Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Alex on July 22, 2009, 10:54:04 AM
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A while ago I ordered a Bareknuckle Black Dog for my SG. Essentially I keep this guitar at my parent's place in Germany. While I live and work in England, I spend quite a substantial amount of time in the year (about 3 months in total) in Germany, as I have many friends here, sometimes work to do and the climate agrees more with me as well.
A picture from our garden:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/theonlywarlock/IMGP1225.jpg)
So it might seem like overkill for some to spend so much money on a guitar that essentially only gets played a quarter of the year, but the truth is I need nothing else gearwise and just felt that this was at least something worth doing, as a long term investment anyway.
So I finally installed the pickup in the guitar and did some other work as well:
1. Cleaned the guitar
2. Replaced the screws for the tunomatic bridge with stainless steel screws (#6 32x2"). I got this tip from a very nice guy on the ESP boards, who has done the same mod with his Les Paul Goldtop.
3. Screwed the tailpiece down fully.
4. Redid some soldering on the tonepots (what horrible job had I done there the first time????).
5. Installed the Bareknuckle Black Dog in the bridge.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/theonlywarlock/IMGP1251.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/theonlywarlock/mod.jpg)
My first impressions are:
- The tone pots now work better.
- The bridge vibrates stronger, it seems to be better connected to the body thus transferring more string vibrations between them.
- Tim is a genius when it comes to pickup makings, the Black Dog sounds great in this guitar! I've not had such an organic and harmonic sound from this guitar before. It works well with the neck humbucker as well.
- Adding a fresh set of strings is a nice touch!
- 4-string conductors are sooo much easier to solder than the old-fashioned wire mesh!!!!!! The green and white cables were actually already properly soldered together and shielded, again a nice touch from a great company!
Now, to the other pickup: I took out the Miracle Man from the SG in the bridge. I had bought this used once actually (shame on me, I know!!!! :( ). It had been Nickel anyway, so it didn't match the stock neck pickup ever. I discovered something in the box, however:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/theonlywarlock/IMGP1258.jpg)
Whereas the packaging says:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/theonlywarlock/IMGP1255.jpg)
Seems it is time to borrow a meter from a friend and get some resistance readings on that pickup. Tonally though, my ears say it must be a ceramic magnet pickup, it's too close to the EMG81 tonally to be a Warpig.
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How come you got rid of the 'miracle man'? I've got one to put in one of my guitars (just need to pick which one! :D )
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There's a possibility that it could be a C-Pig, but the serial number and DCR says it's a Warpig for sure. What elements of the sound make you think it's ceramic?
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The sound is tight, the treble is quite harsh.
It's somewhat similar to an EMG81.
The packaging and the guy who shold said "Miracle Man". Maybe he replaced the Miracle Man with a Warpig and put the wrong card in the box?
I will know more once I have a multimeter.
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The sound is tight, the treble is quite harsh.
It's somewhat similar to an EMG81.
The packaging and the guy who shold said "Miracle Man". Maybe he replaced the Miracle Man with a Warpig and put the wrong card in the box?
I will know more once I have a multimeter.
That's definitely a MM. The cards must have been mixed up. I'm sure that a C-pig would be way too thick all around to have harsh treble, and it would probably be less tight.
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don't warpigs always have double rows of pole pieces?
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don't warpigs always have double rows of pole pieces?
Nope, they can come any way you wish. Cap head allen bolts, screws, covers, no covers, double screw pole, single screw pole, etc. Can't really judge a BKP by its cover.
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to be fair, for the Warpig Tim does encourage you to go for double adjustment poles of somekind if you order over the phone
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How come you got rid of the 'miracle man'? I've got one to put in one of my guitars (just need to pick which one! :D )
I wanted a change from high-powered pickups. I heard a couple of times that a "cleaner" pickup will give a more open sound. Since my amps (5150, Krank Rev jr) have lots of gain on taps I can rely on them or a booster pedal.
So far it seems to be true, the lead lines are meatier, bigger, the overall tone is more open.
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Ah fair play.
I've got a miracle man to put in one of my axes, but i have a feeling it might be a bit too harsh to be honest.
We'll see though.
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Well the MM works great for "brutal" rhythms, better than the Black Dog, but I wanted something more "refined" and softer.
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Yeah, I'll give it a go, but i've never really been one for the butal tone, I play heavy music, but we dont have the typical metal tone or whatever.
Might end up changing it for a slightly hotter PAF alike.
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Does screwing the tailpiece right make it more sustainy then.
I might have to try it on my Epi and Fret King.
Could there be any adverse effects though?
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Does screwing the tailpiece right make it more sustainy then.
I might have to try it on my Epi and Fret King.
Could there be any adverse effects though?
The guy on the ESP Forum said it makes a large difference. As you can see in my picture, actually on one of the screws is longer. This is because I made the first one longer and then realized it goes in deeper in the body than Gibson had screwed it in! So it is as long as the original one sticking out of the body but deeper inside. The other screw is much longer. Also, the new screws are much better quality.
The mod is not that easy, unfortunately. I'd say skill-wise it is moderately difficult, easy being a pickup swap with soldering. The biggest problem is that you have to remove the original screw and its not that easy, because it is a cheap screw that will loose lots of its coating when you grip it with a pliers. The other problem is, that you want to "screw" it out, not pull it out by force or kind of yank it and widen the hole or break the body. Once you've got it out, you need to fit the new screw in - straight, preferrably. That's easy. Then you got to cut the top off at the right length. That is a bit tricky, because you don't want to bend the screw, break something etc....
So if you are handy with these kind of things, go for it, but if you don't have any DIY experience with wood etc. I would not recommend it. Plus, you have to find the right screws (I actually bought mine when I was in the US last time, no kidding) and you the right tools.
Does it make a difference? Well, I really don't know. I picked up the guitar the first time for 3 months and did all the work, so I cannot really compare it. But it sounds great as it is right now and if I strum the guitar hard I can feel the body AND the bridge vibrate. The guitar is very articulate as it is right now and I'm not sure it was as "snappy" and quick before.
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Hmmmm... i think ill leave it lol.
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To make it easier, try getting two nuts that are the correct size, put them both on the thread and turn them into each other (screwing the top one clockwise and the bottom anticlockwise).
This is like using a nylock nut in other applications, but very appropriate here.
Keep turning the bottom nut anticlockwise until your bolt / threaded bar is out.
Personally I would use a third one to remind me of the height if it could fit.
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A more expensive option, but StewMac make a special tool for removing and installing bridge posts:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Bridges/Tune-o-Medic_Bridge_and_Tailpiece_Tools.html (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Bridges/Tune-o-Medic_Bridge_and_Tailpiece_Tools.html)
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BTW the "Miracle Man's resistance is 17, so I guess it really is a Miracle Man and not a Warpig. :P