Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Spitfire on October 12, 2008, 04:31:23 PM
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who here uses BKs (or would if they had the money) exclusively and who is happy with BKs where they want them and other pickups where they work aswell??
My SG is very very happy with SD APH-1s in.. and i cant see that changing.. however I have never been entirely happy with the high output pickups SD have on offer... so thats where i have my BKs.
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As a one-guitar man, I find it relatively easy to fund my BKP habit, so I'm a BKP-only guitarist, yay!
:)
Roo
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I've only bought BKPs for guitars where I'm unhappy with the tone and want to change it. They've 'fixed' whatever problem I was having, so job's a good 'un.
I wouldn't automatically buy BKPs for every guitar I buy.
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I've been slowly but steadily replacing the pickups in my main axes with BKPs. My new axes will probably be BKP exclusively. That's how pleased I've been with the BKPs. They aren't the cheapest but at least I know I won't soon want to swap them away.
However, there are still 3 non-BKP pickups in my main axes that are likely to stay:
- My Jackson Fusion SX has EMG 81 & 85. It's an old Japanese shred machine that has a basswood body and really thin & bright natural tone. Nothing short of active pickups could make it sound beefy enough. (Well, I guess ceramic Pigs might have, but it would have been a waste of quality pickups on such a cheap guitar - EMGs are what this guitar deserves, no more, no less.)
- Ah, my "themed" Gibson SG Faded Special. It has an Alnico 5 Warpig in the bridge position, and a Gibson Tony Iommi in the neck position. I can't praise this combination enough - it's almost as if the two pickups had been designed to complement each other! To round up the concept, I had the guitar recently modified into a 24 fret one at a custom shop. They did a very good job - if you look at it, you would hardly believe that it wasn't originally a 24-fret guitar.
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^ +1 (to twinfan's post)
mainly based on laziness/lack of funds, but i do have several guitars which, while BKPs would probably make an improvement, sound good enough as-is that I'm not desperately rushing out to buy replacement pickups...
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My main electric guitars all have BKPs except for my Danelectro which has lipstick pickups (and I am considering enquiring about rewinds in that direction...)
My "not-main" electric guitars don't have BKPs (although one of them did originally, and lost them to a newer guitar) - this is mostly because they've been relegated to "not cute enough" and are back in the attic. The one that did have Mules (an Epi LP) has got my Explorer's Gibson Ceramic humbuckers - and they do work very well in that (but it's still in the attic!)
I must admit, I suspect that any future guitar with standard fender or gibson size pickups would be likely to get the BKP treatment. In some ways, the choice of guitar might well be dictated by the pickups I want to get (Apaches, Mothers Milks, Yardbirds... see if you can guess what guitars I'm looking at :lol:)
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Most.
BKPs/Pickups on the guitar
Legra - 2/2
Dean 1 - 3/3
Jackson - 3/3
Dean 2 - 2/2
Deathocaster - 1/3 (Uber sinner bidge, stock N&M)
Ibby 7 - 0/2 (Swinseheads)
The Gimp - 0/3 (2 dean pickups and 1 duncan designed)
Soooooo 5 out of 7 have em, and 4 out of 7 are fully BK'd.
And I do pretty much expect to change pickups when I get a new guitar. Its par for the course for me, I find stock pickups irksome if only because I wonder how good the guitar could be with replacements (I'm not exclusively BK - I use whatever works well with the guitar, it just happens to be that thats BK the vast majority of the time, especially with guitars with good acoustic tone).
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Oh lawks, I've got all sorts - BKP, DiMarzios, Duncans, Fenders, Kinmans, PRS, a Jason Lollar and a Joe Barden.
Some are staying put, some may be changed.
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All of my guitars (apart from the Charvel I'm selling) have BKPs in them.
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I either have original pickups or BK's in guitars other than a custom Lindy Fralin P-90 in my 65 SG Junior. In bases I have a couple with Bartollini's but have BK's in a couple too! I have replaced some original DiMarzio's and SD's with BK's. For some guitars I still have the original pickups in case I ever decide to sell the guitar (my PRS's, Hamer and BC Rich). Other guitars came with the wrong pickups anyway, so changing to BK was a no brainer. For me the sound experience with a BK means that the original pickups have to be good. My 61 & 63 Strat and 62 Tele have original pickups (though only one of the Strats is really original, Tim rewound one and made me a replacement for an SD that was in another position). Then things like Gretsch, Silvertone, Rickenbacker don't have BK replacements, so most of them still have the original PU's.
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Mine all have BKPs-except my bass but that is not being used at the moment so it'll have to wait a little longer.
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most of what i build now gets BKP'd... but i am also a big fan of TV jones stuff and bartolini soapbars for basses.
generally if i am after a HB/SC/P-90 then it will usually come from BKP.
I was happy with Dimarzios for a short time shortly followed by swinesheads for a few more guitars. I have also tried PRS's, Gibsons, fenders, SD's, EMG's, Lace's, fralins, vintage vibes, golden age, iron gear, razor, kent armstrongs and probably a few others i cant remember. Many of them have been good and some have been really good - i still think BKP's have a little extra something else
I want to add Lollar's to that list at some point but that will probably be for something BKP dont do like a steel pickup or Charlie christian style tele pickup. I am also wondering about the new lace alumitones - mainly because they look cool and are built so different to any other pickup
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I've never used EMGs or SDs or SHs or DiMs.
I should try them to be honest.
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Of my 18 electric guitars only 4 don't have BKPs, mainly because I haven't got round to BKP-ing them yet & partly because I haven't decided what BKP to put in them... :)
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Yamaha Sg400: Crawlers
Mockingbird: Warpig
Gretsch Power Jet: TV Jones Powertrons
CV Tele: Stock pickups.
BKP doesn't make Filtrertrons, Dynasonics (and other exotics).
Due to lack of funds, I haven't changed the pickups in the Tele yet. They are surprisingly good so there's no urgent need for a change either. I haven't decided about wich pickups either. Blackguards are an option. But there's also a Tele pickup wich is based on the fifties Tele pickups but is wound with a different wire and has a custom stagger. This gives it a bit the characteristics of an old DeArmond Dynasonic pickup. I haven't heard it yet but soundclips are on the way. It's a very interesting concept.
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I've got:
PRS SE Soapbar II with BKP-91s
Ltd Viper 400 with C-Pig/MQ
Fender 50s Classic Strat with Slow Hands on the way (ordered this morning)
I've also got a pair of Ibanez NDM1s, one with a EMG81/60 set in that I'm quite happy with and have no intention of swapping. The other has been stripped of it's gaffa tape and is more Talman than NDM. It's got a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the Bridge, A BKP Mother's Milk in the middle and a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck... I like it, it's certainly very different! Though I've been thinking about swapping the SD and A2P for BKP equivalents. Purely because they just seem to sound that much better than any other pups I've ever heard. Time for another thread methinks!
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I've got...
* Gibson Les Paul standard >>> Mules in both positions
* Epi (Japan) Les Paul jr >>> AIV BKP91 (though this guitar is listed on ebay at present)
* Fender '72 Tele Custom >>> vintage Wide Range humbucker in neck, Fender CS nocaster in bridge
* Epi Korina Explorer >>> EMGs, 81 and 60 (also up for sale, though not listed on ebay yet)
Lately I've been finding the Tele a bit unsatisfactory - the neck isn't plummy enough to fall into humucker territory (a neck Mule absolutely kills the WR) and it doesn't have the snap/funk I want from a Fender neck pickup. I can see myself fitting a Strat neck pickup in this thing eventually - something that will nail the Wind Cries Mary tone.
The bridge pickup in the Tele is too pokey in the mids - great if you want to throw lots of overdrive at it, but I'm wanting a more relaxed midrange and open tone. Will most likely be putting a BKP in here very soon if my band start gigging.
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Epi (Japan) Les Paul jr >>> AIV BKP91 (though this guitar is listed on ebay at present)
:o Why's it up for sale? Just a general clearout?
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In my LP I have that well used DiMarzio combination of a Super Distortion in the bridge and an Air Norton in the neck, plus a few extra switches for coil split, parallel/series switching and phase reversal. Sounds great.
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* Epi (Japan) Les Paul jr >>> AIV BKP91 (though this guitar is listed on ebay at present)
This one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIBSON-EPIPHONE-Japan-LES-PAUL-JUNIOR-BKP-P90_W0QQitemZ280276826043QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280276826043&_trkparms=72%3A1298|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
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Well anyway, I am looking into a Lollar Firebird set
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* Epi (Japan) Les Paul jr >>> AIV BKP91 (though this guitar is listed on ebay at present)
This one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIBSON-EPIPHONE-Japan-LES-PAUL-JUNIOR-BKP-P90_W0QQitemZ280276826043QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280276826043&_trkparms=72%3A1298|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I think that's it - are you interested Fernando? They're great guitars! :D
the tone cap is a Paper In Oil type
Was that what yours came with? I thought mine had pretty standard Japanese electronics. :?
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Well anyway, I am looking into a Lollar Firebird set
They're really nice pickups, I have one in my Tele. :)
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I think that's it - are you interested Fernando? They're great guitars! :D
If my payment was in £, surely... as it is not and my currency is 1/4 than £, don't think I will get it :(