Beautiful HSH sounding set for RG?

[Ephemeria]

I recently snapped myself up an Ibanez RG; however, the intention was to get a more traditional guitar. With the beauty of the Ibanez and rarity, I couldn't give it up. It's an Ibanez RG1550GX Prestige Limited Edition, which is a sparkly, whitish cream, with gold hardware. It's sort of elegant like the JEM, so I'm wanting to put white pickups with gold poles in it. The body is basswood, with a maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard. It also has a floating tremolo and the guitar resonates quite well - basswood/wood quality seems to be night and day with Ibanez Prestige guitars and the cheaper basswood RGs at a low price point.

The tone I'm after in my head for this guitar is an "elegant, beautiful, gentlemanly "think a cigars and whiskey session", songwriting guitar. I'm personally done with high output pickups - I'm shying away from the whole saturated shred tone, with the fluid Yngwie sweeps on the neck. I just feel I want to refine my playing with more songwriting now, with this guitar.

I'm going to start studying Rockschool's Electric Guitar and Acoustic Guitar syllabus (acoustic songs on electric as well, just with maybe using an Acoustic Simulator), my reason being the variety of songs which range from Blues, Country, Jazz, Funk, Indie, Reggae, Britpop, Classic Rock, Heavy Rock (yes, I copied this from the Mule page, ha. But the Mule pretty much sums up what I want from this guitar)

So, I'm looking for pickups that provide versatility for a wide range of styles, maybe not heading into the heavy rock area, but all that comes before. It has to sound sweet and vocal for lead lines, but also provide great clean tones for strumming and fingerpicking.

I'm assuming with a guitar like this, then any of the Alnico II pickups, along with the Mule, will be more suited to Les Paul guitars, and maybe a bit bright for this Ibanez. So I was thinking maybe the Abraxas solves this issue? Although, I would really like to hear opinions on the Mule. Sam Coulson has done a demo in a Strat, but unsure how it would suit an Ibanez. Or maybe 280k pots instead of 550k? Or even just the brightness of the Mule with use of the tone pot to tame the brightness?

Also, regarding the middle single coil, this will mainly be used for cleans (again, strumming and fingerpicking), along with adding Stratty sounds in the 2 and 4 positions, split with the humbuckers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

[b.gandt]

I'm using a Mules set in a PRS SE Korina Singlecut.  Korina is somewhere in the area of Mahoganey, but I've not been able to compare/contrat with guitars that have identical pickups.

I play it mostly through a 68 Plexi clone, only mod being a PPIMV.  Play it through the studio's 4x12 1960 series cab.  I think it has the Celestion 75s.  I also  use my own 1x12 with a Celestion Redback (which is the better sounding cab).

Bridge:  It is a bright pickup in the above described PRS.  I don't usually play any crunchier than the harder end of classic rock, and it does that extremely well.  There's a complexity to the crunch that I haven't heard in other pickups that I've used.  Cleans up well.

Neck:  Has a bright edge to it that I like.  I'm not a big neck pickup user, but this one doesn't have the muddiness that so many neck pickups that I've used have (none were BKP).

While I usually use the  Marshall clone, I also have an upgunned 5F2 circuit in a 1x12 combo, and a Quilter Superblock 25 US for small pub blues and electric folk stuff.  I'm not usually a fan of humbuckers for how I play those styles,  but the Mules really work well for me.  Really cleans up nicely.  It is a fuller sound than the Strats and Teles I've used, but not muddy like many humbuckers I've used (mostly hot ceramic humbuckers).

I don't know how the Mules would sound in the guitar you've described.  But, I certainly could cover the styles that you mention quite well with the PFS SE Korina Sinhlecut that house my Mules.

The only other BKP humbucking* pickup I have is the Boot Camp Old Guard, which I purchased to put in the bridge of a MIJ Basswood Strat.  However, I have not gotten around to installing it. 

*Edit!  I wrote earlier that I had none besides the Mules and the OG.  I actually have Tele and P90 BKPs...

[timmy_pix]

This is Mules all day long!

They do respond differently - I've got a sets in a full-sounding Epiphone and a rather bright sounding PRS SE and that acoustic response comes across in the pickups, with the Mules sounding fuller in the Epiphone. If this Ibanez is rather bright then yes, an Abraxas bridge might be the way to go. If it's fairly balanced and even-sounding, stick with the Mules!

As for a middle pickup, I reckon you'd want either a Mothers Milk - percussive and slightly scooped, which will help with the 2/4 positions. The Mule does split nicely too, but being lower output they're not the strongest splits.

[Telerocker]

In general basswood sounds quite neutral, so the pickups need to have some sparkle, unless the guitar is bright sounding. I had a Jem 77 FP with PAF Pro's, which are a nice match. If you desire a open dynamic and articulate PAF-tone I would say Mules. The bridge is balanced from bottom to top, but can be bright in some guitars, yet the topend never will be shrill. 

I have Mules in a all mahogany guitar (bolt on). They do a stellar job. I don't split them, because I think the splits of the Abraxas and the Crawler match single coils better. So you might want to consider the Abraxas/Crawler. Maybe throw a email at the BKP-team for a pro opinion.

[mantrasky]

Really Love BKP, my Charvel CS (2008) HSH has the Holydiver set with Trilogy Suite in the middle.
Schaller Mega-E 5-way switch, really versatile and sounds great! All of these guitars have Bare Knuckle Pickups.....

[ericsabbath]

have you considered old guards?
they are a little warmer than mules, with a darker top and more dense mids