BKP Strat pickup set for Richie Kotzen's sound style?

[mat.paris]

Hello everyone,

I'm a very big fan of Richie Kotzen and I really love his sound when he's playing with his fender strat signature model like on his last record "Return of the Mother's Head Family Reunion".
His strat is loaded with a Dimarzio Custom Shop pickups set which are based on the HS-2 ( http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/ ).
So I would like to have some advice to choose the correct Bare Knuckle Set to have the same kind of sound. It sounds to be not over powerfull with a very good definiton, quite clear and with a vintage touch.

To have a better idea you can click on the link to see a video of him playing a solo of his last album.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=VjDnN_KotMs

[PoshCollins]

I think an Uber-BK will do the trick.

Or maybe one could crank up some Mother's Milk.

[badgermark]

The HS-2 is humcancelling, none of the bkp single coil range does this, so maybe if you really wanna nail the tone go for the Dimarzios?

Or look into the Mother's Milks, proper vintage sound and a real nice set of pickups.

[mat.paris]

Thanks for your advice.

Even if I really like thes sound of his dimarzio custom pickups I don't really want to have the humcancelling that's why I'm looking for a Bare Knuckle Set.

The Mother's Milks looks to be a good option but maybe I would prefer a litlle more punchier pickups set.
Do you think that the Slow hand set would be great?

[il˙ti]

Sounds to me like you need something with more bass than the vintage range. Trilogy Suite?

Take my words with a huge pinch of salt though. Me talking about single coils is like Dee Snider talking about Tipper Gore.

[MrBump]

Not much ro add to the topic, but that's a cracking video of RK.  Never really got into him, maybe I should...

Mark.

[Nolly]

Not much ro add to the topic, but that's a cracking video of RK.  Never really got into him, maybe I should...

Mark.

Richie is an incredible guitarist. He's definitely got his own, unconventional approach. I love how his old fusion chops have translated into the bluesy-rocky-soulful stuff he plays now. He's got a great voice as well. Definitely worth getting into.

And to the TS, I know very little about the BKP single-coil range, but I can't imagine you'd go far wrong with a set of Mother's Milks. Best person to ask is Tim himself though, he's always gives excellent advice. Send him an email or give him a call.

[Elliot]

I had some HS2s - I found them to be by the worst pickups I have heard.  For that tone i reckon Trilogies more than Mother's Milks - Milks are woody vintage Hendrixy pickups not like that tone at all.

[viking]

I love Richie Kotzen !But i prefer when he is not playing "shredder"type of music .He is really good when he forget all that...About his sound in that song,it's really not "vintage single coil strat ",it sounds more like a modern humbucker;Trilogy could be the ones but you really should ask Tim first....

[mat.paris]

I'm certainly going to try the trilogy set. I have red a lot of very good reviews about it.

My neck has a 12" radius and the action is "normal-high". Should I choose the flat profile magnet or stay with the vintage stagger magnet?

Do you advice me to take the Zinc Plated Steel base option for the bridge pickup?

[jazzbutcher]

Hi, 3 weeks ago i bought this kotzen signature strat from katana guitars on ebay. I also play tyler guitars where i replaced with bk's VHII set. I would say that the kotzen strat sounds dry very loud and percussiv at least because it's an ash body with one piece maple neck. Also the neck is really fat what make this guitar sounding so powerfull too. It's also not a problem to get sounding like Yngwie. In the past i played Anderson's and all that stuff but i haven't played a stock guitar  who feels, sound's and play's that good for a very long time. I would say that the reason how it sounds like is not only came from the pickups! If you looking for this type of sound, go for the signature kotzen strat you'll be happy all the way. Regards JAZZBUTCHER  :shock:

[_tom_]

I love that vid, such a good player and a really nice tone. The bit starting at about 1 minute sounds just like Paul Gilberts style.

As for the pickups, I dont really know what to suggest. I had a Trilogy for a while but found it a bit too scooped to use in the bridge position, was a nice thick neck singlecoil though.

[Lew]

Get a Cornford rk100  8)  :D

[mat.paris]

thanks jazzbutcher for your comment. The thing is that I don't really like to have signature model. Maybe it's stupid but I prefer to have my "own" instrument. I've got a warmoth telecaster which is based on the Richie Kotzen Signature Telecaster and now I would like to do the same with a Srat.
I've got a body and a big strat maple neck with the same specs as the Kotzen and I'm looking for great pickups. That's why I'm was looking on Bare Knuckle...

[gwEm]

thats certainally a higher gain strat tone - slightly dark and rather midsy. i'd pick a sinner or slowhand depending on your taste for gain.