Here it is!
Cosmetically is very close, maybe a shade lighter than stock, but that may be because it's brand new. The tri tabs seemed to be the right move, no extra mods appear to be done.
The wire job to eliminate the tone pot was a total WIN. There's one less thing in the pathway yielding a more direct Juggernaut >AMP connection. I feared it may result in being too bright; this guitar is set to floating, so I half anticipated needing to get a big block rose upgrade and block it off for dive only to wield that full bodied sound. I have a few HPs, so I really wanted to keep this one floating as my stunt guitar.
The Juggs deliver. The sound is perfect for my tastes. The attack is immediate and the clarity is unreal. It still has the hollow mids thing going on, but that element seems not quite as present as compared to my Gutierrez guitar with the Jugg pickups. That's a good thing; the sound seems much more flexible in this guitar.
Traditional players may seek out the VHII, but I really like modern aggression so this Jugg set was a perfect choice for HP. It's designed for the basswood/maple combo and has a neck pickup that is essentially a souped up VHII. The neck pickup presents a tone that gets you lost and hypnotized- very reactive to nuances, very womanly and vowel like sounds are easy to find. I actually liked the stock neck, but this is easily the best neck pickup ever and is simply jaw dropping. The bridge can be aggressive or toned down for classic rock (not that I stay there often). The highs are never piercing- which is so bizarre with the fast attack (?) Amazing. The cleans are fantastic, which is an astonishing side note, especially in split mode. I actually hated split mode in every guitar I've played over the years (30+), but I can see actually using this split mode.
Is that too much gushing? I can't throw enough accolades out there. If you have a HP type guitar and need a little extra edge for modern rock/metal, DO IT.
I'll get some clips up later. I think I may have a decent recording with the stock pickups going into a Kemper patch that may be useful for scientific comparison.
I have a bunch of HPs and seriously consider getting these for every one. I wouldn't mind trying a different flavor just for fun, so I may try a Blackhawk set in my blue HP. I saw a similar blue guitar with BHawks and just love the look and the specs always intrigued me. Probably a bad move; these Juggernauts are clearly the love of my pickup life.
