Black Hawk in basswood Petrucci BFR?

[Jack5150]

So I've had my JP6 BFR for well over a year now, and I'm loving it!
It's essentially a limited run basswood JP6 (small body with scoop), with a roasted maple BFR neck with ebony board.
Just wondering if a calibrated Black Hawk set would work?
Also, should I get my tech to replace the potentiometers with BKP ones along with a capacitor... I'm very fussy and want the best :P haha

[darkbluemurder]

Hi,

Sure it will work but I am not sure what you want to achieve tonewise and what do you not like about the current pickups. We will need more information to provide a meaningful answer.

Experimenting with caps is fine. As regards the pots my guess is that the BFR has good quality pots in there so I would not change them.

Cheers Stephan

[Jack5150]

More punch from the bridge, with better sustain. Stock pickups are decent, but I'm not a fan of the liquifire in the neck.
Overall, I like the character of the guitar, just looking to improve it a little. Perhaps a more well-rounded tone in general? Keyword being "more"... a little more of everything the current pups seem to be lacking...sustain, punch, warmth.

[darkbluemurder]

I would consider the Miracle Man set. Loads of punch from the bridge. The treble is strong but rounded and defined. Can't say much about the neck MiM though I can imagine that you would be very pleased with it if your focus is on fluid leads in the upper registers. Alternative neck models would be the Cold Sweat, the VHII or the Emerald if you want less output. Tim once mentioned to me that the Crawler neck would work well with the Miracle Man bridge, too.

Cheers Stephan

[CanadianMetalhead]

Miracleman would be a great suggestion. The negative with them is that they sound kinda lifeless and if you don't like tightness the miracleman is surgically tight lol.

Never had blackhawks but to me they just seem very balanced for a ceramic and from my experience ceramics just generally work well in basswood guitars.

Another suggestion would be the VHII for the bridge. I got it in my basswood/wenge neck/ebony FB guitar and it basically does what the Miracleman does minus the overwhelming tightness, mid scoopyness and more organic sounding. It'll be less output and lighter on the low mids but the punch and warmth are great on em. Very forward sounding as well.

As for necks not much experience but what's in my guitar right now is the VHII neck. Very warm, organic and balanced sounding.

[darkbluemurder]

Miracleman would be a great suggestion. The negative with them is that they sound kinda lifeless and if you don't like tightness the miracleman is surgically tight lol.

I gotta disagree with the lifeless statement worded this way. Despite the high output of the Miracle Man bridge it is a relatively clear sounding pickup. In some guitars it may appear lifeless or some players may hear the clarity of the pickup as lack of liveliness. I must say though that I found the Cold Sweat bridge or Rebel Yell bridge having more liveliness in the direct comparison to my ears but I found the Miracle Man far from "dead sounding" or "lifeless", otherwise it would not be in the guitar it's currently in.

Another suggestion would be the VHII for the bridge. I got it in my basswood/wenge neck/ebony FB guitar and it basically does what the Miracleman does minus the overwhelming tightness, mid scoopyness and more organic sounding. It'll be less output and lighter on the low mids but the punch and warmth are great on em. Very forward sounding as well.

I agree with most of the descriptions except for the midscoopiness comparison. The VHII bridge was the most midscooped BKP I ever had. I also did not feel it as being warm. For a "well rounded tone" as the OP described, I would prefer the Holydiver, Crawler or the Rebel Yell over the VHII. 

Cheers Stephan

[CanadianMetalhead]

Eek I've been called out! :(

Never thought of the VhII as a midscooper lol. Seems very balanced to me but maybe that's because its in a basswood guitar at the moment.

Good comments on the Miracle man though. I didn't mean lifeless in that sense either. It just doesn't sound as organic for cleans as some of the other pickups from BKP.