2 humbuckers for short-scale, Mahogany, hardtail Strat

[schneidas]

Hi guys,

I'm building a new Strat with dual humbuckers and a short 24-3/4" scale.
The body is 1-piece Mahogany with a thin laminated Maple top, the neck 1-piece Mahogany with a Maple fretboard (odd combo, I know!).
Hardtail. Simple switching (3 way) and 1 volume pot only!

Basically, here's a pic of what I'm building:



As I have 4 guitars already that cover all my tonal needs, this one is kind of an experiment.
I'd like to go for heavier sounds with this one.

After listening to all Metal clips on the BKP site, these pickups stood out as far as their heavy tone:

-Miracle Man set
-Ceramic Warpig set
-Ceramic Nailbomb set
-Riff Raff set
-BlackDog set

I can't really decide between those.
My playing style and tone is pretty much a mix of mainly three influences - that is Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) , Yngwie Malmsteen and Zakk Wylde.
So I'm looking into heavier sounds, with frequent soloing on neck pickup. Clean sounds are not required (altough the middle position will be wired JP style (2 inner coils of both humbuckers) for clean passages.

I'm not a fan of DJent-type music or sounds at all, nor new metal sounds. The hardest stuff I hear is basically Dream Theater (think Images and Words or Awake).

Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

[littleredguitars2]

very different influences you have tone wise. but the nailbomb would work well with those woods. also give the Stockholm humbucker-sized p90 a look. its a BEAST and can cover a lot of ground

[Dave Sloven]

Seems like you might enjoy the MM set and it should work well with the mahogany/maple combination.

[Telerocker]

C-Bomb should cover a lot of those sounds, not quite spot on everywhere though.

[schneidas]

First of all, thanks a lot for the suggestions and sharing your opinion.

@littleredguitars2 - Thanks very much. Unfortunately though, for the looks of this guitar, I can only go with dual white humbuckers (a covered P90 would look a little off for me).



I really loved the clarity of the C-Bomb in the clips - so this might be my first try.
Was just worried if it worked in Mahogany (as this Strat is basically all Mahogany aside from the Maple fingerboard).
Although that MM set also sounds really great in the clips...

What about the C-Pig? Too much over the top? Can this onebe used for 80s metal and hard rock? Or do you feel it is more DJent and super hard modern metal only?

[Telerocker]

C-Pig could be too smooth in some frequencies. I would go either MM or C-Bomb.

[schneidas]

Thanks for the great info! At least I can rule out the C-Pig.

How about the BlackDog set? The metal soundclip sure was great as well!

[Telerocker]

Black Dog has a lot centermids, but also quite some highs. There's still some PAF-vibe going. Not really the ideal Dream Theater-pickup.