# BKP for Mahogany Recommendations...



## danger5oh (Sep 20, 2012)

I'm hoping to get some recommendations / opinions for some BKP's that I'm looking to put into a mahogany body with maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, strings-through body TOM guitar (I'd rather not give up too many details and spoil my NGD post lol). It's a fairly large chunk of mahogany... not quite LP chunky, but pretty close. I'm only tuning this guitar down half a step or to drop C#. I emailed Ben at BKP and he suggested Painkillers and possibly going with a Cold Sweat neck. I've also got a set of C-pigs laying around, but I'm questioning if they will be too heavy on the low end for mahogany. I've also been looking at C-bombs since they're supposedly very organic, and I'd like this guitar to be more versatile than just a metal machine. So I'm going with a poll... what would you guys go with?


----------



## TimSE (Sep 20, 2012)

I hear Aftermaths are the BKP for mahogany but if BKP are recommending those then either way you are going to be getting a killer sound.


----------



## Black Mamba (Sep 20, 2012)

I'd definitely go with what BK recommends.


----------



## mniel8195 (Sep 20, 2012)

i would go painkillers for something modern
rebell yells for 80's rock
or black dogs for overall awesomeness

i believe painkillers are done more in mahogany than aftermath's

i use holy divers in my mahogany bernie rico but thats a light weight body with a Floyd a maple neck and ebony fret board and they are perfect. I would go for any of t he top three for that guitar though.


----------



## Curt (Sep 20, 2012)

versatile and organic? Rebel Yell set.


----------



## mniel8195 (Sep 20, 2012)

if your close to a les paul than rebell yells will be awesome. I just find them to only work in the heaviest and warmest of guitars.


----------



## danger5oh (Sep 20, 2012)

Rebel Yells and Black Dogs? Those are 2 that I never really considered, but always wanted to try. Isn't the Nailbomb basically a more modernized Rebel Yell? I'm prob gonna be mostly playing more alt metal / post hardcore stuff, but may occassionally need to go back to my heavier roots from time to time.


----------



## mniel8195 (Sep 20, 2012)

tim fail safe recommendation is the nail bomb. If you are going to order these call nick at axe palace tell him what guitar and what music you like he knows his shit. i would have never thought of putting holy divers in my rico but when you think about it my rico is basically an 80's gun slinger kind of guitar with just a 7th string so putting holy divers fit that guitar perfectly and i can still get away with a tight 7 string voicing.


----------



## infernalservice (Sep 20, 2012)

The black dogs really suit down tuning in mahog builds. I have had both them and aftermaths in PRS guitars (6 strings of course) speced out similar to your guitar. The black dogs were in drop c and the aftermaths in drop b. Both sound awesome, but the black dogs are maybe a little more versatile.


----------



## mniel8195 (Sep 20, 2012)

i ahve never had great luck with mixing bkp thats just me i like the calibrated sets. Its no unnatural to think if the bridge is going to suit you that the neck wont. plus the middle position will be awesome.


----------



## danger5oh (Sep 20, 2012)

I agree with you on that one.


----------



## stratjacket (Sep 21, 2012)

I had a Carvin mahogany with specs similar to what you described. I had a Painkiller in the bridge and Nailbomb in the neck on recommendation from BKP and they were incredible...wish I didn't sell that guitar sometimes. But I did keep the pickups...


----------



## clintsal (Sep 21, 2012)

I've tried several (AM, CS, MM, CPig, RY, PK, BD) in the same two MIJ S7420's, and I am keeping the Painkiller set and a Black Dog bridge. The Painkiller rips like crazy with a razor sharp mid attack, restrained highs, and super tight lows , and the Dog is gnarly with this perfect sag from the alnico that delivers huge palm mutes and that sound of digging into your strings perfectly, with 'pretty' highs and wide but controlled bass. The Black Dog is gorgeous for cleans, and the Painkiller actually sounds good clean in all positions, but like the website says, the mid selector position is really something astounding.


----------



## Curt (Sep 21, 2012)

danger5oh said:


> Rebel Yells and Black Dogs? Those are 2 that I never really considered, but always wanted to try. Isn't the Nailbomb basically a more modernized Rebel Yell? I'm prob gonna be mostly playing more alt metal / post hardcore stuff, but may occassionally need to go back to my heavier roots from time to time.


 The Nailbomb is wonderful, but in most of my mahogany guitars I found a tad bassy. Which is where the Rebel Yell comes in. YMMV 

But I was running the Alnico Nailbombs fwiw.


----------



## HOKENSTYFE (Sep 21, 2012)

I got a Cold Sweat in the neck & a Warpig in the bridge of my Ibanez RGA7QM. I love it, I have this in a G tuning(G-C-F-A#-D#-G-C). Chrome covered. Needed routing so, went to Fretsonthenet.com to get some custom aluminum pickup rings. Low-High 52-11.

Good Luck.


----------



## wakjob (Sep 21, 2012)

I know it's all preference but:

I'd probably only like the Painkiller in a '6' for something close to standard tuning. I find it difficult to deal with prominent mids on a '7' and lower tunings before the amp. I like to be able to adjust that later.


MM's or Blackhawk's get my vote for a '7'. I can deal with the more balanced/even eqing of these.


----------



## ras1988 (Sep 21, 2012)

danger5oh said:


> Rebel Yells and Black Dogs? Those are 2 that I never really considered, but always wanted to try. Isn't the Nailbomb basically a more modernized Rebel Yell? I'm prob gonna be mostly playing more alt metal / post hardcore stuff, but may occassionally need to go back to my heavier roots from time to time.



A rebel yell has the mid characteristics and a similar personality as that of the nailbomb, it is less hot has a tighter bass and more presence (not highs, just presence). I have some NBs in a PRS and they have a nice girth to them and perform very well under high gain. They create a wall of sound with the right amplifier. They will stay relatively defined down to drop C and are very aggressive full up. There is a compression to them that makes playing easier, you can ease up a bit with them. 

I have the RYs in a custom 7 string baritone they are great and have a great punch and presence for the 7th string while retaining a nice singing sound on the higher end of the spectrum. They are however kind of smooth and polite sounding at times which can get annoying if you want more aggression out of your guitar. It is much more responsive to playing dynamics and doesn't have the same compression that the NB has. They are highly responsive to volume changes and will retain the power but put out a nice clean signal. 

The blackdog is pretty phenomenal it handles classic rock, clean, and metal very well with a good amount of midrange emphasis. It's not necessarily girthy like a NB it just has a very mid forward voice and aggressive characteristic that the RY didn't have. It handles down tuning on my custom 6 string down to about drop B very fun little pickup because it has a lot of power at "10" but cleans up pretty quickly riding the volume for an alternate clean/crunch channel (more so than the rebel yell because it does lose some of its power and output). It can get a little bright at times because of the lower resistance but that can be tamed with the right EQ setup. Basically its an aggressive, overwound PAF.


----------



## MaxAidingAres (Sep 21, 2012)

aftermaths!!!! or nailbomb (ceramic) bridge with cold sweat neck


----------



## Michael T (Sep 21, 2012)

Aftermaths !! I have them in 2 solid mahogany Ibanez 7 stringers and they are awesome. 
I've tried Nailbombs, miracle man's & painkillers. The aftermaths are like a super version of DiMarzios Crunch Lab/Liquifire (which also sound nice in Mahogany) 

I have yet to try a Warpig 7 in mahogany but in basswood they are great, give it a deeper more aggressive tone than the natural mid tone of basswood. 

This is just my opinion tho. I play death/melodic metal and Prog & the Aftermaths do everything I need them to. 

Whichever you get be sure to play with the pup height. BKPs are really sensitive to it, once you find that sweet spot they cannot be beat. 

Best of luck.


----------



## canuck brian (Sep 21, 2012)

I put a Ceramic Warpig into a mahogany bodied guitar that I built and it sounded amazing. Gigantic sound, clarity and overall just awesome sounding.


----------



## AngstRiddenDreams (Sep 21, 2012)

Definitely Painkiller Coldsweat. I have a coldsweat neck in a guitar with the exact woods and it is killer. So versatile. I have an aftermath bridge in that guitar too and i think it sounds great. I'm sure a painkiller would sound great as well. Probably better due to how tight it is and the upper midrange spike.


----------



## danger5oh (Sep 22, 2012)

Thanks for the input so far. Damn... that's a lot to digest. I'm still torn between what I think would suit this guitar as most mentioned pickup ideas all sound awesome in different ways. Mostly it sounds like I can't really make a bad choice.


----------



## potatohead (Sep 22, 2012)

lol @ this thread

This is why pickup threads are a shitshow and just end up confusing me more. What BKP HASN'T been recommended? lol. Just proves this is so subjective. 

Good luck with your choice man


----------



## leftyguitarjoe (Sep 22, 2012)

I have a painkiller. It makes my guitar sound HUGE


----------



## mniel8195 (Sep 22, 2012)

one thing that has not mentioned is what amp are you using! I went with the holy divers because my 5150 III can have a fizzy top end. the holy divers have a sweeter top to them. Its just as important to what guitar your putting them in.


----------



## danger5oh (Sep 22, 2012)

Oh yeah, that might be helpful lol...

5150 through a Mesa 4x12


----------

