Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Hayden on April 03, 2005, 07:26:34 PM
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I first met Tim at the Guitar show in London last year. After being yelled at for a good twelve and a half minutes because of my pickup choices on my Strat he passed a Trilogy neck pick up to me and sent me on my way. I always liked the idea of having all single coils on my Strat but I work as a demonstrator and like my guitars to be more versatile.
I installed the neck pickup and liked it, but it just needed a liiiiiiitle more poke. I was chasing a humbucker drive with sincle coil articulation, no mean feat if you've listened top some high powered single coils out there (Can you say boxy?).
After a few phone conversations a couple of small boxes turned up at my house. A bridge and neck pickup that came with a handwritten warning which can easilly be translated to 'Aboandon hope all ye who enter here'. Tim had wound a monster set and posted them before they could infect the other polite pickups in the workshop.
The bridge pickup clocks in at around 25k I believe with the neck and middle pickups hovering around the 13k mark (I could be wrong, I suck at this side of things). Initially it was thought the bridge pickup might be a smidge too hot so a replacement was sent. I broke it by poking it with a stick (Sad but true) and went back to the origional.
All in all I can say these are my ultimate single coils, full of power yet always articulate, they back off to a wonderful slightly hot Strat tone but really scream when I need them to. The neck pickup has a gorgeous mini humbucker vibe going on too. All in all I am now a convert and I can't see myself using anything else in the immediate future.
Just need to sort out the humbuckers now!
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That is INSANE output for a single coil! I've seen stacked/noiselenss single coils that have those kind of numbers. Is that what this is?
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That is INSANE output for a single coil! I've seen stacked/noiselenss single coils that have those kind of numbers. Is that what this is?
Nope, just a single coil. I can't for the life of me remember all the specs (Tim would be your man for this) but I know that he somehow managed to make a monster single coil which is still nice and open.
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My first experience was when a customer turned up at the local music shop whose guitar repairs I do, with a Korina Epiphone SG and a pair of Riff Raffs. "Can you fit these?" she asked. Turned out she'd found then on the internet, phoned Tim, told him what sound she wanted and here they were. The staff in the shop coughed politely behind their hands, stifling laughter when she said she'd paid Ģ190 for them, and couldn't wait to have a good laugh at the stupidity of silly girls with too much money once she'd left the shop. I thought an upgrade to an Epi was not a bad idea and had heard of BK but thought she'd be disappointed. What a mistake to make!! I was totally blown away, it was one of the best sounding SGs I'd heard. I've fitted and tried many models since then, including a set of 'Apache' on my own'54 Strat Replica, and have never been disappointed, nor have any of my customers.
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I have a friend that works in a vintage guitar shop here in my town. They sell old Strats, Les Pauls, etc. These guys are guitar experts. They've been working on my guitars for years.
Just looking at my Bare Knuckle Miracle Man out of the box impressed these guys. The workmanship, wiring quality, plating, etc. Basically everything about the pickup was top quality. And when I say 'top quality' I mean miles beyond Duncan, DiMarzio, etc.
I picked up my guitar the next day and thier first words - 'Wow'. I plugged it in myself and loved the tone.
Mark
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As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.
What I'm hoping to do in the future is update the lists to show the model of pickup each player uses.
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One thing I have noticed with all the BKP loaded guitars I have tried is this, they all sound as if they have been 'opened up' somehow. I'm sure there are plenty of explanations for this involving DC,amps,ohms,wire guages, and voodoo, but for me it's just that X Factor they seem to have.
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The way i understand it, the reason why they seem to open up is because handwound pickups have this characteristic. Tim, explains it in the web page. Handwound, decreses capacitance so then you have less top end loss(sort of the top end loss with long cables). Not only that, havenīt you noticed that they seem louder than pickups with the same specs? Thatīs because of the increse in the harmonic content. I donīt wanna look like i know all these, i just learnt it by reading the page. Still, i checked it for myself. So, now itīs not something that i read, i experienced it.
Bless Bareknuckle!!!!!
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oh! and before i forget. Of course, not everybody winds pickups the same way... so thereīs that extra x factor you mention. Tim knows his job man!!
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As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.
I'm glad Tim brought this up.
I'm no rock star by any means. Not even close. But I've been in the business long enough and released enough albums that I could get a free pickup or two from one of the big companies.
My tone is the most important thing to me. Not getting a special deal on equipment. You can't compromise something you love (music) for the sake of saving a few bucks. My Bogner head was $3,500, so the price of a Bare Knuckle is an absolute bargain when I consider how much it improves my tone.
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oh! and before i forget. Of course, not everybody winds pickups the same way... so thereīs that extra x factor you mention. Tim knows his job man!!
Oh I know, and bless his cotton socks he has tried many times to explain it all to me in laymans terms only for me to reply 'So that'll be louder then?'.
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As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.
What I'm hoping to do in the future is update the lists to show the model of pickup each player uses.
A good policy, too Tim, and one Fulltone has as well, as do many other custom manufacturers kind enough to help starving artists (like Wayne Guitars). The idea of the pups purchased on the user list is a great idea; might not be a bad idea to make the band names into a clickable link, too ;)
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My first BKP was a set of calibrated Warpigs. I found out about BKP after reading an mini review of the Warpig in Total guitar. A few e-mails later and my pickups was on the way. They are soo sweet sounding!
My second par was a set of calibrated VHII's, recommended by Tim after telling him what sound i wanted. They sound like heaven!
10+ for BKP's
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My first set is "The Boss" one for a telecaster that I've yet to build, I'm itching to put them to work, it's madenning! I'm also gonna start scouring e-bay for good project guitars, I wanna get my paws on an early 70's SG deluxe, slap some war pigs in, give it a distressed camo paint job and distress all the hardwear to match.
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What a cunningly evil plan-bet it'd look amazing and with Warpigs SGs are simply brutal weapons :twisted:
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My first pickups were for a custom built Les Paul (see my avitar) and a PRS EG for 91. The Les Paul was built by a friend in Yorkshire, but needed a new neck and was really heavy. So I gave it to Will Scott (in Pembrookshire), and had him put a 58 dimension neck (it had a 60's), and hollow the body to bring the weight down. The pickups I hac on it were Gibson Classic 57's. With these Will thought it sounded great, and for rock it did, but I wanted more of a blues tone. I spoke with Tim and decided on a combination of Emerald in the bridge and a matched Mule in the neck. The PRS got a Crawler and 2 P-90's (a great combination btw.)
All I can say is that the volume controls work and the both pickups setting gets more use now than it ever did. It is an amazing blues and rock guitar but I was bitten with the Bare Knuckle bug, which has started me on a long expensive pickup replacement trek! I got a set of VHII's for my PRS Artist, Irish Tours for my hardtail Strat, a custom mule and rewind of an original PAF for my 53 LP (though these are on my custom one at the minute and prbably won't come off!). I also got a P-Bass for my 66 Precision, a HSS set of Nailbomb and 2 trilogy's for a 'superstrat', a rewind of a 61 strat pickup........
All of them sound great, but the real problem is that Tim can voice the pickups to what you want. Why is this a problem you might ask? With all the sounds I like, I can see that there are many more pickups to buy! I haven't started on my Tele's yet, and I have an old Strat with SD and DiM pickups which is begging for a set from BareKnuckle!
The PRS is amazing too - the best P-90 sound I ever got (and I have 6 guitars with P-90's not including this one!)
Phil
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You see that's my problem - only got 6 guitars, and just had to deck them out with Bare Knuckles....
Met Tim at the Music Live Show in 2003, I was working the show for Matamp, and we were squatting on a corner of Bareknuckle's stand. Having spoken to Tim on the phone, I knew a little about BK. But having tried some at the show I ended up buying three sets, and an old Marshall of Tim!
I too love the VHIIs in my PRS, although it's an early CE Mapletop from 1990. It took a while to get it how I wanted it to sound - I'd had a Black Dog in it for ages, but the VHII gave me the right blend of power and tone.
Nailbombs sound great in my Ibanez RG.
I've got Sultans in one strat, although I may change to Apaches. My other Strat has a Sinner and a pair of Mother's Milk, it did have a pair of trilogies, but I fancied a change!
:P
Also got some Emerald Special Editions in a Gordon Smith - they're teh perfect hot pickups, great harmonics but also sound excellent clean.
Then I ended up evicting the Lindy set in my Charvel, in favour of a Miracle Man - good choice I feel! :twisted: :twisted:
As an added bonus Ive got a pair of teles lodging with me, with Country Boy and Boss sets, along with another strat loaded with Irish Tours.
All I need now are more guitars to complete my BKP set
. :twisted:
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man I can't wait to get some myself
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My 1st Bareknuckles were a Black Dog (bridge) and a Riff Raff (neck) for my Gordon Smith Graduate 60 (Les Paul Clone).
After hearing how good they sound, I now plan on buying an Alnico IV Covered set of Mules for my Gibson LP Standard and either a Crawler/Irish Tour/Irish Tour or VHII/Irish Tour/Irish Tour set for an old Japanese Strat that I have :D
I may also change the pups I have in a cheapie Tele for BK's, although I'm not sure if it's worth spending more on pickups than the guitar cost in the 1st place :?
Craig
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My 1st Bareknuckles were a Black Dog (bridge) and a Riff Raff (neck) for my Gordon Smith Graduate 60 (Les Paul Clone).
After hearing how good they sound, I now plan on buying an Alnico IV Covered set of Mules for my Gibson LP Standard and either a Crawler/Irish Tour/Irish Tour or VHII/Irish Tour/Irish Tour set for an old Japanese Strat that I have :D
I may also change the pups I have in a cheapie Tele for BK's, although I'm not sure if it's worth spending more on pickups than the guitar cost in the 1st place :?
Craig
Buy the pickups - put som ein a squier tele - the guitar sounds great, plus you can always pull out the pickups when you upgrade to a better tele!
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Buy the pickups - put som ein a squier tele - the guitar sounds great, plus you can always pull out the pickups when you upgrade to a better tele!
I could do I s'ppose :)
I'm thinking of getting a Gordon Smith Telecaster made in the future (I may go for a Single Coil bridge and a Humbucker neck) so if i did upgrade my cheap Tele's pups, the BK' would soon have a new home :D
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My first (and only, but that's gonna change soon I bet :lol: ) BKP pickups are the P90's in my (korean) Epiphone Casino that Tim rewound. We went for a BKP-91-ish bridge P90 and a lower output Alnico III loaded neck PU that has a very thick yet clear tone. Apart from solving unwanted magnetic feedback I am very pleased with the lovely vintage sound.
I was and still am blown away, at last this guitar sounds better than it looks in stead of the reverse.
Regards,
Martijn
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My first proper exposure to Bare Knuckles was at last year's London Guitar Show (2004). I was exhibiting on the stand opposite (sharing stand space with Sims LED).
So for 2 days I got to hear all these awesome tones and had to try some out.
I played Tim's lovely Foster Les Paul guitar with a Miracle Man in it and was blown away.
Suddenly I could get a sound very much like George Lynch's tone on the "Under lock and Key" album which was pretty much all Les Pauls for much of the rythym work. So it was gimme gimme and I had my first Miracle Man!
Fab Stuff!
From there I knew I wanted to be a main dealer for the pickups and put them in as many of my guitars as i could.
I was very flattered when Tim asked me to make him a guitar - and he will have it very soon!!! And I am delighted to be sharing stand space with the BKP guys at the London show this year- I hope some of you guys will check out our guitars.
And after seeing that review in Guitarist I feel it will be a very busy weekend on the BKP stand.
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My first proper exposure to Bare Knuckles was at last year's London Guitar Show (2004). I was exhibiting on the stand opposite (sharing stand space with Sims LED).
So for 2 days I got to hear all these awesome tones and had to try some out.
I played Tim's lovely Foster Les Paul guitar with a Miracle Man in it and was blown away.
Suddenly I could get a sound very much like George Lynch's tone on the "Under lock and Key" album which was pretty much all Les Pauls for much of the rythym work. So it was gimme gimme and I had my first Miracle Man!
Fab Stuff!
From there I knew I wanted to be a main dealer for the pickups and put them in as many of my guitars as i could.
I was very flattered when Tim asked me to make him a guitar - and he will have it very soon!!! And I am delighted to be sharing stand space with the BKP guys at the London show this year- I hope some of you guys will check out our guitars.
And after seeing that review in Guitarist I feel it will be a very busy weekend on the BKP stand.
Ready to be cast adrift in a sea of widdle then???
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Ready to be cast adrift in a sea of widdle then???
Sounds like toilets at Donnington / Download (yuk)
Yes - widdlefest at BKP stand
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Sounds like toilets at Donnington / Download (yuk)
So that's why they call it Download......I can smell it from here...
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I bought myself a calibrated set of zebra coil Black Dogs for my Tokai Love Rock, as the blurb said that they actually had some mid to them. Fortunately enough, my local music emporium is a Bare Knuckle dealer, and actually had another (Pink!) Love Rock, loaded with a set of Black Dogs for folks to try out.
I plugged it in to a Cornford Harlequin (the 6 watt Combo), and dialled in a nice clean tone, the pickups sang sweetly. Next came the "Just Breaking Up" tone, and they impressed me with their clarity, so then I wound the gain up further, and then I knew that this was the set for me! They replaced a couple of SD's which were starting to sound too clinical & samey for my liking, and both pickups seriously lacked any mid.
Congrats to Tim for making a superb range of pickups! :D
I just need to decide which ones to get next, and what to put them into! :?