Even altough my taste is leading more and more towards classic guitars, I still really like this one. It has one of the most comfortable necks I've ever tried, it's very resonant and the piezo sounds amazing. However, I think the pickups are its loose point.
The neck pickup lacks character, too middy and plain for my taste. I want to add more beef, definition in the low end and shine in the high end. I thought about my loved Mules in the first place, but I want something with more output for this guitar. It's very important that the pickup splits well too, so Mules are definitely discarded.
The bridge pickup is not as bad as the neck, but still needs a bit more of bite and body.
The guitar has basswood body, maple neck with roseboard fingerboard and floating trem. It sounds quite neutral, not too dark not too bright.
I'm not a fan of very modern, compressed sounds. I don't play death or trash, but I want it to be as versatile as posible, something like a strat in steroids but keeping some of a vintage feel as much as possible. It would be great if I could get fender-ish vibes when splitting the coils. I know BKP has some great ceramic pickups, but I still prefer alnico. After reading a lot and listening all the samples I could, my options are:
- VHII set
- A-bomb set
- Rebel Yell set
- Any of the above bride + VHII/Abraxas neck
Black dogs seems to be too middy for this guitar, and I've read some opinions talking about the compressed sound of the Emeralds. So being VHII or Abraxas my options in the vintage hot field, I'm afraid not having enough output in the bridge position.
In the modern spectrum, Nailbombs or Rebel Yells seems like the best options for what I want for this guitar. I have a Rebel Yell bridge in my Les Paul and it sounds great, with this fat paf-ish sound with sweet highs that could fit well in this guitar. I never tried Nailbombs, but I liked the samples and what I read of them.
What would you recommend?