Ugly duckling needs humbuckers to turn into swan...

[schneidas]

Ok here's the thing, I got the ugliest 2-humbucker T-style guitar ever.

Specs:
Body: 1-piece Honduran Mahogany body, quilt Maple top, stainless steel Hipshot hardtail.
Neck: 1-piece Honduran Mahogany back. quilt Maple fretboard, LP scale, full 1" FAT back, stainless steel frets.

I need some med to high output hummies, that can cover a broad range of styles,

My thoughts:

1.)Set of Emeralds
2.)Set of Crawlers
3.)HD bridge / CS neck

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I play mostly 80s, 90s and 2000s hard rock / metal - everything from Guns n Roses, Gary Moore, Iron Maiden (emphasis on Dave Murray), Yngwie and Nightwish... etc.
Amp wise I'm playing a Kemper and using mostly higher gain Marshall-style amps.


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Would love your input on those three suggestions!



Btw, here's the ugly duckling (I know I know - it's a paint job gone a bit wrong... but it has grown on me):

[Kiichi]

The look is shocking, but I think it can easily be turned into a badass look of "Donīt like it? Well, f*ck you. Why? Listen here!"
Kinda dig it.

With mahagony and the styles I might be careful with Crawlers. And if, Iīd not use the neck. Could work though.

Emerald....only if it turns out really dark. The bridge that is. The neck on the other hand leads me to....

...the HD bridge. This could really be the thing here. 80s in spades, 90s prog easily done, and all the other too with always having that light character throwback tone. Imagine Nightwish with a bit less generic modern metal guitar sound (at least that is what I often hear there) and more organic growl that goes suuuuper well with an orchestra too.
However, then I would say go HD bridge and Emerald neck (over the mentioned CS). Wonderful combo of the sweetness from the vintage magnet and the cut from the modern wire. Blues singing to shredding to cleans all work. Especially for Maiden and Moore this is a great choice imho.
Plus it is cut from the same cloth as the HD, making it a beautiful and super versatile pairing.

I can use my HD from Living after Midnight (Judas Priest), over Awake (Dream Theater), to Down From the Sky (Trivium); and the EM from jazz, over blues, to Satriani and Govan. At least in my mind.

[Telerocker]

With these specs en looking at the mentioned bands you need... Rebel Yells!

Anyway, looks basass and OTT in a nineties way. I would play it for sure, wearing my pink trousers and purple T-shirt. 

[Kiichi]

Right, how could I forget? Seriously....pushed em for such a long time and now I forget about my RYs? Shame on me.

Listen to Telerocker and put em on the map asap!

[Telerocker]

Right, how could I forget? Seriously....pushed em for such a long time and now I forget about my RYs? Shame on me.

Listen to Telerocker and put em on the map asap!

Don't you worry Kiichi. You gave numerous good suggestions to a lot of members. Think about all the players you pushed in the right direction and are happy with their guitars tone now. So don't bully yourself. No reason. The BKP-forum would nearly dead without you and some other heroes that keep it going. I say, hurray! 

[northlane.josh]

i second rebel yells, just make sure they're burnt chrome!

[schneidas]

Thanks for your input so far...

Sounds good!!

So I'm basically deciding between Rebel Yells and the HD bridge / HD neck or HD bridge / Emerald neck combo...

Burnt chrome could be a cool option here... although I wanted uncovered humbuckers... will have to think about it here...

Question: HD neck vs Rebel Yell neck! How do they differ for lead playing (I love using the neck for singing leads)?

[Dave Sloven]

Rebel Yell set with burnt chome and ray gun etch could look pretty good

That neck profile sounds like it is really fat though ... I would swap it out for a different one, more of a shredder's neck with a 12" or flatter board

[schneidas]

[off-topic]
I'm a fan of Big, fat and wide necks... I have small hands but wide and fat feels comfy (and I don't mean the PRS wide and fat - which by comparison feels skinny to me).
A custom LP that was built for me had a super comfy neck with 1.754" nut width, and measured 0.960" @1st fret and 1.075" @12th fret. Beast of a neck to some - but just really comfy to me.
I do always go for 12" radius as well - this Tele is 12".
[/offtopic]

Anyway, back to topic.
After careful consideration I'm definitely going burnt chrome buckers. Should look sweet.

But am torn between the Rebel yell set and the HD bridge with Emerald neck...

thanks for all the input so far :)

[Dave Sloven]

I suspect that the Rebel Yell bridge would also work with the Emerald neck. The RY bridge is in many ways a beefed up, more modern Emerald bridge.

[gwEm]

my days thats a crazy paint job!

[johnny_rock_it]

It looks retro 80's 

I am leaning towards rebel yells too.. Heard that combo works very well in that wood combination (similar to PRS which has mahogany/maple body with mahogany neck.

[Telerocker]

I would pick a calibrated set. The Rebel Yell neck is supposed to be awesome. Ask forummembers Frank (FdeSalvo) or DarkBlueMurder. Maybe they chime in.

[Kiichi]

I too agree on that. Used to have the RY bridge paired with a Mule. While that was blooooody good, especially in terms of versatility, it lacked a certain something in the axe I had it in. Ended up going matched set after a while and yep. Yup. It is great. I wonder a bit more power and smoothness in a mellow way. Making it both easier to reach GnR sounds than the Mule there and also giving me a big edge for Guthrie Govan style things (thinking the Steven Wilson playing here mostly).
Now the set is in a different, heavier and fatter, guitar and it is the same, but just a lot more focused. Bit mellow in the first one, ibby S series (now sporting Crawler b and MQ n), maybe too much in the current one (super heavy neck through LP style-ish, like really a heavy bar-steward). That makes me think that here it could really shine.

[schneidas]

I guess I'll go listen to some Rebel Yell clips then...