Humbuckers for Basswood body

[djpatb]

Hi guys, I'm putting together a super strat Hum-Hum configuration using an old Ibanez basswood body, Carvin maple neck w/ ebony fretboard, and blocked off vintage style trem bridge.
It'll be tuned to Eb, and drop-C#. 3-way switch, no coil tapping. Looking for humbuckers that sound good in basswood. I'd like the bridge to go from Satriani to Slayer, and the neck should be bluesy and stratty hopefully. I'm initially thinking Holydiver set, but wanted some ideas. Thanks.

[MerlinTKD]

Never used them myself , but from everything I've heard, HD bridge is the way to go for what you described, unless you want a little heavier, then probably the Miracle Man?

As far as the neck goes... VH2? Or maybe one of the P90 styles in a humbucker housing?

[CanadianMetalhead]

I've definitely tried a lot of humbuckers in my basswood guitar over the years even though mine was rosewood FB.

Personally my take would be the ceramic warpig bridge and a coldsweat neck. The bridge just has a great balance of full tone with an edge that's angry as hell and the coldsweat is regarded as a great solo tone neck that isn't too fat sounding. Another suggestion would be the impulse set. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-5Ysauhjw4 Here's a good vid. The Impulses just seem to do it all.

Holydiver neck was too boomy in my guitar. Holy diver bridge just didn't have enough top end for my liking even though an ebony FB will probably help with that problem. Both sounded great when split coiled though so for a stratty like vibe they would be great if you are willing to fiddle with pickup height adjustments and get the split coiled thing installed.

Alnico warpig had the same lack of top end but when I installed 1meg pots it was definitely better. Personally I think you want to look at pickups that have a high mid edge to them and a tightly controlled but full bottom end. Ceramics to me seem to fit basswood great.

Oh and Miracle man bridge was my favorite out of all of them. For fast power chords oh man was it fun to play. /Cheers and /edited lol.

[Yellowjacket]

Yay for canadians haha!

I know I've got a one track mind but I say get the Juggernaut set and do the following.

1) Get the polarity of the neck magnet reversed.

2) Get a 3PS1SC5 switch (core-tek 2502 N) and set the instrument up using the Ibanez style wiring diagram available on the website here.  If you look up wiring diagrams on Ibanez's site, you can also find out the value of the capacitor they put on the pot to keep the highs from rolling off with the volume pot.  **edit**  It is a 331pF ceramic disc capacitor.

The switch gives you

Neck: Series
Neck: Parallel  (Hum cancelling single coil - esque bluesy tones)
Neck and Bridge: in Series
Neck and Bridge: Inside coils.  (This sound is rad.  Really great for Animals As Leaders style cleans and light dirt tones)
Bridge: Series

You'll get a massively versatile set that will do death metal all the way to cool rock tones and even lighter.  With the volume pot equipped with that capacitor, you can 'roll off' the output and get plenty of lighter tones as well, even with the series positions for the humbuckers.

And the lead tone is super rich, and the rhythm tone is super tight.

This set is designed specifically for the maple bolt on neck / basswood body combo and they feel great to play and are capable of many awesome tones.  The Juggerneck is basically a hotter VHII and it has that sort of a nice 'vintagy' vibe. 

Plus side:  Clean tones are absolutely killer with this set. 

[PK]

I'd say Holy Diver + Emerald
I've tried a VHII and a HD in de bridge of my Charvel 375 and found the VHII a little boomy in that guitar.
The HD works a lot better.
I havent tried the Emerald in a basswood guitar, but I loved the combo in my Mayones Setius (Currently though I have a Jugg and en Emerald in that guitar, also a great combo. Loved the HD but I needed more 'metal' from that guitar)

[djpatb]

Thanks guys!
Hmm, now I'm considering Juggernauts as well.

[Dave Sloven]

Miracle Man bridge always seems to work out for this combination of woods and construction, but I am not sure about the Satriani thing. Not sure how well a MM would match up with a VHII neck but that could be a good pickup, or maybe even an Emerald neck?

The one combination I have never heard of is a MM with a Crawler neck ... not sure how that would work out!  Here's a long video of the Crawler neck:

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

[Yellowjacket]

Thanks guys!
Hmm, now I'm considering Juggernauts as well.

Rad.  If you want to go with a 3 way switch, you will be wanting to try something like a Holy Diver bridge and a Crawler neck.

The Juggernauts just get heaver, more aggressive, and more modern overall.  To achieve the desired results with Juggerset requires the Ibanez 5 way switch and the 331pF ceramic disc treble bleed cap to make it work.  Parallel operation of the neck HMB coupled with the ability to lower output with the volume pot is integral to achieving the lighter tones you discussed. 

[Slartibartfarst42]

What amp are you using?

Satriani tends to play vintage powered pickups and prefers the amp to do the heavy lifting so that he can get plenty gain while retaining clarity and tone. If your amp will do this, either the Abraxas or Black Dog could do a great job for you. Out of the two I'd say Black Dog as it takes lower tunings better. If you really need a pickup to drive the amp, a Holydiver is probably your best bet as a balance between hot and vintage. The Miracle Man and Juggernaut will certainly go high gain but you're leaving Satriani tones a long way behind.

[djpatb]

My amps are Bogner Shiva, Diezel Einstein, and Orange Dual Terror, so I have enough gain on tap.
I wanna use this guitar mainly for soloing, so I'll prob just go with the HD set, or maybe HD bridge with a different neck humbucker.

[Slartibartfarst42]

There's certainly no need to go any higher in output with those amps and I really think a Black Dog could be a great option for you too. For the neck, I really like the Holydiver neck as it has a beautiful tone that is very articulate while giving a good nod to PAF territory. It's brighter and thinner (not in a bad way) to the other popular neck option for a Holydiver bridge, which would be an Emerald. The Emerald has more weight in the notes while still being sweet and creamy. It's darker than the Holydiver neck but strikes a great balance. I always struggled to decide which of these two neck options I preferred but they're both so good that the only other neck option I'd even consider would be the Black Dog.