Charvel GG - New Pickups choice

[matthewmsp]

Hi guys i have a Charvel Guthrie Govan guitar, the new one with Basswood back and maple top. I am looking for the best set of pickups to go here, X2 HB and X1 Single.

I did have a Holy Diver in the bridge and a VHII in the neck of my last PRS guitar that i loved. Not sure how different they would sound in a basswood body though as apposed to the Mahogany of the PRS.

I have never had a single coil pickup before and don't know much about them, what would anyone recommend for this too?

My style is classic rock up to hard and prog rock with occasional high gain fun.

Thank you for any help.
Matthew

[stratguy23]

I’ve never owned a basswood guitar, but I can attest that the Holy Diver sounds amazing in an alder Super Strat with the same trem system that is in the Charvel GG. I would think the Holy Diver should work as well if not better in the Charvel compared to the PRS. If you wanted a rounder, less aggressive tone, the Crawler could work. For singlecoil, I’d go with the Irish Tour, it pairs nicely with the Holy Diver and is a vintage hot pickup, so it should work for your style. No idea on neck humbucker since I haven’t owned any.

[matthewmsp]

Thanks for that, thats good info. I have tried the Crawler before and found it a little tame for my taste. I found it a more blues rock vibe.

I don't even know yet if i can swap out the pickups on this guitar that easy, they are a total custom build. I hope they are still a standard size and fitting. I notice looking down at the screws that fix it to the body there are two on each side and its a wider plate too.

Matt

[capac]

Holydiver all the way. My fav BKP atm.

As far as those mounting holes go, you may have to drill some center holes for mounting (if there aren't there already) into the guitar, because I those pickups' legs seem really wide. Just expect you'll have to have something modded (I had to enlarge mounting holes on my pickups in order for them to fit in my guitar).

[stratguy23]

Ya definitely go Holy Diver then. I agree with your assessment of the Crawler vs Holy Diver. I like the Crawler for blues rock stuff, but I definitely prefer the Holy Diver.

Could you post a picture of your guitar? My local guitar store where I buy my BKP (Guitar Czar, they are awesome) told me that when they place the orders with Bare Knuckle that they ask for the guitar model to make sure the pickups will fit in the guitar, so maybe they can make the pickups the right size to fit or suggest a way to make them fit?

[capac]

I seriously doubt they'll do him larger legs with 2 holes on each side. They can do triangular shaped (dimarzio style) feet, but not larger ones.

Just contact them and ask, I may be wrong.

[mantrasky]

I absolutely love my Holy Diver (calibrated set) in my Charvel CS! it also has a Trilogy Suite in the middle with Schaller Mega-E 5-way switch (split coils/parallel/series). Beautiful sounding guitar and versatile.

[capac]

Nice! Whaat are the pickups in that strat?

[mantrasky]

Nice! Whaat are the pickups in that strat?

The Fender has a “Blackdog” and the single coils are Seymour Duncan Texas Hot Antiquity. The Charvel by far is the Best sounding! The Holy Divers are awesome sounding, very inspiring, fluid, raw, articulative.

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[capac]

How would you compare HD and BD having them in two similar guitars? I was choosing between the two and went with HD.

[mantrasky]

I would say the BD is more vintage voiced, somewhat similar to the HD but not as inspiring? It's a good pickup in general but BKP has a lot more better Vintage type of pickups. At the time I thought the BD would fit well with the SD Antiquity SC's (which sound wonderful) so I tried the BD because of the SD.

The Holy Divers are way more better from "Blues to rock" and the way I have the Charvel setup, the neck position HD (and mixture/positions) can do Jazz & Pop, I'm not a metal player so the HD's work great for me. The Trilogy in the middle when combined with the humbuckers offer a really nice balance from Tele to Strat tones to Rock Fusion, which is the reason I mentioned the Charvel as being more "Versatile".

[capac]

I can confirm it does metal very well, but don't expect it to sound too modern. It's tight and everything, but wouldn't be my first choice for drop Q chugging. I use it in standard/drop D and it's awesome.

[mantrasky]

The Holy Divers touch response & tone is Great! Like I mentioned I'm not a metal player so I look to these for the articulation to get many styles of "voices" from playing technique, and when the guitar volume is backed off it still has a sweet tone, whereas many "High-Output" pickups have less dynamics, more compressed and less headroom kind of "All or Nothing" type of thing.

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[Telerocker]

Thanks for that, thats good info. I have tried the Crawler before and found it a little tame for my taste. I found it a more blues rock vibe.

I don't even know yet if i can swap out the pickups on this guitar that easy, they are a total custom build. I hope they are still a standard size and fitting. I notice looking down at the screws that fix it to the body there are two on each side and its a wider plate too.

Matt

A Crawler in basswood can indeed be a bit dull. You need something with more bitey uppermids. The Diver is certainly brighter than the Crawler. I think it will do fine in your guitar.  But what yoy dislike about the stockpickups?

[stratguy23]

Thanks for that, thats good info. I have tried the Crawler before and found it a little tame for my taste. I found it a more blues rock vibe.

I don't even know yet if i can swap out the pickups on this guitar that easy, they are a total custom build. I hope they are still a standard size and fitting. I notice looking down at the screws that fix it to the body there are two on each side and its a wider plate too.

Matt

A Crawler in basswood can indeed be a bit dull. You need something with more bitey uppermids. The Diver is certainly brighter than the Crawler. I think it will do fine in your guitar.  But what yoy dislike about the stockpickups?

I’ve never owned a basswood guitar. How does it compare tonally to alder and mahogany? The Crawler I have works well in my ash Strat with a Floyd to help mellow it, and it worked decently well in an alder Strat, but I can definitely understand people finding it dull, especially compared to a Holy Diver.