Advise for pickups in Alder

['Ash' J. Williams]

I wouldn't pair a VHII with a Holy Diver.

HD bridge/VHII neck is actually a tried and true combination. You get a more vintage vibe from the neck as the HD neck can sometime be a little too modern and clean/polite for some people.

[darkbluemurder]

I think you made a good choice with the Holydiver as bridge pickup. If you found the Alnico Nailbomb too aggressive then stay away from the VHII bridge - I had them in the same guitar and found the VHII as least as aggressive in the highs as the A-Bomb.

Potential good candidates for the neck pickup are (in ascending order of output): Holydiver, Black Dog, Abraxas, Cold Sweat, Emerald and VHII. If clean tones are your main focus for the neck pickup, go for HD or BD, maybe EM. For singing lead tones, AB or CS. For vintage flavor, AB or VHII. The only neck pickups which I have used with the HD bridge are the CS neck, which I still use and think is a very good match, and the VHII, which is also a good match individually (both output and tonewise) but I did not like the middle position (both humbuckers together) as much - it did not sound really different from the neck pickup alone. This maybe not a real concern if you don't use both humbuckers together very often, or it may sound better with your guitar than it did in mine.   

Cheers Stephan

[EarthRoosterUK]

... the neck pickup are (in ascending order of output):
         Holydiver, Black Dog, Abraxas, Cold Sweat, Emerald and VHII.

 That's a handy piece of info! ( and the suitable tone-feel applications,of course )
                                                                                                               David.

[ericsabbath]

the mule works well with the diver, although they have completely different voicings