Been thinking about the Cold Sweat. I'm not sure if I'd like Ceramic though. All of my humbuckers are Alnico (Slash Set, Whole Lotta Humbucker, Thornbucker/Thornbucker +). I guess I'm looking for something around or just north of the WLH in terms of output and response. The WLH is brightish but not too bright. With this V, I think it will lean brighter so I have to be wary of that. I've read up that the stock Burstbucker 3 is a pretty harsh pickup and I don't know that I want that.
I've had both The Mule and the Abraxas in a Les Paul Traditional Pro with 500K pots and 50s wiring. I liked the Abraxas as far as the fatness and the response of the pickup to distortion and then dial down to vintage. Maybe the best I've had in that sense in terms of getting two pickups in one. Sometimes though I felt it lacked in the high end so I then tried The Mules. They were "OK" and added back in the high end in that same Les Paul. The neck was a bit woofy for my tastes and I just didn't bond with that so I put a Slash set in there and they've stayed put so far. Of the Mules and the Abraxas, I'd probably pick the Abraxas to try again in this guitar.
While I'm tempted to build a flamethrower with this V, I don't have projects that would call for that kind of heat unless I got a more vintage neck and used the neck and middle for non hard rock songs. I want to try Bare Knuckles again though. I have to say that I really like the Thornbucker/Thornbucker + combo. I put that in an all mahogany DGT and it cleared it right up and also gave it a more versatile and slightly modern sound. The neck is much better, for me, than the Mule was but not the same guitar so I know it's not apples to apples. The Thornbuckers remind me a bit of The Mules...both are kind of even and slightly polite vs raunchy/gritty. Maybe that's an A4 thing.
