Recent Posts

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by timmy_b on December 02, 2025, 10:44:07 AM »

We do alter the number of turns between 50mm and 53mm versions, but a 53mm set will come out with a slightly higher DCR in almost all cases. It also has a physically larger coil, which will sound a little warmer and less punchy than a more compact 50mm coil set - not a dramatic difference, but certainly audible and could go a fair way to explain any difference that you're hearing between different sized pickups. I think it's a fair indicator of how precise and nuanced pickup building is!

Otherwise, the most likely variable between two sets is simply inconsisitencies in the wire / coating between different spools - potentially the two pickups you had could have been wound many years apart and, although our wire supply hasn't changed over the years, each spool will have a slightly different coating thickness, which we keep on top of and adapt wind counts as we go to mitigate any variance, but is always going to add in some level of variation, which would be the case for any coil, regardless of whether it's hand or machine wound.

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by b.gandt on November 22, 2025, 05:32:27 PM »

Odd.  I’ve always heard that a particular string or two will be weak in terms of volume, especially with vintage output humbuckers.  The only personal experience with out of alignment I’ve had was the treble side  of the bar of a Dimarzio X2N.  However, that pickup is so hot that it picked up the treble e string sufficiently.

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by ericsabbath on November 21, 2025, 05:02:19 PM »

One more thing, is it known if RY neck uses 42awg poly wire or it is 43 poly wire?

Doesn't sound like 43 awg to me
Maybe 42.5 like the cold sweat?
Maybe 42?

It sounds middier and less bassy than the VHII and has a smoother top than the CS
Far different character from nailbomb and emerald, and definitely hotter than the mule and old guard

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Pickups / Re: P90s for a Yamaha Revstar? (MQ? Nantucket?)

« Last post by timmy_b on November 12, 2025, 04:48:54 PM »

Absolutely agree that the Mississippi Queen is an excellent option for a wide range of classic P90 tones. Having said that, the Revstar guitars are an excellent host for almost anything that you wish to throw in there, so certainly something with a bit more bite is going to sit in there just fine without being over-the-top.

The Nantucket and Mississippi Queen bridge pickups are quite close in specs, so I certainly wouldn't say that the Mississippi Queen is missing any bite, but the Nantucket neck certainly has a bit more edge from its Alnico 5 magnets compared to the smoother response of the Mississippi Queen's Alnico 4s

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Pickups / Re: True Grit in a Mahogany Ibanez S770PB

« Last post by rbg on November 10, 2025, 08:29:50 PM »

TrueGrit bridge is a quite bright pickup and would still be bright in mahogany guitar.

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Pickups / True Grit in a Mahogany Ibanez S770PB

« Last post by tommyg on November 10, 2025, 01:56:44 PM »

I tend to like brighter pickups and since this is a Mahogany guitar with rosewood fingerboard, I'm not sure if True grits would work well for that guitar.
Does anyone have experience with that?       Suggestions?

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Pickups / P90s for a Yamaha Revstar? (MQ? Nantucket?)

« Last post by carlaz on November 07, 2025, 12:14:31 AM »

I last bought a set of Bare Knuckle pickups almost 20 years ago  as a set of Crawler humbuckers for my Les Paul -- which I still love. 

I recently picked up a slightly used Yamaha Revstar with its stock P90s, since I'd never had a guitar with P90s and wanted to try one out. (I thought about getting something LP-ish with P90s, but I figured I already had an LP, so the Revstar would be interesting and different without necessarily being too different.) I like the guitar and, to be honest, the pickups seem decent enough, though I can't help thinking that BKPs would be better. 

I'm looking for a relatively classic "'70s-ish" vibe, I think. I like the P90s particularly for how they work in a relatively bright edge-of-break-up/crunch tone that can clean up well but also be smashed with fuzz or Muff. Of course, it's also fun to whack them through a treble booster into a cranked amp and play Sabbath riffs, too. 

The stock Revstar P90s (the specs of which I'm not sure of) don't seem overly hot or bright to me -- they might even be a little more bassy than "classic-type" P90s? Still, my gut feeling is that I could probably not go wrong with a Mississippi Queen set, which might (?) have similar output and would perhaps (?) be a touch brighter, which would probably be OK for me. But perhaps I should also consider a similar but perhaps very slightly more raucous (?) Nantucket set? The Revstar as stock seems relatively smooth, so perhaps the Nantuckets would add some snarl and grit for a more "classic" P90 vibe, in this guitar, at least? Since I've not heard the guitar with other pickups, nor played P90s in another guitar before, it's difficult for me to judge!

But perhaps some here have experience with Revstars and suggestions regarding the BKP P90s? Interested to hear any experiences and ideas. 

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by rbg on November 04, 2025, 06:57:03 PM »

One more thing, is it known if RY neck uses 42awg poly wire or it is 43 poly wire?

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by rbg on November 03, 2025, 04:57:02 AM »

Thank you Eric. It is interesting. I also have two Crawlers that measures almost 1k apart. Two NBs I have measures almost 1k apart, and I actually prefer ~16.9k NB :-)

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Pickups / Re: Rebel Yell bridge 50mm vs 53mm

« Last post by ericsabbath on November 02, 2025, 07:52:44 PM »

my bridge Rebel Yell is 53m and 14.4k, somewhere between yours and your 50mm

it does make sense that a 13.9k pup might sound cleaner and tighter than one that's almost 1k hotter and same specs, but maybe the pole alignment might play some part in this