Strange/uncommon pickups combo. Would it work?

[Lucas]

Hi friends!
As I`m in the middle of my first Warmoth Tele build,  I would also like to replace pickups in my old old (realy old...) Ibanez copy guitar - Mayones Flame CS 2000. At last! That guitar`s been laying idle for years, and after gathering BKP knowlegde over the last 2 years here on this superior forum as well as video/audio samples I finally came up to the conclusion what pickup to put in into that old trusty guitar.

Specs:
Alder body with maple/rosewood neck and Floyd bridge. it`s HSH. Typical but... my pickup idea is NOT that typical and rather uncommon/strange. In theory it looks like my dream pickup combo based on countless hours spend here as well as Youtube ect  but here we go.....

BRIDGE: Holydiver
SINGLE middle: Cobra
NECK: Black Hawk

Basically I want that guitar to be different and cover both grounds, best of both worlds, old voicing and more modern one.

Would that combination work? I`m so keen on that idea, that I cant wait for some opinions.

Many thanks as always for great help!
Lucas

[Kiichi]

I am perplexed that you want the modern sound in the neck. A modern bridge with an old school neck is much more common, and makes sense with regards to the general requirements towards bridge sounds for riffing and neck for solo and clean.

I would also expect the BH neck to overpower the bridge in fatness by a good margin.

Could you elaborate your thoughtprocess more, maybe if I get into your mindset I can say more.

[Lucas]

That`s what I thought, it would be weird, but taking those pickups separately I love every bit of them. Putting them together is another story.

ok...

BRIDGE:
For the bridge pickup I would like to get something Alnico V equipped pickup which wouldn`t be extremely agressive and hairy. I already have Ceramic Nailbomb.
Whereas Cbomb sounds like a pissed off ultra fast panther with searing scream, now I want a big, eminent lion with massive roar (but tight enough for some metal things as well)
or
when Cbomb is one of those super bikes which go 300km/h and make whooooooommm..., I want big massive Harley-Davidson this time. If that makes sense 

I don`t really like leads on my CBomb that much (too fizzy) , want something which will shine on leads like Holydiver

MIDDLE: don`t know that much about middle Cobra, but want to give it a go.

NECK: I felt in love with sound of neck Black Hawk, that pickup stays on the list anyway.

[darkbluemurder]

Intuitively I think Cobra and Black Hawk would be a good match without actually having practical experience with either.

It's hard to go wrong with a Holydiver bridge, unless the guitar is dark sounding acoustically. An Alnico V alternative would be the Crawler - that would certainly fill the "massive Harley" bill but it's not the tightest pickup for metal - the Holydiver would do that better even if it's also not the tightest BKP in the contemporary range. 

Cheers Stephan

[JimmyMoorby]

I always riff with the bridge and solo with the neck so I like an agpressive bridge with lots of cut, power and agression and a fluid neck pickup. I do like contrast.

I'm not a fan of the holy diver too smooth for my tastes but I can see the black hawk neck working with it.  I actually the the aftermath neck voicing matches the holy diver bridge extremely well.  In an alder body a holy diver/aftermath combo would be a shred machine!

My experience of bare knuckle necks is as follows :-

Cold sweat neck - Bright, extremely fluid and excellent cleans but lacking in mids IMO for power and cut.
VHII neck - Fluid, cuts well, excellent cleans.  Powerful and weighty with a slight single coil vibe.
Black Hawk Neck - Powerful and dark in my les paul custom.  Well suited to jazzy cleans and excellent with hi gain.  Takes on an active nature under hi gain.
Emerald neck - Sad to say I was very underwhelmed with this pickup.  Dull to my ears...
Aftermath neck - Didn't like the cleans but under hi gain it reminded me on the cold sweat but with more power.

I think you'll like the black hawk neck but I think a holy diver/aftermth combo in an alder body would be a shred machine

[Kiichi]

Maybe put the A-Pig on the list for the bridge? Cause it kinda fits the harley profile from what I get, with that throaty roar. I also picture it working better with BH and Cobra in my head.

[Lucas]

Thanks guys, you kick azz as always!

Cobra middle, and Black Hawk neck stays on the list for sure.

It`s only the bridge now. I`ve never considered Alnico Warpig to be honest, because I was always thinking it would be 'too much' of everything. Never even paid any attention to Warpigs to be honest.

Basically what I`m looking for in the bridge pickup is:

-excellent notes separation
-great leads
- not harsh and abrasive voicing (especially on leads like my CBomb)
-versatility to some extend (mainly hard rock and metal)
-more roar than sizzle

I use bridge pickup for soloing quite a lot as well, that`s why lead work is my number 1 priority. I was also thinking about other options:

-CRAWLER - would be too polite and too smooth and wouldnt handle more heavy sounds (the heaviest I would play would be Metallica, Tool)
-Alnico Black Hawk - not a big fan of EMG 81 sound plus dont want to end up with harsh/abrasive sounding pickup, Alnico BH would be too sterile and too much in EMG 81 style I think

I tune my guitars to Eb if that helps.

I`m just after checking A-Pig out and to be honest dont see much difference in rhythm work between HD and A-Pig. What about notes separation and leads?

so HD vs A-Pig

thanks

[Lucas]

Has anyone seen that? Alnico Warpig. I was purely floored by the sound as well as music itself. Whooooa!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0HNFgf5ic

is that the way that baby sounds?

[Dave Sloven]

Basically what I`m looking for in the bridge pickup is:

-excellent notes separation
-great leads
- not harsh and abrasive voicing (especially on leads like my CBomb)
-versatility to some extend (mainly hard rock and metal)
-more roar than sizzle[/b]

This does sound like an A-Pig.  I'm not much of a lead player but FWIW I think that the A-Pig in my SG Special would do a better job of that then the A-Bomb in my Explorer.  It definitely has a lot more roar than sizzle and the voicing is not harsh or abrasive in any way.

[Lucas]

Many thanks Agent Orange!

Would that huge amount of bass not make A-Pig muddy especially on lower strings? Is it clear enough? After all I wouldn`t like massive, blurry and muddy wall of bass coming out of my amp.

and the other question,
what difference do bolts make instead of regular screws? As far as I know, it`s something to do with more pronounced bass or something.
What option would you recommend? I would be going for open coil anyway.

[Dave Sloven]

I was told that bolts take out some of woof and make it slightly more scooped.  If that's the case I have no intention of swapping my bolts for screws.  Also I heard that they make it tighter, but as i have only used the one Warpig I have no basis for comparison.

I guess you need to think about what colour bolts you want, but I would recommend the bolts.  I have open coils

You can see my pickups in the following thread:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=32270.0

I haven't noticed any mud in either of the guitars I used them in.  They were a lot darker sounding in the Explorer but otherwise similar.  I guess the ceramic version might sound a bit crisper like my Cold Sweat. I wouldn't say that the A-Pig is any less tight or clear than my A-Bomb.  Just different.  A-Bomb is more hairy sounding, more treble detail, just like everyone says.  The A-Pig has a definite roar to it that none of my other BKPs have

Has anyone seen that? Alnico Warpig. I was purely floored by the sound as well as music itself. Whooooa!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0HNFgf5ic

is that the way that baby sounds?

Pretty much.  A lot of tone is in the hands and the guitar wood/construction, but I can hear the distinguishing characteristics of the A-Pig there, especially the ROAR

[Lucas]

So Alnico Warpig it is then.

Many thanks Kichii for bringing that pickup to my attention (honestly Ive been always steering away from Pigs and paying no attention to them whatsoever)
and Agent Orange, thanks for more details about that pickup.

Colours? Well, that guitar will look a bit different (that`s what Im aiming for anyway).

Bridge - open red coil with nickel bolts (like the idea of bridge being totally different that the others)
middle - well... Cobra, no other options
Neck - BH with radiator nickel cover (same as presented on BKP picture)

weird? 

[Dave Sloven]

Cool.

My only reservation with recommending an A-Pig is that in a dark guitar it can sound like a bass, especially when you tune down.  I don't have that problem in the SG though, and an alder Tele should be brighter again.

[Lucas]

Cool.

My only reservation with recommending an A-Pig is that in a dark guitar it can sound like a bass, especially when you tune down.  I don't have that problem in the SG though, and an alder Tele should be brighter again.

I`ll be putting them into my old Ibanez copy Mayones Flame CS 2000 (discontinued few years ago) , that guitar has been laying idle in my parents house for last couple of years, have to get it and get it done up finally.
That Warmoth tele body that I bought recently it`s not finished now, half way through. Still need a neck and pups.

Anyway, that Ibanez copy is alder as well with maple neck and rosewood fretboard.

thanks again.

[Dave Sloven]

I was wondering about a Tele with as HSH config, LOL