Pickup to thicken-up a bright, resonant guitar (Vigier)

[Pierre]

I've been out of the new BKs updates for a while now; using the same pickups in most of my axes: Crawler, Rebell Yell, and NailBomb (Alnico).

But I feel there may be something else for this one, as she's quite special. It's a Vigier GV Wood, a bolt-on, short-scale single-cut with a bright but very resonant sound, and loads of sustain.

I'd like to add some girth to the bridge pickup sound, without if possible losing sustain and with a minimal impact on clarity. Not quite what a tone control would do; a slight increase to the output would also be nice.

Got a few ideas of course, but I'd rather hear what anyone would think of here :)

And now for pr0n:



Thanks!

[ericsabbath]

holy diver
just make sure you set it very close to strings

[Kiichi]

holy diver
just make sure you set it very close to strings

Good call that. Thickens up, plays well with the characteristics you describe, and also plays in the same arena as the other pickups you like.

[Dave Sloven]

My first thought was Miracle Man

[Sarkasis]

I had a Holydiver in a bright sounding guitar and I wasn't satisfied with it. I moved it to another guitar that sounds naturally thicker and it's great there, the organic qualities really became more apparent, but it wasn't a good match for a bright guitar in my case. The palm mutes were thinned out with prominent upper mids that didn't sit right, at least for what I like. Being in a naturally thicker sounding guitar balances the mids in a way that I found much more useful for that pickup. But that was only one guitar so ymmv

[Dave Sloven]

It would also be worth considering the alnico Warpig.  It works really well in bright and resonant guitars.

[Pierre]

Thanks! Holydiver was what I had in mind, guess great minds think alike.

The Warpig will be a little much for me, and the Miracle Man... I tried one...er...11 years ago, but didn't quite enjoy it. Maybe worth another go :P

[ztevie]

I have a Vigier Shawn Lane which is a superstrat and rather bright and sustainy, also with the short scale.
I put a Alnico Nailbomb and a Cold Sweat in it and I'm very happy with the result.
It's hard to make a comparison since the old pickups were far too different from the BK:s, Dimarzio air classics. The guitar sounds fuller and more aggressive obviously...
I almost ordered the Holy Divers for it but was recommended A-bomb and CS from BKP, and they worked so it's all good.