Which pickups would suit me best?

[theegoparade]

I know you must get 500 of these threads a day, but I've heard wonderful things about Bare Knuckles from my local guitar tech, who raves about them constantly, so I thought I'd ask the people who know. There is an awful, gritty upper-mid frequency in my sound, which I am forced to assume comes from my fender 'wide-range' pickups, so I seek advice on which BK humbuckers to replace them with.

I'm not wanting a super high gain tone, but a modern, medium gain sound, with good cleans too. I suppose I want a pickup that can do a bit of everything, but doesn't need to excel at any of them. Any help would be appreciated.

- Richard

[lepersmeesa]

I would possibley say a nailbomb. Need a better description of what sounds you want. Which  bands have got a sound you like?

[PhilKing]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to the forum.

I think the VHII's would be a great set for you.  I have them on a PRS and they can give everything from almost a single coil sound in the split mode, to a great rock sound.  For a bit more gain you could go with the Crawlers, for a bit less the Mules.

You don't say what guitar you are using the pickups in, but I assume it is a Fender.  Check out the players clips for some ideas too, there are many good clips of pickups and they usually give you a good idea of what equipment was used.

Cheers
Phil

[March]

My guess from the description of the pickups is that it is a Fender Telecaster Custom, or something like it because of the 'wide range' pickups. This also brings in another interesting consideration if this is the case, as I think wide range humbuckers are larger than standard humbuckers, although I am not 100% certain.

Perhaps a rewind to the required spec could be an easier option than complete new pickups? I'm not sure of the composition of a wide range humbucker though.

[theegoparade]

Yes, it's a thinline telecaster, with the two humbuckers. A rewind was suggested, but the local techy didn't know how much it'd cost. I figured I'd need a new pickguard for it anyway, its annoying that the 'wide range' ones are larger than normal 'buckers.

I haven't really thought about what bands I'd like to sound like, I guess the closest I could get would be the Kaiser Chiefs live tone, its very mid heavy, but not in a fuzzy way.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

We've rewound some of the wide range pickups before; I can’t say it was the easiest of jobs!
The easiest option would probably be to get a new scratch plate with standard humbucker routings.
As for the pickups, I would say the Black Dog humbucker set would be a good choice, hot vintage wind with extra mids.