I want an HS 6 or an HH 7 though... If I get the 7, I'd probably put the IT and Abraxas/Holydiver/Rebel Yell in my Kelly (I'd put a custom pickguard of some kind put on there)

Thing is though, I've never actually played a 7 before, as they're really hard to find down here... Would a custom 7 be a good idea for me? I actually started playing bass about a year before guitar, and I use the lower strings a lot with my guitar songs, and I feel like an extra string would also allow me to create more complex chords and stuff, if that helps. I'm just a little worried that I'll start using the low string just because I feel like I have to, or that I won't even use it at all. Basically that I won't be able to use it effectively... How easy would it be to translate my 6 string skill onto a 7, and would it be better to get the HS 6 custom or a 7 custom? The other guitarist in my band says I should rather get the 6 as my first custom, because that way it won't be a waste if I don't like 7 strings

Why don't you just go to your local guitar store and try out a few high-end 7 strings. If you like it you'll know that with a custom you're likely to get something even better and if you don't like it, chances are, you won't like the custom 7 string either.

[Kaamraan]

I haven't been able to find any 7 strings in the guitar shops around my area, but then again I haven't actually checked in a while, so I'll probably go sometime this week and look around and I'll let you guys know what I find