Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: gripweed on May 13, 2005, 06:13:01 PM
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Now rumor has it that Clapton's Les Paul with the Bluesbreakers had Alnico IV pickups. Which of the BK pickups would get me in the zone (talent not necessarily included ;) )
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Now rumor has it that Clapton's Les Paul with the Bluesbreakers had Alnico IV pickups. Which of the BK pickups would get me in the zone (talent not necessarily included ;) )
I'd start with a Mule :)
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I have a Stormy Monday with alnico IV in the neck and a Riff Raff with alnico V in the bridge, this gets a great tone, together they give that old Peter Green sound.
The Mule is excellent too, I have that in the neck with an Emerald in the bridge, but it is a bit more rocky with the Emerald, not that you can't get the great LP sounds with this, just a little more Thin Lizzy than Free! Tim's goldtop with Mules sounds great as well, Mules are the classic LP sound, but Stormy Mondays sound good too.
Another combination that I have which gives the old Carlos Santana sound (Black Magic Woman era), is a calibrated set of VHII's. This is in a PRS.
Backing off the tone and volume on all BKP Humbekers cleans them up for blues anyway - even the Miracle Man (when it has the alnico V magnet).
The only one I haven't heard is the Black Dog, Tim says that this is a lot of mids, so it might not be quite what you want. I am thinking of one for the bridge with an alnco IV VHII in the neck, but for more of Zep sound than an earlier blues tone.
Lots of choices, but they all sound great :)
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I make both Stormy Monday and The Mule humbuckers with Alnico IV magnets although the Mule would be closer in output to an average '58/59 PAF complete with offset coils and handwound too like they were then(yes....not all Gibson pickups were machine wound!!).
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Some people say the whole mystery of the early PAF's was handwinding and two coils with different amounts of winds. I know a local luthier who goes nuts for that ultimate PAF sound. He has an original he really likes but normally he goes for SD antiquites and burst buckers. I'll try and see if I can turn him onto BKP's.
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Good man, that's what we like to hear! :D
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Actually, I know two luthiers. They both like the Yamaha SG I have. When it's finished I'll pay them a visit. It's going to be equipped with Crawlers but it should give them an idea what BKP is all about.