Emerald neck: tone and specs?

[ericsabbath]

Hey, guys

Bought a Holy Diver bridge / Emerald neck set a while ago, but they're going into a custom guitar that's still in building process
I'm very familiar with the Holy Diver (it was my first BKP, 8 years ago), but I have no idea what to expect from the neck Emerald

I read lots of recommendations but they're never clear about how the emerald sounds compared to others

Does anyone know its technical specs besides magnet type and approximate dc resistance?
Seems quite different from all the other neck models



The guitar is a les paul-based Short Hydra with a Schaller 456 "Iommi" bridge
Same wood specs as a les paul custom
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Short-Guitars/217164995045397

[darthphineas]

disclaimer:  tone is so relative and it seems that there can be opposing camps about just any BKP model.

I grabbed an Emerald neck a month or so ago for the neck of a mahogany body, mahogany neck, rosewood board, maple veneer Epi Lester.  mids and highs are nice.  it was a little fuller down lower on the neck that my personal preference.  but...I can see where people do like it.  I put it in a brighter guitar and it seemed more at home....I've been waiting to swap some other parts on that guitar for additional upgrades, so I have yet to come back to it for additional thoughts.  I put a VHII neck in that same Lester and it firmed up the lows a bit, but that is just my preference.

as far as additional tech specs, what exactly is it you're looking for?  seems like maybe someone with BKP might be the way to find out more than the magnet and DCR?

I have a RY neck and an Aftermath neck coming soon, but the VHII is the only other BKP neck I can speak to from personal experience at this time.  hope that helps.

[ericsabbath]

I mean... everybody says it sounds good, but there's never a more accurate character description like with most of the other popular neck models
and it's quite hard to find good soundclips of the neck pup

is it brighter and/or middier than the neck vhII?
percussive or smooth? more output?

most of other models have explicit spec descriptions on the website or had their specs posted on this forum
things like coil symmetry, insulation type and wire gauge
the emerald has a unusual DC reading for a neck BKP, so I wonder what are the differences

I'm confident that it will sound great, but I really have no idea what to expect

[Kiichi]

Thing is that the sound is perhaps the hardest to describe out of the neckpickups. At least to me. Thatīs cause it has modern wire and vintage magnet. So you get this smooth singing, organic character from the magnet as the base. Itīs warm, fluid, velvety at times even. On top of that then you get the modern wire. It gives you a modern kind of attack that cuts, but is not clanky or so. Furthermore it heats things up a bit, making the overall feel smooth too. Then the modern wire reacts with the high end of the AIV magnet, giving it a certain edge without loosing the roundness.

This makes it great for singing blues a la Gary Moore, but it can also do the screamier notes due to the wire. It also is brilliant for shred styles as the wire gives it the definition and hotness needed while the magnet keeps things smooth, fluid, and organic, always with character.

Itīs kinda like that. Bloody hard to describe if you ask me. Slarti also said it very well, as usual. From the sticky thread: https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=31081.msg400552#msg400552

[Slartibartfarst42]

The AIV magnet in the Emerald neck gives it a really sweet and smooth tone that may remind a player of a PAF but it's more complex than that. It's a hot wind so it tends to be somewhat darker sounding than a PAF and the more modern 43PE wire helps to give it a bit more bite and articulation than I generally find in an AIV PAF. In that respect it sits somewhere between a traditional PAF and a more modern AV neck pickup. I suppose that's what makes it so popular and why I love it, because it tends to give you the best of all possible worlds. I think in a very dark guitar it may come across as a tad dull in the lower end. I had it in a PRS SE Custom 24 and it was superb. I think it would also work very well in my 2013 Gibson Les Paul Studio. The tone is thick, smooth, sweet and fluid. It's certainly hot enough to pair with a Holydiver and will probably pair OK with most of the contemporary range. If you need something brighter and more obviously PAF in style but with more cut then the Holydiver neck would be a great choice as an alternative. I loved both even though both can be quite different. As Kiichi says, it covers a lot of styles and does them very well indeed.

[Tim]

Emerald neck is higher in output than a VHII with a lower resonant peak primarily from the use of 43AWG PE wire that we use compared to the larger 42AWG PE used on the VHII neck.
The Emerald neck has more weight in the mids and the finer gauge wire and subsequent smaller coil size make for excellent clarity. So overall in comparison to the VHII neck the Emerald is warmer and thicker in the mids but not at the expense of losing clarity plus it drives harder too.

[ericsabbath]

thanks, guys!

now I'm starting to picture something in my head 

I like the idea of something middier and hotter than the vhII and the neck mule in my main les paul custom, but with thinner PE wire
I was afraid it could be 42.5 poly or something, with a darker voicing, like a bridge black dog in the neck, or something sharper and more scooped like the neck nailbomb

also glad to see Tim back in the forum 

I'm not too familiar with gary moore tones, but from what I hear, his tone changes from one era to the other
is there some more specific examples?

guitar will be used mostly for modern alt/prog rock with karnivool, alice in chains, tool and king's X influences (lots of semiclean stuff with delay, heavy riffing and melodic leads)
also forming a modern thrash metal band in the veins of sylosis and the haunted (mostly fast palm muted riffing with melodic interludes and some shredding here and there)

[Dave Sloven]

Thin Lizzy era

[add4]

That is my experience too: i have a neck emerald in an ES335. it definitely has a high output, very articulate and clear, with a bit of emphasis on the lower mid, making everything a little bit thicker than a regular PAF. in that particular 335, which is not so bright, almost woody (they vary a lot from model to model), it lacks a bit of range in the highs for my taste.

I have a friend with a VHII in a 335 neck and it sounds really like a telecaster neck, very open, full range, more define sound, and without the bump in the mids that i have. but he has that bell like quality in the highs that i don't get from the emerald.

In the end, my 335 sounds a bit like his, after he uses a tubesceamer or a rat at really low gain to fatten up its tone just a tiny bit and give it a bit more punch, but the difference here just comes from the pickup.

I'm currently thinking of swapping the emerald for a VHII because my particular guitar is all about the mids, and doesn't have a lot of highs. and i just fell in love with the open rangey tone and clarity of the VHII.

but that's just me ..

hope that helps you getting a better idea.

[ericsabbath]

I have a friend with a VHII in a 335 neck and it sounds really like a telecaster neck, very open, full range, more define sound, and without the bump in the mids that i have. but he has that bell like quality in the highs that i don't get from the emerald.

In the end, my 335 sounds a bit like his, after he uses a tubesceamer or a rat at really low gain to fatten up its tone just a tiny bit and give it a bit more punch, but the difference here just comes from the pickup.

interesting
I love the bell like character of the neck mule in my 73 lp custom, and also liked the neck vhII in a jap les paul copy I had, but I wanted something different for the new guitar
I like the idea of having a more compressed, middy and fluid pickup to pair with the diver

thanks for the input

[Kiichi]

I have a friend with a VHII in a 335 neck and it sounds really like a telecaster neck, very open, full range, more define sound, and without the bump in the mids that i have. but he has that bell like quality in the highs that i don't get from the emerald.

In the end, my 335 sounds a bit like his, after he uses a tubesceamer or a rat at really low gain to fatten up its tone just a tiny bit and give it a bit more punch, but the difference here just comes from the pickup.

interesting
I love the bell like character of the neck mule in my 73 lp custom, and also liked the neck vhII in a jap les paul copy I had, but I wanted something different for the new guitar
I like the idea of having a more compressed, middy and fluid pickup to pair with the diver

thanks for the input

The first thing I heard about this was that the HD neck, compared to the bridge was a bit of a contrast path. Where the bridge had this wonderful warm, round feel to it the neck had a certain PAF like lively brightness. Contrast from the same idea.
The EM neck then was often paired with the HD bridge cause it was more of a fluid extention of the HD bridge. The bridge is known for its versatile sound, tight and full of character, yet musically rounded. Anything from classic rock to modern prog. The EM neck extends on that idea whereas the HD neck follows more among the original 80s part of the HD.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I couldn't agree more Kiichi. I found that I was constantly torn between using a Holydiver and an Emerald with a Holydiver bridge. I swapped them around a few times and loved both combinations for different reasons. I eventually settled on using the Emerald with the Holydiver bridge because the Emerald suited the Holydiver better than it suited the Crawler in my other guitar. To this day, which of the two neck pickups I like best depends on my mood on that particular day. They both stand head and shoulders above any other neck pickup I've ever used.

[darkandrew]

The AIV magnet in the Emerald neck gives it a really sweet and smooth tone that may remind a player of a PAF but it's more complex than that. It's a hot wind so it tends to be somewhat darker sounding than a PAF and the more modern 43PE wire helps to give it a bit more bite and articulation than I generally find in an AIV PAF. In that respect it sits somewhere between a traditional PAF and a more modern AV neck pickup. I suppose that's what makes it so popular and why I love it, because it tends to give you the best of all possible worlds. I think in a very dark guitar it may come across as a tad dull in the lower end. I had it in a PRS SE Custom 24 and it was superb. I think it would also work very well in my 2013 Gibson Les Paul Studio. The tone is thick, smooth, sweet and fluid. It's certainly hot enough to pair with a Holydiver and will probably pair OK with most of the contemporary range. If you need something brighter and more obviously PAF in style but with more cut then the Holydiveir neck would be a great choice as an alternative. I loved both even though both can be quite different. As Kiichi says, it covers a lot of styles and does them very well indeed.

So how does that compare or differ from the Crawler neck (which also features an A4 magnet)?

[Kiichi]

The Crawler neck is more like a superhot PAF. Mule on loads of steroids in a way. Itīs very thick, full, smooth, etc. Fuller and hotter than the EM and sans the modern cut. Compared to the HD it again is more compressed and a load thicker and fuller with less high end.

A good pickup, but liking my neck a little lighter than the bridge and other things made this perhaps my least favorite BKP neck so far.

[PK]

I have the same set in my Mayones Setius (Mahogany body, maple top, Laminated Mah/Map bolt-on neck)
For the neck I was looking for something similar to a SD Jazz only less muddy.
To me the Emerald is not only that, but it also has this gutteral, feel-it-in-your-belly attack that makes you want to dig in deeper with every note (just like a good strat neck pickup or the mule)
With high gain it retains quite a bit of dynamics (a lot more than the HD in the bridge, or the old Jazz I had in the neck before). This does make playing a little harder. Which is good for your technique (not so much for your ego..........)