Recent Posts

1

Pickups / Re: Tokai UALS62F LP Style new pickups

« Last post by timmy_b on December 08, 2025, 01:07:57 PM »

Ultimately, your Tokai should be a great host for pretty much any humbucker, so I wouldn't say that you need to compensate in any specific way to compliment the guitar.
For a versatile sound, something with a medium output is usually going to be best, as it gives you a nice balance between power and dynamics. Alnico v pickups certainly offer a good balance in that regard and a pickup like the Holydiver is absolutely going to give you great variety, but does sit reasonably high in terms of power, so you would get a more dynamic result from something a little lower down the scale such as the Black Dog for sure

2

Pickups / Tokai UALS62F LP Style new pickups

« Last post by DarkshinE81 on December 05, 2025, 09:05:18 PM »

Hi all,

It's my first topic on this forum.

I recently bought a TOKAI UALS62F LP Style Honey Burst made in China, I will soon be looking to replace the standard pickups in order to add a new set and I am evalueting the Bare Knuckle ones. I play guitar in an instrumental post metal band called The Last Sound Revelation so I would need pickups as more versatile as possible in order to cover all the moods, from high-gain punching and fat palm-muting to progressive and wet clean sounds. I was thinking about the Holydiver model because it seems very suited for most of applications. Is there any other model that you should suggest for the Tokai LP? Not sure if an high or a lower output would preferable for that specific guitar model. I like The Mule and Black Dog as well.

Waiting for your suggests.

Thanks in advance.

3

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.

4

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.

5

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

6

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

7

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.

8

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?

9

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. 

10

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?