whats going to fit my les paul well?

[littleredguitars2]

focusing more on the bridge for right now. but feel free to suggest a neck that will work well with your thoughts

basically, these are the points i want to hit

- medium/high output
- versatile for rock, punk, classic tones
- something that doesnt have shrill highs. thats a biggy
- good bottom end crunch.
- lots of clarity

i've had the stock 500t in the bridge for years and its time to change it. i was going to make this a metal guitar but ive decided to make it more versatile. i'll be using a mesa boogie dual rec. but dont say i dont need a high output like everyone always does. i've been using high output pickups for a long time and i like it. just not this one particularly.

i know it will be blasphemy haha but i'm a big fan of the seymour duncan invader in the sense that it has a great bottom end but i know throwing one of those in a big ole les paul will probably sound far too muddy and i want to explore more with the bare knuckles anyway.

thoughts?

[ericsabbath]

nailbomb

[littleredguitars2]

I don't think the nailbomb is what I want.  I have an alnico v bomb in my strat and I don't think it's what I'm looking for

[Kiichi]

My guess (take this with a grain of salt though) is that the NB might  have too much of the higher mids in the agressive sense the NB does.
When littleredguitars is talking about shrill hightend I am suspecting he also means higher mids where a lot of the abrasivness of the NB sits.

I am getting more of a Holydiver vibe here right now. Certainly not shrill, but musically rounded, while being very versatile, crunchy and clear.

[littleredguitars2]

yeah holy diver has always been one i've considered. and when i'm talking about those highs, i want them to be a little smoother. not so sharp sounding if that makes sense.

i was also thinking maybe the crawler pickups? but i think i'll look into those a bit more

[Kiichi]

Slarti has written explemplary reviews on both the Holydiver and the Crawler. Have a look at those and see what you think. Especially with the Crawler he just hits it so unbelievable well it still blows my mind.

In the end both are great but also very different. Personally I would not put the Crawler in anything but a bright axe, but there it is probably my No1 when it comes to low to mid gain stuff with a lot of character and body (my overall fav is still the RY brighte though. Dat roar...

Have a good look at the review collection thread I made, this is what it is for after all. After you got a recommendation you easily research it more!

[littleredguitars2]

i'll take a look man. thank you

[darkbluemurder]

- medium/high output
- versatile for rock, punk, classic tones
- something that doesnt have shrill highs. thats a biggy
- good bottom end crunch.
- lots of clarity

Apart maybe from the shrill highs the Cold Sweat would tick all the boxes. It does not have shrill highs in my axe but that's a middy one.
Rebel Yell would be a fine choice, too.

Cheers Stephan

[littleredguitars2]

yeah ben from BK actually suggested the rebel yell too. i'll check it out some more

[Slartibartfarst42]

My humble thanks to Kiichi for his kind words  :oops:

The Crawler would be ideal for what you're after if your guitar is reasonably bright. It works superbly well in my PRS but it might be too dark in a Les Paul. Of the contemporary range, I'd say the Holydiver, Rebel Yell and Cold Sweat are all worthy of consideration while for a left field suggestion, I think an Abraxas might well do the job too. It may be vintage hot and alnico IV but it has quite a bit of poke, is nice and smooth and can even do Metal.

[littleredguitars2]

i'm definitely leaning towards the rebel yells after Bens help.

question, do they split well?

[Dave Sloven]

i'm definitely leaning towards the rebel yells after Bens help.

question, do they split well?

The alnico Nailbomb, on which the Rebel Yell bridge pickup is based, has a reputation for splitting well, so I imagine the RY bridge does too.  If you try a split and you don't like like it you could always switch the wiring to a series/parallel switch by moving some wires.

Similarly, the Rebel Yell neck is based on the Cold Sweat neck, which I have read can be split with success.

I have a CS/NB combo so I did some research on this a while back here but I did not look at information on the RY in this respect. Maybe Kiichi has done this?

[Kiichi]

i'm definitely leaning towards the rebel yells after Bens help.

question, do they split well?

The alnico Nailbomb, on which the Rebel Yell bridge pickup is based, has a reputation for splitting well, so I imagine the RY bridge does too.  If you try a split and you don't like like it you could always switch the wiring to a series/parallel switch by moving some wires.

Similarly, the Rebel Yell neck is based on the Cold Sweat neck, which I have read can be split with success.

I have a CS/NB combo so I did some research on this a while back here but I did not look at information on the RY in this respect. Maybe Kiichi has done this?

Well I have not done a regular split wiring here. I might someday when I happen to stumble about a free push pull pot, but I donīt think I would keep it that way, just do it to try.
Not that I am not pretty confident I would like the wiring, thing is I have a 5 way wired for middle + autosplit in 2 and 4  with a HSH setup and I just like that too much too put it away. I would only concider  push pull if 2,3 and 4 are unaffected and only 1 and 5 then get split. Just dont like unsplit HB + middle too much.
The split bridge in my Ibby S might be too much as well if I donīt wire it so that the screw coil remains active cause that is away from the bridge for me since I flipped it. In a LP however I would have far less of a concern about that and think I would very much enjoy that.

Anyhow, I had this to say in my RY bridge review. This is talking about the cleansound of it:
I generally do not really dig the RY bridge as it sounds too middy, which makes it hardly usable for me, HOWEVER, I have an autosplit wiring and my RY turned around so that the screwcoil is away from the bridge and when I go into the autosplit position I get the slugcoil, which is closer to the bridge plus the middle (Irish Tour), which makes for the most glorious clean sound for strumming (also cool for picking, but neck is better). Super clear single coil like sound, rather tele than strat like with a quality in the high end you assosiate with brand new strings (yes that goodness at any time). This position was even further improved when I added a PRS style 2,2k resistor in series with the green and white wire of the bridge PU, which results in the screw coil not being completly shut off, giving me a little extra output and bottom end. Amazing stuff.



You can read the whole thing here https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30392.

[littleredguitars2]

Not sure if I would split the pickup yet.  Just something to think about.  Thanks guys

[Dave Sloven]

Not sure if I would split the pickup yet.  Just something to think about.  Thanks guys

I've just bought a set of Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings.  They will allow me to put my Warpigs in parallel, series, or split them with a choice of screw or slug coil active.  You should look into them.  They have a curved model for Les Pauls. They are costing me nearly $100 (Australian) but if you are based in the USA the cost should be considerably less, more like $60 without all that international postage cost.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30513.0