HSH setup...good combo?

[slide]

Hey,

I'm looking for a set of pickups for a swamp ash / maple neck / bolt-on HSH guitar.
As this is my only HSH guitar, I don't have a real reference about what might work.

It should do good cleans and the guitar could use a touch more brightness from the pickups, so nothing too mid heavy or warm.

I'm thinking about VHIIs, because of the split sounds.
Maybe VHII neck and Holydiver bridge for a little more outpout?

I'm undecided about the SC. Probably a noiseless DiMArzio, but I'm open to other suggestions as well...

Thanks!

[Cpt_Gonzo]

Same style of guitar, same tonewoods.

Holydiver calibrated, Slowhand singlecoil. Couldn't be happier. Sings and rocks at the same time. Bridge can be very open and bright-ish or quite warm and full aswell as anything in between by using pick attack.
The neck pickup...oh wow, best neck PU I've heard so far, don't know where to start.
Actually bought another set for my Les Paul. They are just great, great pickups.

The Slowhand is really impressive, too. Does everything you'd expect from a SC but handles lots of gain really well. Think Axel Rudi Pell.

Any questions, ask.

[Kiichi]

Not sure what comob would be best for you, but I can advice you to try something. Turn the HBs around so that the slug coil it the outer coil. That way you get imho cool sounds when you put mid and split HB together.
 
Traditionally you have the slug be the inner coil, giving you Strat like sounds in all positions involving splits.
With the slug coil outward facing you get more of a Tele esque vibe. Love it for cleans as it is a bit more acoustic like and just great and also for dirty things.
On my Mule neck, It middle, RY bridge guitar, the neck split one is great for solos, adding brightness and attack and the bridge one is mostly for cleans or when you do lots of Palm Mutes (the general distorted tone is too bright and not so good, but for PMs its an amazing flavour, great also as the second line when double tracking).

All in all this adds versatility (you got HB, Strat and Tele esque positions) and I really dig the sound.


Just something I wanted to throw in there, I encourage everyone to try it.

[Telerocker]

Isn't the Diver (too)midheavy? You write you want something brighter. If so, I tend to follow Kiichi, however an Rebel Yell in an ash bolt-on guitar is a bit of a gamble, since it is one of the brightest BKP's.  Personally I would favour the Diver or VHII in the bridge. Middle: IT, I have this one and it sounds great in (swamp)ash. Neck VHI or if you like a genuine PAF59-tone a Mule. I have that one too, it sounds superb, vocal with a lot of depth.

[Kiichi]

Just to be clear, I did not recommend the Mule IT RY combo for this guitar, I just cited it as an example in which the positions I proposed work well for me.

Recommendation whise I am not so sure, but I would go with what Telerocker said and probably go VHII and IT. Generally the sound you want and it is said to split very well. The IT is a brilliant SC, it has true SC character but takes it one up, nice cleans and great for dirty stuff.

[slide]

Thanks so far!

I am a little afraid that the Holydiver might be too much mids.
But then again, without hearing it there probably won't be an easy way to tell.
Especially, since I don't really know how mid-heavy the current pickups are in comparison to the Holydivers.
My impression is, that they're quite mid heavy, so the HDs might turn out to have about the same or maybe even less mids.

How are the Holydivers split?
And how do they balance with the SC in HB mode?
Currently, there's a pretty huge volume drop when going from HB to HB + SC.

[CanadianMetalhead]

One thing is for sure if your looking for "more brightness" and not mid heavy the holy diver is the LAST pickup you should ever consider lol. Not because it sucks but because it emphasizes the mids and has a sweet treble response and in my opinion is best suited to guitars that have too much brightness and players that want to tame it and love that vibe.

As for what i think whatever it's worth lol. I think the VHii bridge would be a great choice as its bright but not harsh. It's Trebles are pretty smooth and there is enough low end that with a ash/maple combo it won't be overly thin but definitely not overbearing. If you want more low end then that then look at a Alnico Nailbomb as from what i've heard has the same sorta vibe.

As for other random suggestions I'd say a crawler neck if you don't like the VHII neck. Reason being you said splits and i was recommended the crawler because when split it'll go to a bright single coil vibe and normal its fat and organic.

I got the VHII calibrated set instead for my guitar and to be honest there isn't much of a huge difference when you split the VHII's even though it still sounds very good.

Also a HD neck split was very nice sounding when split. Can't remember much of it since it's been a while /shrug.

Here is my recording of my basswood guitar with a MM bridge/HD neck at the middle position split. http://soundcloud.com/magicmeatbag/123cut-f-200

My 2 cents. /Grain of salt lol.

[Telerocker]

Just to be clear, I did not recommend the Mule IT RY combo for this guitar, I just cited it as an example in which the positions I proposed work well for me.

Recommendation whise I am not so sure, but I would go with what Telerocker said and probably go VHII and IT. Generally the sound you want and it is said to split very well. The IT is a brilliant SC, it has true SC character but takes it one up, nice cleans and great for dirty stuff.

Allright bro, I should have written that you share experiences. Btw, nice strat. I love the grain, Looks similar to my swampash strat.

[slide]

As there were no opposing statements so far, I guess I'm gonna stick with the VH2 plan, for now.
On paper, they fit the best and I've wanted to try them anyway, for some time now.
The IT or Slowhand seems like a nice option for the middle, too.

[Telerocker]

I would favour an IT, it splits nice with a VHII, so does a Mother's Milk.

[darkbluemurder]

I'm undecided about the SC. Probably a noiseless DiMArzio, but I'm open to other suggestions as well...

If you are interested in keeping the positions with the split humbuckers noisefree, this will not work with a noiseless middle SC. If you use a noiseless pickup check whether one coil can be cancelled - then it may work, depending on the polarity of the pickups involved.

The BKP team can accommodate for that if you decide to go for a full set.
 
Cheers Stephan

[slide]

If you are interested in keeping the positions with the split humbuckers noisefree, this will not work with a noiseless middle SC.

The BKP team can accommodate for that if you decide to go for a full set.

The noiseless was just an idea I was tossing around since I figured it would blend in better with the HBs.
But soundwise I think I'll prefer a "real" SC.

Haven't given the polarity issues much thought yet.
The middle pickups is reverse mounted and probably out of phase to get a RW/RP effect, I guess.

I think it makes sense to keep it all Bareknuckles, since they'll probably have a good idea about how well the SC will blend with the buckers.