Recommendations for HSS set

[WezV]

I installed my first BKP yesterday and i am well impressed.  It is a BKP-92 and i installed it into a ash bodied, wenge necked les paul junior i had built.  The Wood combination was always gonna make this a bright guitar that wouldnt suit everybody but it sounds awsome , like a really fat tele.

I installed it with the 0.047uF cap as suggested in the schematic, this value seems a little high to me but it works well, although i may experiement with other values to see what i like.

Anyway onto my question:

I am building two guitars and a bass for a local guitar shop to take to Music Live in November.  I have one of the guitars and the bass sorted but i really want to use BKP on the other guitar (trying to support british builders, the other guitar will have swinesheads and be lower priced and a simpler build).  The guitar with BKP's will have a korina body (similar tone to mahogany but usually warmer) and maple neck and i was wondering which HSS set would be the most appropriate for a versatile sound.

This guitar will also be equipped with a graphtech ghost pickup so i need something that will mix well with acoustic sounds when it needs to, but can still do balsy rock tones when thats swicthed off.

Because the graph tech saddles will be black on a chrome bridge i intend to use chrome pickup surrounds with black pickups for a slightly different look to the guitar.
I really need to build an industrial or reliced guitar so i can take advatage of some of these finishes

Cheers

Wez

[_tom_]

The Mule bridge would be a pretty versatile pickup, you can do most styles of music with it so long as the amp is versatile aswell.. The Rebel Yells and Nailbombs also seem pretty versatile but I've not played those.

[WezV]

Do you reckon the nailbombs would still work well with the peizo sounds??

Mules sound good though.

If i was going for the rebel yell's, what single coils would you recommend to go with them?

[_tom_]

I havent played any of the Bareknuckle singles so I cant really help you there. People seem to love the Apaches for a classic strat tone though, I'm gonna try em when I have enough  :)

[CaffeineJunkie]

i would go for the Nailbomb - Irish Tour - Irish Tour for that... and Matt Bellamy from Muse mixes his Nailbomb with his ghost bridge to some...erm...interesting results (of course aided by his fuzz factory)

[Antag]

The guitar with BKP's will have a korina body (similar tone to mahogany but usually warmer) and maple neck and i was wondering which HSS set would be the most appropriate for a versatile sound.

I recently put together a strat with that exact combination of woods :) & a Holy Diver/Irish Tour HSS set in it.  I'm very happy with it - the HD has a very thick, warm sound to it - a gorgeous creamy lead tone with wonderful harmonics.

The Nailbomb bridge in an HSS set would probably give the sound a lot more "cut" (I put one in my Les Paul at the weekend) - it's a sharper, more versatile pickup - cleans up beautifully but has the necessary devil when you need it :twisted:

& FWIW, the Irish Tours are really nice.

[WezV]

Please dont mention Matt Bellamy, i am trying to convince my self the guitar doesnt really need MIDI as as well but when i think of Matt suddenly i aint so sure :D   Its very easy to add MIDI capability with the ghost system andi am sorely tempted - but i think in reality it would limit my market too much.

I really do want to try the nailbombs at some point but it probably wont be on this guitar.  I think i want something a little more traditional so i can aim this guitar at as big a market as possible!!  I am drawn to the mules or black dogs  for the humbucker and possibly slowhands for the singles. Apaches sound good but i am not really focusing on getting it to sound too much like a strat, not with the body wood i am using anyway.

[CaffeineJunkie]

the Black Dog sounds great in my LP bridge (see players section for clip-the 'twangy' parts) and that's got a mahogany/alder body, not sure about how it would sound in yours tho....Mules are nice tho...very 'PAF-y'

[WezV]

I recently put together a strat with that exact combination of woods :) & a Holy Diver/Irish Tour HSS set in it.  I'm very happy with it - the HD has a very thick, warm sound to it - a gorgeous creamy lead tone with wonderful harmonics.

Actually thats a combo i hadnt considered that might work quite well, it might just be the one.

Korina is a great body wood, i love the tone from it.

[Tim]

For a really versatile, cover all bases HSS, the Geoff Whitehorn Crawlers really take some beating(Mother's Milk singles).There's plenty of power in the bridge which is also capable of splitting down really well and the singles cover a good palette of classic clean tones.

[WezV]

This doesnt get easier does it :)

I think i am down to the crawlers and mothers milk or the holy driver and irish tour combo.

i will sleep on it for a few days and then place an order

still loving the bkp-92!!

[PhilKing]

If you love the P-90 sound, then you could do what I did in my PRS EG and go Crawler/P-90/P-90.  It is a wicked combination.  For the more traditional, I have the new Holy Diver with a pair of Trilogy's in a swamp ash strat and it sounds really nice, very old classic heavy rock sound but with a nice clean up when you turn the guitar down or when you use parallel settings.

[WezV]

Just orderd the crawlers and mothers milk singles since thats what Tim suggested.  :D