Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Philosoful on September 04, 2008, 11:03:16 AM

Title: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 04, 2008, 11:03:16 AM
From what I've read I shall probably go for Nailbomb but I've got an 8 string being made by Conklin (2 humbucker setup) and am wondering if any of you guys would suggest I get anything else? It's mainly going to be used for piercing leads, big chords and not so much on clean (Piezos go to a seperate output so shall be using them mainly).

Thanks guys!
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Fikealox on September 04, 2008, 12:18:34 PM
I've had Nailbombs, and while I like them a lot, I wouldn't describe them as piercing. They have a lot of crunch and grind for heavy riffing, but for piercing leads you probably want something more like a Miracle Man or a Holy Diver.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Nolly on September 04, 2008, 12:22:06 PM
From what I've read I shall probably go for Nailbomb but I've got an 8 string being made by Conklin (2 humbucker setup) and am wondering if any of you guys would suggest I get anything else? It's mainly going to be used for piercing leads, big chords and not so much on clean (Piezos go to a seperate output so shall be using them mainly).

Thanks guys!

Hey Sam,

I'd ask Tim if I were you, the man knows his stuff like no other.

Nailbombs probably wouldn't be a bad choice at all, but there's always the possibility of dropping the output a little for extra clarity. Crawlers could be a possibility..
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 04, 2008, 12:25:11 PM
Maybe the piercing-ness is just what'll come with having a high A in the first place... when I talk of piercing I mean like how hard hit this sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbiT0xzLRY

Skip to 1:11, rubbish video but it's the only place the whole songs already uploaded on/good example of high A screaming :D

I love his tone there, it'll be used for huge chords mainly though, crunch is gooood, I'm really a fan of 'biteyness' in pickups too.

Hey Nolly! What does dropping the output imply on the negative side of things then in context of tone? Obviously it's good for adding clarity but?..

I'm not very good at the technical sides of things unfortunatley but am learning as ever :)

*edit* listening to that again I guess it's quite a warm tone and the piercingness purley is how damn high it is.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: f.sardis on September 04, 2008, 12:51:42 PM
you gain clarity, you lose a bit of compression and you will have to push the amp gain a little further to get the overdrive you want. other than that, thats all with possibly a bit of bass loss since the less coil turns you have the less bassy the pickup (or at least thats what i have gathered).
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Nolly on September 04, 2008, 12:55:38 PM
Hey Nolly! What does dropping the output imply on the negative side of things then in context of tone? Obviously it's good for adding clarity but?..

I'm not very good at the technical sides of things unfortunatley but am learning as ever :)

*edit* listening to that again I guess it's quite a warm tone and the piercingness purley is how damn high it is.

Dropping the output would lose you a bit of the massive chunk you get from the high-output pickups. Obviously, your amp won't be hit with as large an input signal, so you'll probably find that you have to compensate with more gain. Given your amp, I don't think that'll be a problem though!

I agree with your *edit* - the piercingness is just down to how high the note is. Adding super-bright pickups to a high A will result in very harsh and thin tone. I'll stick with my suggestion of Nailbombs or Crawlers. Certainly I'd be looking at the alnico V pickups, and steering clear of the ceramic ones.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Fikealox on September 04, 2008, 01:16:54 PM
Yeah, I see what you meant now, too. I just meant the Nailbomb's not what springs to mind when someone says "screaming leads", which is obviously not what you meant :) Nailbombs would do those sort of tones easily, imo
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: il˙ti on September 04, 2008, 06:18:24 PM
What's the bodywood of this guitar? If it's all mahogany it might not be clear enough with Nailbombs and if it's alder or maple it might be too bright on the extreme highs. Just a few things to consider.

If it has more of a balanced wood choice (limba, or mahogany+maple) I think Nailbombs are indeed the way to go.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 04, 2008, 09:19:14 PM
It's a soft maple top and birdseye maple top (hard maple).

By the way, thanks everyone for being so helpful+detailed, really appreciated!
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: MDV on September 06, 2008, 08:28:07 PM
Another nile forumite!

I'm D Man over there.

Welcome

I believe miracle man bridge, painkiller or cold sweat neck are what you seek.

MM bridge is gonna give the most cutting highs for lead. I think (just "think", dont "know") that it has the highest resonant peak of any BK (at least that I've tried), and its got a tonne of highs.

The PK is the most aggressive and sharpest neck BK (its the only ceramic) and the CS neck has a string high mid hump that can help with the piercing with the appropriate EQing.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: MrBump on September 06, 2008, 08:30:58 PM
Seriously.  Do you have enough fingers for 8 strings?
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 07, 2008, 05:14:43 PM
I have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, don't know about you? :lol:

Another nile forumite!

I'm D Man over there.

Welcome

I believe miracle man bridge, painkiller or cold sweat neck are what you seek.

MM bridge is gonna give the most cutting highs for lead. I think (just "think", dont "know") that it has the highest resonant peak of any BK (at least that I've tried), and its got a tonne of highs.

The PK is the most aggressive and sharpest neck BK (its the only ceramic) and the CS neck has a string high mid hump that can help with the piercing with the appropriate EQing.

Hey man!

I seem to remember people by their display pictures so shall lookey next time and thanks for your imput.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: HairyChris on September 08, 2008, 01:28:30 PM
Haha, hello Sam!
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 08, 2008, 03:29:23 PM
 :lol: Hello Mister Hairy.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: noodleplugerine on September 08, 2008, 04:29:38 PM
I have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, don't know about you? :lol:

On each hand?! Woah!
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Roobubba on September 08, 2008, 04:55:35 PM
I've just realised that tuning is standard with an extra string top and bottom. Now that's really disappointing :( I thought it was going to be downtuned to A with two extra lower strings. That's how I'd do an 8 string anyway.

Roo
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: noodleplugerine on September 08, 2008, 05:07:30 PM
B-A is the Conklin approach, it sometimes means you need to use Octave4Plus strings to gain that high A, if you don't have a fan, and have a huge scale.

Both are perfectly viable. Its argued that ANOTHER lower string isn't that useful, while a higher one adds as much of an extra dimension as the original 7 strings did.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 09, 2008, 08:10:29 AM
4 fingers on each hand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUrr3o5p1Ac
 :lol:
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: il˙ti on September 09, 2008, 05:02:24 PM
^ Wow, great video. I am also guilty of liking that song.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 10, 2008, 10:46:53 AM
Cheers buddy! :)

I've just realised that tuning is standard with an extra string top and bottom. Now that's really disappointing :( I thought it was going to be downtuned to A with two extra lower strings. That's how I'd do an 8 string anyway.

Roo

Drop A 6 string with 2 lower strings? In standard that'd be an octave lower than a 7 strings B, Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle... That's how you'd get an 8? Well, Meshuggah's = 30" scale length I believe and that's for an F... good luck :lol:

B-A is the Conklin approach, it sometimes means you need to use Octave4Plus strings to gain that high A, if you don't have a fan, and have a huge scale.

Both are perfectly viable. Its argued that ANOTHER lower string isn't that useful, while a higher one adds as much of an extra dimension as the original 7 strings did.

Not so much the 'Conklin approach'; more of whatever the customer asks for, mine = 22.75 - 25.75 scale lengths (fanned) you don't need a huge scale length for such a tuned guitar.

Agreed, - in the music I'm making I'll be able to make so much more use of a high A rather than a low F sharp.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: il˙ti on September 10, 2008, 01:02:33 PM
That sounds like a very interesting guitar. Be sure to stick around here and post pics whenever possible. :)
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on September 10, 2008, 08:07:50 PM
Man, there's tons more interesting stuff on it.

Thanks very much and of course I shall do, main features:

Nostradamus 12th fret inlay.
Aluminium 'fanned fret' inlays (that's going to be confusing)
BKs!
Piezos with serperate output jack.
5 way pickup selector for 2 humbuckers (think coil taps...)
3 way for Piezos/both/Magnetics.
and a matching headstock cap (Magenta Celophane like the body).

Now:
(http://a367.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/71/l_110584f306ca8fd1bd426651ebcc50a6.jpg)
But eventually, minus the gold hardware, single coil and volume knob + piezo 3 way switch, will be something like this:
(http://www.conklinguitars.com/bizarregallery/biz8images/carvedbirdseye8_450.jpg)
On another forum I have a 'my guitar being made' type thread and I'm sure I'll chuck pics/updates here as they come.
One other cool thing I've got coming is hopefully if Tim can do it (had a confusing phone call with him which I think he said he could on, I felt quite naive on technical terms) =
(http://a701.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/94/l_0ff3b40b02dbd7378d93246a2486b3bc.jpg)
As I don't like how normal slanted pickups look, that pictures edited by me, the original's not like that but the ends cut off on the slanted one I think'd = awesome.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on October 15, 2008, 08:19:37 AM
Bump :D
(http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/28/l_18ea8104f2544c959adb1a1eedf86f52.jpg)
(http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/26/l_6e9254ab66d34e9694ef937a3af09a1b.jpg)
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: noodleplugerine on October 16, 2008, 06:05:34 PM
Phwoar. Love the conklin headstock.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on October 16, 2008, 08:25:29 PM
Me too, and the neck's pupleheart, and, and, and... :D
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: WezV on October 17, 2008, 08:01:08 AM
yeah, thats very nice.  I am contemplating a 5 piece purpleheart and maple neck(s) for one of my next builds... maybe with the centre maple strip being thinner than yours so the purpleheart is closer together.
Title: Re: B,E,A,D,G,B,E,A 8 Recommendations?
Post by: Philosoful on October 17, 2008, 09:04:01 AM
Cool man, I like mine just how it is :)

Btw, not sure if I said but the fingerboard's also Purpleheart :)