How about better names of BKP's single coils?

[Tomcaster]

Hi Guys,

I went through the nice but painful process of choosing pickups for my Strat and must say that the biggest hurdle were the confusing names.  As I am on vacation I took some time to think about that issue and tried to come up with some suggestions:

1. After a lot of talking with Tim I pulled for a set of Apaches. They sound very round, full and jazzy, but still  transparent - I believe they nail the sound of the very earliest Strat pickups made by Leo in 1954-55. Their very own sound is attributable to the Alnico III magnets which seem to be a good counterpart to the stuff Leo used 54 years ago. The name of the that set obviously based on a 50s era song - "Apache" by The Shadows. It is a great song recorded in 1960 which catches the atmospere of an important musical era, featuring a very bright lead guitar with tons of reverb. Still, the weakness of this tune is that IMHO it can be recreated 100% with any decent Strat - providing you have the amp and the reverb unit. Recently I nailed the tone with a friend's Strat that had Fender SCN pickups.  I think Tim's Alnico III pickups deserve a name that would mirror their qualities more directly, giving the listener a better feel of their 'signature' sound. This would help to get rid of lot of confusion.

After playing them for some time now I think there are two very important band sounds that can be NAILED ONLY with the Apaches: Dire Straits and Buddy Holly & The Crickets. Buddy Holly's Strat sound was always a big mystery to me. Especially the intro of "That Will Be The Day" was far out of reach with any Strat I tried. The Apaches in the middle position nailed that sound spot on. The Apache middle pickup nails the studio version of Sultans of Swing. I have played tons of Strats in search for that jazzy and round middle pickup quality and the Apaches are the first to me that really have it. Mark played a japanese Strat copy (Fernandes) on that album - I don't know any specs about the pickups . As a bonus, the middle/bridge combo of the Apaches is pure Dire Straits "Communique" album. That sound came both from his Fernandes Strat and an early 60s rosewood Strat. Mark Knopfler often swapped the pickguard assemblies between those guitars. Beside, listen to Stefan Price who has made some great clips with the Apaches.

I think a name around either of those artists would make give the potential customer a better idea about the sound of Tim's Alnico III pickups. How about a combo: "The Chirping Sultans"? (='chirping' referring to an album of Buddy Holly). Simpler names could be "The Hollies" or "The Sultans"

2. Referring to the current "Sultans' - their name is totally misleading because they sport Alnico II magnets with plain enamel wire and don't have anything to do with what Mark Knopfler played on that track.  This is why their popularity seems to be so weak on the forum. I have no idea whatsoever how to name them because this type of pickup has never been used throughout music history - maybe just "The Bells" to refer to the quality of Alnico II?

3. The "Mother's Milks" are ok although "Little Wings" or " Purple Hazes" would do even better because Jimi's tone is more sought after than RHCP.

4. "Irish Tours" is a really cool name although again misleading because Rorry's or Stevie's guitars had standard, non-overwound 60's pickups. Looking at their features (Alnico V, plain enamel) , they are overwound CBS 60s pickups. No idea how to name them at the moment.

5. "The Slowhands" were also a source of confusion for me. Clapton was called "Slowhand" mainly in the 60s and 70s. Both of the Strats he used had stock, non-overwound pickups. Looking at the current "Slowhands" specs, they seem to refer to a fat modern tone that Clapton gets with the mid boost and noiseless pickups. I would suggest to alter the name to "Reptiles" - this refers to a modern Clapton album and has some bite in the name suggesting their hotness. What could also be done is to weaken the Slowhands a bit and really model them after a mid 70s pickup for the vintage Blackie tone.

6. The other two names (Trilogy, Sinner) - I can't say anything because this territory is not my cup of tea.

7. What I terribly miss is a set of non-overwound early 60s pickups. Alnico V and formvar. This would help to nail the sound of muscians like Rory, SRV, Chris Rea etc. Now these pickups are a special order and called simply "Alnico V Apaches". How about "Number Ones" - after Stevies main axe?

Whoa that's a lot of writing! Hope you enjoyed and will give some comments

[indysmith]

I believe you've sort of missed the point.
The BKP pickups are all named on the vibe that Tim was feeling whilst playing them. They're not supposed to be accurate recreations of the actual pickups in the actual guitars played by the actual artists on the actual songs/albums they're named after.
Most people aren't geeky and pedantic enough to care ;) (jk)

I really like the BKP naming system, and (usually, as long as you understand the reference of the name) it gives you a good indication of the general ballpark that the pickup is in.

I'd change the name of the Nailbomb though; it doesn't seem to fit. All the other pickups are named after legendary bands/songs/albums, but the Nailbomb is named after some obscured Max Cavalera side project that nobody's ever heard of...

[Tomcaster]

Oh I think if you spend big $$$ on any of these pickups you would like to know how they actually sound. Especially the single coils really lack some professional demo recordings on which one could rely.

I don't know how the humbucker world is but believe me the single coil players are all very very pedantic :-)

[MrBump]

I can see what you're trying to say, but I think that it opens up a whole can of worms with naming conventions.

Probably just as well to use the names as an approximation of what the PUPS can do, then talk to Tim or listen to the clips.

Mark.

[indysmith]

I just don't think BKP is about making recreations of other pickups, it's more about creating the best tone possible, and improving on the sounds of yore.

[AndyR]

I kinda agree with the other replies Tomcaster - but the renaming issue aside, there's some fine info in your post, nice one  :D

[Twinfan]

I've just read your post very carefully Tom, and thinking about it........

.....I agree with everything you say.  I needed some Strat pickups a while back and went with Fenders over BKPs as I didn't understand the BKP lineup very well.

The humbuckers seem to be better sorted, although not ideal?

[Philly Q]

I think this is just too major an overhaul to be workable.  It's reinventing the wheel.

As Indy pointed out, it's fundamentally changing the whole basis of naming the pickups.  The current names are based on the way they sound (regardless of formvar, grade of alnico and all that gubbins).  The "new" names would be based on what the pickups are made of and/or some anal-retentive (sorry) obsession with exactly what pickup so-and-so used on such-and-such a recording.

If you applied the same principle to the humbuckers, everything apart from maybe the vintage models would have to totally change as well.

I thought BKP were in the business of innovation (albeit from a foundation of tried-and-tested traditional methods).  Not making slavish period-correct recreations of other people's pickups.

[il˙ti]

If this was applied to humbuckers, the Holy Diver would be ceramic, the Miracle Man would be active, and the Warpig would be a p-90.

I see you've done your reading though, which is always good.

[5thWheel]

I've just been through all of this rigmarole and I found it very confusing (in the end, I just asked for advice on this forum:).  I don't *mind* the names so much, but I didn't find them helpful in choosing a pickup.
Also, many of the "Sound Clip" links are broken, and anyway, I think they just linked to the general "Players" forum page, when what I'd really want is a more controlled "compare and contrast" of pickups.  E.g., I really liked the look and review of the Warpig, but I can't tell from reading about it how it differs from the Nailbomb (the TG reviews didn't really make it apparent either).
To a novice like me, the descriptions of the pickups all seem to read "everything about this pickup is great":)  It might be nice to have a "for fans of..." bit on each pickup page, if that wouldn't get too contentious:)  E.g., I read the guy from Muse has Nailbombs, which, in the abscence of any other info, was almost good enough for me tbh:)  I can see there's a "users" link at the bottom of the site, but I didn't even see that at first cos I was just using the sidebar (& also it doesn't say which pups which people use!).
Hmm, I rambled a bit there, did not intend a hijack..  With respect to actually renaming extant products, I'd've thought that'd just confuse everything, like if I hear someone on youtube playing Warpigs and I like it and I google them to try and buy and can't find them anymore (I guess they could retain a "nee" pre-marital-style name:)!

[wintersun]

I think the best solution here would be this new site with EQ charts and official soundclips, all played on a same guitar and same amp. That way everyone would know what they're buying compared to what they are not.

[Philly Q]

I think the best solution here would be this new site with EQ charts and official soundclips, all played on a same guitar and same amp. That way everyone would know what they're buying compared to what they are not.

It's supposed to be on the way - but so is the new Guns n' Roses album.

[wintersun]

I think the best solution here would be this new site with EQ charts and official soundclips, all played on a same guitar and same amp. That way everyone would know what they're buying compared to what they are not.

It's supposed to be on the way - but so is the new Guns n' Roses album.

Hahahaha :D

[MDV]

You could say the same of the humbuckers. The warpig and painkiller leap out as beeing far more powerfull and heavy than the sounds they're named for.

But like others have said, they're named for vibe and very rough tonal characteristics. They arent supposed to be replicas of the pickups used, or you'd just get the pickups used for those sounds!

I find this more usefull, because I for one dont want to replicate any sounds. I want my own sounds. The names as vibe-guides are usefull for that, but you have to remember they can all be used for far more than they're named for!

[Fikealox]

I don't think the names matter at all, as long as you're not naming 5k alnico II pickups 'the slaughterhouse', etc. It would be no improvement to name the pickups after different songs or artists that any given person thinks the pickups sound more like, because that will differ from guitar to guitar, and amp to amp. I think it'd be more handy to revise - like 5th Wheel said - the ambiguous descriptions of the pickups that are in the products page to include an EQ, more specific tonal breakdown, and comparisons between pickups.