Pickups selection for my custom guitar (HD vs RY vs sth else)

[Rykilla]

I am currently building my custom guitar. It has a korina body (it is like mahogany with some extra mid-range), 11-ply wenge + mahogany + padour + maple (mid-range focused), ebony fretboard. Well, some of you might guess it, its Mayones.

I have a passion with the 80' hardrock and heavy metal (and some shred metal). Some of the examples are Queen, ACDC, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake (doug aldrich).

I did my search on google, and it appeared that BKP Holy Diver is really good for these stuff. And given that that my guitar body is a little dark, I also consider Rebel Yell. But my top choice currently remains HD.

My question is that, does BKP HD work well in mahogany body+neck (LP model)? Or does it need some extra treble to complement?

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Rebel Yell is a very different proposition to the Holydiver. Where the Holydiver is smooth and compressed, the Rebel Yell is more open and has more bite. Here's a Holydiver set in a Les Paul:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T26RqvH3YBA

If you want to keep the smoothness that characterises the Holydiver and Doug Aldrich tones but in a brighter pickup, you should consider the Abraxas or maybe the Black Dog. The Iron Maiden tone is also quite different to the smooth Whitesnake tone you mention as they were using ceramic Super Distortions. I don't think BKP do a pickup quite like that but I'd be tempted to say that either the Cold Sweat or Juggernaut might cover it.

[ericsabbath]

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=33211.0

[Rykilla]

Thank you both for reply!

I have checked out both videos, both of which are great and insightful demo.

Especially the second one, I don't know why, but I have the feeling that at the part rhythm and lead, holy diver cuts through the mix slightly better. Maybe just my bias leads me to a biased opinion, but anyway great demo.


Question: This may not be a clever question, but it seems that for the holydiver, "the wide dynamics and mids of the Holydiver are excellent for adding depth and body to lighter weight, bolt-on neck guitars", but mine is probably not a light one (korina+wenge) and a neck-thru instead of bolt-on... Are these really important factors to begin with, or they do have some weight in the equation?

[Telerocker]

Holy Diver cuts trough better than a Rebel Yell? Blimey...

[Dave Sloven]

Blimey indeed.  In that video I'd say the RY and the PK are the most cutting out of the bridge humbuckers.

[Rykilla]

All right! As I said, it could be just my biased opinion. But I do need more opinions on the original question...

[Slartibartfarst42]

They all cut through well to me, except for the Ibanez pups of course, which were awful. In terms of tone on the Bare Knuckles, I liked the Painkiller least as it was just too sterile compared to the others but then it is the only ceramic option there and I'm really not keen on ceramics. The Emerald was much darker than I expected given how bright it was when I tried it in a PRS. I was also surprised at how compressed the Rebel Yell was as I anticipated it would be far more open than it was. I liked the Holydiver best, as you might expect with my taste for smooth, middy distortion but the Rebel Yell and Emerald both ran it close. The Stockholm REALLY made me want to try a P90. It seemed to have all of the beef, girth, body etc. of a humbucker but the articulation I associate with single coils. VERY nice.