Pickup suggestion

[ivanli9]

Hi all, this is Ivan from Hong Kong. This is the first time I post in this forum.
Would like to get one Bare Knuckle HSS set p/u from my local dealer. Wanna ask some recommendation for the combination.

Mostly play/cover some 60/70s songs.

Like to play music of Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits
Sometimes play music of Oasis, Muse, Radiohead, even John Mayer.

Could someone give me some advice??

[Kiichi]

Hi and welcome!

For those styles I would go with something vintage. That should give you all the glorious cleans you need for that and since BKPs are great they will also easily handle all the gain you need. Depeding on which Muse songs you play those should be the most extreme sounds but could be handled too.

Of course the recommendation is to a certain extend also dependant on which guitar you have, so a comment on that would be cool, but I would say you can hardly go wrong with a Mule with Mothers Milk. The Mule is the gold standard `59 Humbucker sound. Balanced, full of mojo and just wonderful. What is the oposite of a one trick pony? A mule. Seriously, this handles the most old school sounds and can even be pushed to do metal with a cool attitude. It should have all you ever want and more.
The Mothers Milk also is just a gloriously classic single coil. It is woody and snappy, can sing like nobodys buissiness and so on. The Irish Tour and Slowhand are actually based on it, they mostly just add more power and mids to the design, so around half the single coil range is actually a variation on this design, it is that good.

The two also work together really well and should give you a an insanely versatile old school set of pickups that shoot character and mojo around like there is no tomorrow.

Cheers!

[ivanli9]

To supplement, here comes my full guitar spec. It's a custom made Xotic XS-2.
http://www.xotic.us/guitars/available/index.html?status=2&type=3&item=2&id=18

[PhilKing]

Another option for those classic rock tones is a Stormy Monday with a pair of Sultans.  If you like the sound of AII magnets, then this gives you all those sounds and more.  I also have a VHII with Mother's Milks, which is a little hotter in the bridge than a Mule.  It splits really well and with a mega switch can give all the single coil tones too.

[ivanli9]

Thanks so much for the recommendation Kiichi and PhilKing!!!

Was digging the SingleCoil of Mothers Milk and Sultans, Humbucker of Mule and Stormy Monday.
For Humbucker, to increase the variety of music style, I am a bit leaning on the Mule than the Stormy Monday.
For Singlecoil, still cannot conclude which is the winner.

In addition, is the above pickups working good on the Ash body and Maple neck??

Ivan

[Telerocker]

Hi Ivan

Ash and maple neck means usually a percussive guitar. I would go slightly warmer and hotter in the bridge, because the Mule-bridge is quite bright and punchy. Lovely in mahogany, but the Mule can be a bit too bright in ash. Depends on the guitar though. I would recommend an Abraxas (a bit more mids and rounder topend then the Mule), which will split very nice too. For the single coils I would go either Mother's Milk or Irish Tours, which have a tad more mids and bass and less treble then the MM's. I think they fit the guitar. Back the volumepot a bit down and you get close to Mother's Milks. I use them for funk, soul, pop, blues etc. Quite versatile pickups.

[Kiichi]

Hi Ivan

Ash and maple neck means usually a percussive guitar. I would go slightly warmer and hotter in the bridge, because the Mule-bridge is quite bright and punchy. Lovely in mahogany, but the Mule can be a bit too bright in ash. Depends on the guitar though. I would recommend an Abraxas (a bit more mids and rounder topend then the Mule), which will split very nice too. For the single coils I would go either Mother's Milk or Irish Tours, which have a tad more mids and bass and less treble then the MM's. I think they fit the guitar. Back the volumepot a bit down and you get close to Mother's Milks. I use them for funk, soul, pop, blues etc. Quite versatile pickups.

I can see that thinking work. Would the PG Blues and Stormy Monday also work better in that regard since they have more bass than the Mule? They also are bright, but could that not play nicely with the single coils? In that guitar the Sultan would perhaps be a better choice than the Mothers Milk, but I could also see a Irish Tour working great with a PG Blues or Stormy.

Now this is just a though that crossed my mind and I would like to hear the thoughts of someone with more experience concerning those PUs  and mostly those woods on it.

[Telerocker]

Hi Ivan

Ash and maple neck means usually a percussive guitar. I would go slightly warmer and hotter in the bridge, because the Mule-bridge is quite bright and punchy. Lovely in mahogany, but the Mule can be a bit too bright in ash. Depends on the guitar though. I would recommend an Abraxas (a bit more mids and rounder topend then the Mule), which will split very nice too. For the single coils I would go either Mother's Milk or Irish Tours, which have a tad more mids and bass and less treble then the MM's. I think they fit the guitar. Back the volumepot a bit down and you get close to Mother's Milks. I use them for funk, soul, pop, blues etc. Quite versatile pickups.

I can see that thinking work. Would the PG Blues and Stormy Monday also work better in that regard since they have more bass than the Mule? They also are bright, but could that not play nicely with the single coils? In that guitar the Sultan would perhaps be a better choice than the Mothers Milk, but I could also see a Irish Tour working great with a PG Blues or Stormy.

Now this is just a though that crossed my mind and I would like to hear the thoughts of someone with more experience concerning those PUs  and mostly those woods on it.

Personally I'm not that fond of low output vintage pickups in ash/alder HSS-strats. Depends on the amp, but I find them a bit weak and too bright for what I do. And the splits of a Crawler/Abraxas are better in balance with middle-singlecoil imo. A friend replaced his Crawler with a Mule in his strat and went back immediately. For the same reason. He ordered a Mule-set for his Les Paul and I think in general the Mule is better at it's place there.
I must admit I have no experience with AII-pickups in strats.

[Kiichi]

Hi Ivan

Ash and maple neck means usually a percussive guitar. I would go slightly warmer and hotter in the bridge, because the Mule-bridge is quite bright and punchy. Lovely in mahogany, but the Mule can be a bit too bright in ash. Depends on the guitar though. I would recommend an Abraxas (a bit more mids and rounder topend then the Mule), which will split very nice too. For the single coils I would go either Mother's Milk or Irish Tours, which have a tad more mids and bass and less treble then the MM's. I think they fit the guitar. Back the volumepot a bit down and you get close to Mother's Milks. I use them for funk, soul, pop, blues etc. Quite versatile pickups.

I can see that thinking work. Would the PG Blues and Stormy Monday also work better in that regard since they have more bass than the Mule? They also are bright, but could that not play nicely with the single coils? In that guitar the Sultan would perhaps be a better choice than the Mothers Milk, but I could also see a Irish Tour working great with a PG Blues or Stormy.

Now this is just a though that crossed my mind and I would like to hear the thoughts of someone with more experience concerning those PUs  and mostly those woods on it.

Personally I'm not that fond of low output vintage pickups in ash/alder HSS-strats. Depends on the amp, but I find them a bit weak and too bright for what I do. And the splits of a Crawler/Abraxas are better in balance with middle-singlecoil imo. A friend replaced his Crawler with a Mule in his strat and went back immediately. For the same reason. He ordered a Mule-set for his Les Paul and I think in general the Mule is better at it's place there.
I must admit I have no experience with AII-pickups in strats.

Yeah, the split will of course be better fitting, my idea was that the full HB would be better fitting. Looking at the EQ charts and my experience, yeah the mule is better in LP and mahagony types. Just was wondering about the SM and the PG, cause they have more low end and softer sounding magnets.

[metale]

My first thought when reading the original post was Irish Tours and a splitable Abraxas. Should cover just about anything, but maybe need some pre-gain EQ for some Muse.

[Slartibartfarst42]

+1

Abraxas and Irish Tours were my first thought too.