Please recommend a pickup for drop tuned '76 LP Custom

[Sixshooter]

Hi everyone, I have been eying BKP's for a while, and just joined the forum. I just picked up a '76 Les Paul Custom that I plan on keeping 1-2 steps low at all times, it will be strung with 13-56's. This guitar will be used for tunes in the vein of Sabbath, Sleep, Kyuss, Crowbar, etc. You know, the slow doomy type stuff!

Anyways, I would love to hear some recommendations for a Bareknuckle set for this guitar. I play a Mesa single Rec and a Matamp Mini-pro. And I am "basement" player only if that has any affect! My main objective is to choose a set that will sound good for this genre of music and not loose note definition with the lower tuning and fairly high gain. I'm not real concerned with cleans, as I have plenty of other setups for that. So, any recommendations on a good set would be greatly appreciated!

[JimmyMoorby]

E-mail bare knuckle but I think A set of alnico Nailbombs would serve you extremely well.

[Dave Sloven]

I have alnico Nailbombs in an Explorer tuned to C standard, with 11-56 strings. They do a good job of all kinds of sludge stuff but I worry that they might be a bit too hairy for the stoner stuff you are playing.  If your guitar is acoustically quite dark and it is a heavy guitar I would consider the Rebel Yell as a smoother alternative that is very tight and probably better suited to lead work as well.

On brighter guitars alnico Warpigs work extremely well for that style.  I have a set in my SG with the same tuning and strings.

[Sixshooter]

Thank you both for the recommendations. I definitely plan on emailing Bare Knuckles to see what they say, but I will start doing some reading on the Nailbombs on the meantime.

[littleredguitars2]

i can agree with both of the guys above. nailbombs are great but definitely a bit raw. rebel yells would be a good alternative but i've never used them for drum tunings although i had both in a les paul and were great fits essentially.

i'll go ahead and suggest the juggernauts.  they're definitely made for low tunings and i had one in an LP custom and it sat in their very nicely. as for the sludge i think thats more a matter of amp choice.

here are some links of videos i made with my old LPs. none really show off low tunings but they may help.

nailbomb (ceramic bridge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlGMUyzxza0

rebel yell set
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zOouArFDo

juggernaut (bridge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuCNEite9gg

[Sixshooter]

LRG2, very helpful, many thanks for posting the links to your videos. I am surprised at how much I liked the Juggernaut in your clips. This is one I haven't done much research on, but as you mentioned it was made for drop tunings, so it might just fit the bill nicely.

[ericsabbath]

my first thought was black dog for the bridge
works really well with maple neck les pauls and low tunings
dense midrange and good picking articulation

but both ceramic and alnico nailbombs should work nicely too, in different ways, though (more output, more bass, more compression, less mids)

[Dave Sloven]

Let me put it to you this way: if you listed The Melvins, Eyehategod, Noothgrush, and Primitive Man as bands whose sounds you were going for I would have been like, yeah, try the A-bomb.  But I do think they will be too hairy for Kyuss etc.

You could also ask about the Emerald and Riff Raff.  I've heard of people using these with gainy amps to get those stoner sounds when tuned down a couple of steps.  Think Electric Wizard etc

[Slartibartfarst42]

My first thought was an alnico Nailbomb, which can be hairy but less so as the tuning drops. I also think that the Black Dog is an excellent idea as they do really well with lower tunings.

[Sixshooter]

Thanks everyone for the replies. And sorry it took me so long to get back and answer. It seems like the Nailbomb is the one everyone is wanting to recommend. I heard back from BKP, and they said the Warping would be the "obvious choice", what is everyones thought on this?

[northlane.josh]

Thanks everyone for the replies. And sorry it took me so long to get back and answer. It seems like the Nailbomb is the one everyone is wanting to recommend. I heard back from BKP, and they said the Warping would be the "obvious choice", what is everyones thought on this?

The warpig is what I was going to recommend almost by default. It's the thickest, sludgiest sounding pickup BKP make. If your guitar is a bit dark, or is thicker in the low mids I'd steer clear, especially with strings that big. But if it's balanced or on the bright side I'd give it a shot. 

The rebel yell set was also mentioned. It tunes down very nicely and is most at home in a les paul.

Can't really comment on the other suggestions as I've not spent enough time with the said pickups.

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I would be careful with the Warpig if the guitar is dark.  I've used a Warpig in a dark guitar tuned to C# standard, and while it could do a good impression of the Masters of Reality sound that was with the tone and volumes (550K no less!) on full and there was really nowhere to go on the knobs and it couldn't do much else.

If your amp has a lot of balls and gain you could try the Emerald or Rebel Yell, otherwise the A-Bomb could work but might be a bit hairy.  The hairiness of the A-Bomb does tone down though as you tune down.

A-Pig is brilliant for this style in a bright guitar, but not in a dark one.