Bill Turner ex EMG has a hissy fit at Tim

[il˙ti]

I was just wondering: who would want Clapton's tone anyways? The guy is in my opinion sooo overrated.

Holy shiteballs, I think I love you.

[B3]

If Tim is guilty of anything, it may be poor choice of words in trying to explain something to someone who clearly knows little about pickups and how they sound, and not realizing that his private correspondence would be posted on a public forum.  My experience with Tim, is that he is not only a very skilled musician with extraordinary ears and a respected member of the British guitar tech community, but a gentleman. It's always exciting when a "celebrity guitar" becomes open to public scrutiny, but to assume that these instruments have remained completely unaltered through years of constant gigging is naive to the extent that I wonder whether some folks watch "the Dukes of Hazard" and think there's only one Genreral Lee that made it through all those stunts. Anyway, Tims sound research is secone to none, and I would rather believe him. The proof's in the sound of his pickups.

[Stevepage]

Tim doesn't know what he's talking about?

So then how comes Bareknuckle Pickups has become so popular so quickly and the people that do have them, swear by them. Obviously Tim and the guys DO know what they're  talking about.

Every BKP I've had the pleasure of hearing and playing with has sounded fantastic.

[Tim]

To put this into perspective-a long standing customer who has enjoyed buying/owning/playing many BKPs and has a lot of correspondence with me dropped me an email simply asking if I would underwind a set of Slow Hand coils. I replied that it wasn't a good idea as the set was specifically voiced to that spec(dropping the wind wouldn't sound good -not unsurprisingly I have tried it in the past as part of how I reached the final voicing).He then followed up with an email stating a former employee of Fenders findings, quoting 7200 turns of single build enamel for a typical 70s spec Strat coil and then wrapping the coils in copper tape as the correct spec for Clapton. I happen to have a lot of experience of '70s Fender coils, we see plenty sent in for repair/rewinding too, and know their tone very well. 7200 turns is quite a bit lower than typical 70s coils which mostly were around the 7500 mark(from @ '67 onwards). These coils are always bright so underwound to 7200 would make them very bright indeed.I don't think I would be over generalizing by saying the majority of Strat players like '70s coils the least.
Wrapping Strat coils in copper tape was often done as a last ditch attempt to make them sound better(also offer a degree of screening). However enclosing a coil in copper tape and then attaching it to ground weakens the coils output and removes a lot of high end-in this instance making an already low output coil even more so and with a loss of highs too.
 Why would I want to make a set of coils like that? My experience tells me full well that they won't sound very nice let alone getting anywhere near Clapton's tone.
As for all BKPS being overwound-well again, as you all know that's simply not the case -Apache's, Sultans, Mother's Milk-overwound!!...........I don't think so.Other than addressing the wind of the bridge, all of these sets are vintage correct.
I get several hundred emails every day asking for advice on tone and pickup selection.I do my utmost not only to reply but to offer up the best advice I can based on what I know from experience and more importantly using my ears as a player. You all own and play our pickups and are well aware of the time and effort we put into getting things right-.If I was so far off the mark would so many players buy BKPs and keep returning for more?I really don't think so.
Anyway, thank you all for your support and thank goodness our forum isn't run so badly as that one allowing such slanderous and unprofessional  remarks to go unchecked.

[MDV]

Thanks for the clarification Tim

Is it possible, though, that both Tim and Bill are both right?

i.e. that clapton was using 70s strat coils, but with something additional or some configuration of his setup that tamed the high end?

So, clearly, the trebly tone of the 70s wind wouldnt get you straight to the clapton sound in a normal setup, but maybe he used them through an unconventional setup? Sort of blackmoore-esque, who I believe used a somethingorother (technical term, that!) to kill a lot of treble on his strat.

Plus,

Kudos to Tim for still holding back, just stating the facts and not mud-slinging in response to Bills attack.

[Crazy_Joe]

Wooo go Tim! haha

[Scotty477]

Kudos to Tim for still holding back, just stating the facts and not mud-slinging in response to Bills attack.

The restraint shown was very impressive indeed.

Personally, I would trust Tim to get the facts right in this matter.

Not that I'm anti EMG, or anything. Just saying .....

[Johnny Mac]

If Tim is guilty of anything, it may be poor choice of words in trying to explain something to someone who clearly knows little about pickups and how they sound, and not realizing that his private correspondence would be posted on a public forum.  My experience with Tim, is that he is not only a very skilled musician with extraordinary ears and a respected member of the British guitar tech community, but a gentleman. It's always exciting when a "celebrity guitar" becomes open to public scrutiny, but to assume that these instruments have remained completely unaltered through years of constant gigging is naive to the extent that I wonder whether some folks watch "the Dukes of Hazard" and think there's only one Genreral Lee that made it through all those stunts. Anyway, Tims sound research is secone to none, and I would rather believe him. The proof's in the sound of his pickups.

There was only one General Lee, they welded the doors shut and everything! It was all down to the good driving Beu and Luke that kept it intact.

[Elliot]

and Daisy Duke gave it a nice wax after every outing

[Philly Q]

I have no clue about the true story of Blackie's pickups.  

But isn't Bill Turner the guy who designed Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups?  I've read at least as many bad reviews of those as good ones....

[AngusYoung01]

Even if he didn't agree with Tim he didn't have to sound like a stuck up faggot who's shiteting arrogance.

Precisely, well said.

[MDV]

I have no clue about the true story of Blackie's pickups.  

But isn't Bill Turner the guy who designed Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups?  I've read at least as many bad reviews of those as good ones....

Vs Damn near straight 10s on HC, and every 'pro' review of BKs is glowing  8)

What I hear means far more to me than that, though. I see great reviews of duncans all the time: doesnt make me actually like them.

[kevincurtis]

That really p*sses me off - Tim goes out of his way to try and advise someone, who then posts part of the reply to that personal email on a forum! BT then shows himself to be the most unprofessional tw*t I've heard of in a long time.

The best bit for me is when our chief protaganist then states he's undecided about getting an active pickup WTF?!

[silentrage]

If you mostly dwell on this forum. then there's more ignorance and prejudice out there than you can imagine.

I was searching for some comparisons of EMG 81s to warpigs and I found a thread on harmony central where a guy was asking for advice on whether he should get EMGs or the pigs for metal.

Half of the replies recommend EMGs simply because they were "AWESOME!!~~11`one~~eleven"  but they never even played or heard a warpig.
I was pretty shocked.

Maybe this is the reason BKP is not as widespread as it should be?

[MrBump]

If you mostly dwell on this forum. then there's more ignorance and prejudice out there than you can't imagine.

Damn right.

This forum is blissfully free from Internet "trolls" - by and large everyone expresses their opinions with a fair degree of humour and a genuine interest in learning.

It's an entirely other world "out there"...