Request help - pickup choice for Gibson Flying V/Tremolo and Splawn Street Rod

[JCinSC]

Hello,

I really want to swap out these stock pickups.

 I have a 2012 Gibson Flying V with Floyd Rose. It has a mahogany body, mahogany neck, Obeche fingerboard, Floyd Rose Vibrato Tailpiece and Floyd Rose Locking Nut, 496R ceramic magnet neck humbucker, 500T bridge ceramic magnet bridge humbucker, 300K Linear Volume,  500k Non-linear Tone.

Link for exact guitar with specs:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Flying-V/Gibson-USA/Flying-V-Tremolo/Specs.aspx

My amplifier is a 2012 Splawn Street Rod Head and Splawn 2 x 12 Cabinet with Small Block Speakers.

The music/tones I like are pretty much all of the 80's hair metal bands. Bands I particularly like from that era are: Dio, Van Halen, AC/DC, Dokken, Whitesnake, Queensryche, but the list could go on a long time. I like classic 70's rock, eighties rock, nineties. Also some more tones that stand out to me are in the songs:  ZZ Top's “I Need You Tonight", Don Felder's Heavy Metal Takin a Ride, Billy Idol/Steve Steven's White Wedding.

Pickup suggestions for this particular guitar and amplifier would be much appreciated!

Also, can I just solder in the new Bare Knuckle Pickups without changing the V's pots and or wiring?

One last question: Are both the bridge and neck pickups in this Flying V 53 mm spacing?


Thank you!

JC

Edit/PS... I also have a 2011 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro that I use for the more rock/classic rock tones. The Flying V I want for the heavier tones, not that anything I listed is real heavy. I also want to upgrade the pickups on the Les Paul, so if you have any suggestions for that I will gladly take them.

[FELINEGUITARS]

My music tastes are pretty much identical
My initial thoughts are Cold Sweat, Rebel yell or even Miracle Man (although VH2 and Emerald also tempt me for that axe)

I would be tempted to swap the volume pot to a BKP /CTS 550k ohm one and maybe swap the small ceramic tone cap to a BKP/Jensen 0.022uF and rearrange the wiring to 50s specs.

Whilst my own leanings take me in the ceramic pickup models especially for the Lynch, Sykes  and Queensryche sounds , you may find that the Rebel Yell is a better all rounder.

[Telerocker]

Feline summed it up. A Rebel Yell would be my fav in this guitar.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Rebel Yell for sure

[Peo]

Got this answer from Mr Tim himself:

I would recommend using the Cold Sweat in the Explorer,
Nailbomb ceramic in the Vee and the Holydiver in the LP Custom.

Thats what i go for, on all my guitars, when upgrading to BK-pickups...

[JCinSC]

First and foremost - Thanks guys!

Right now I am leaning towards the Rebel Yells (black open coil). I need to do some research as I have no idea if I should get the calibrated set and if so which features to choose.

Felineguitars, would the guitar sound OK if I skipped the wiring upgrades on the V (for now) and just soldered in the new Rebel Yell's?

In case anyone would like to see, here are a couple pictures of the guitar and amp, no cab picture right now.

[Brow]

Cool, another Splawn user. Not too many of us around for the most part  :D

I have a Riff Raff in my V and with my Quick Rod it's more Randy Rhoads or Schenker than 80s hair metal (I have other guitars for that), but it sounds great none the less.

[Telerocker]

Cool set!

[JCinSC]

This is a cool forum.

This morning I dropped off the V for a set up and another guitar that needs fret work at a local guitar tech that I have used for years. I have been practicing setting up guitars but this guy has a way of making them play extremely well. He said he can do any of those wiring upgrades mentioned earlier - no problem. He also said he will save back some old potentiometers so I can practice soldering on them. I need to be able to do this stuff myself because I really do want to experiment with different pickups and wiring.

Well, going to go listen again to some Bare Knuckle sound clips - still leaning towards Rebel Yells.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

I don't know, I find it very difficult to go against the suggestion from Tim. Probably not a smart thing to do!

[JCinSC]

I don't know, I find it very difficult to go against the suggestion from Tim. Probably not a smart thing to do!

Sorry, I must have overlooked that suggestion from Tim, what was it exactly?

[ericsabbath]

e-mail him

my choice would probably be the rebel yell

[JCinSC]

I was not aware of who Tim was until earlier this evening. I first heard of Bare Knuckle Pickups within the last few days - I've been under  a rock.

I sent an email a little while ago.

[JCinSC]

Talked to Tim - super nice guy by the way. I am going with a two conductor, calibrated open coil set of Holy Diver Pickups, short legs, 53mm spacing, two 550K pots, Jensen 0.022ufd paper in oil cap,  and '50s wiring.

I'll post a video and or audio clips when I get this all sorted. Thanks again to everyone!

[ericsabbath]

that should sound absolutely killer  :D