Your first BKP's? Long post.

[Hayden]

I first met Tim at the Guitar show in London last year. After being yelled at for a good twelve and a half minutes because of my pickup choices on my Strat he passed a Trilogy neck pick up to me and sent me on my way. I always liked the idea of having all single coils on my Strat but I work as a demonstrator and like my guitars to be more versatile.

I installed the neck pickup and liked it, but it just needed a liiiiiiitle more poke. I was chasing a humbucker drive with sincle coil articulation, no mean feat if you've listened top some high powered single coils out there (Can you say boxy?).

After a few phone conversations a couple of small boxes turned up at my house. A bridge and neck pickup that came with a handwritten warning which can easilly be translated to 'Aboandon hope all ye who enter here'. Tim had wound a monster set and posted them before they could infect the other polite pickups in the workshop.

The bridge pickup clocks in at around 25k I believe with the neck and middle pickups hovering around the 13k mark (I could be wrong, I suck at this side of things). Initially it was thought the bridge pickup might be a smidge too hot so a replacement was sent. I broke it by poking it with a stick (Sad but true) and went back to the origional.

All in all I can say these are my ultimate single coils, full of power yet always articulate, they back off to a wonderful slightly hot Strat tone but really scream when I need them to. The neck pickup has a gorgeous mini humbucker  vibe going on too. All in all I am now a convert and I can't see myself using anything else in the immediate future.

Just need to sort out the humbuckers now!

[TwilightOdyssey]

That is INSANE output for a single coil! I've seen stacked/noiselenss single coils that have those kind of numbers. Is that what this is?

[Hayden]

That is INSANE output for a single coil! I've seen stacked/noiselenss single coils that have those kind of numbers. Is that what this is?

Nope, just a single coil. I can't for the life of me remember all the specs (Tim would be your man for this) but I know that he somehow managed to make a monster single coil which is still nice and open.

[R/2e]

My first experience was when a customer turned up at the local music shop whose guitar repairs I do, with a Korina Epiphone SG and a pair of Riff Raffs. "Can you fit these?" she asked. Turned out she'd found then on the internet, phoned Tim, told him what sound she wanted and here they were. The staff in the shop coughed politely behind their hands, stifling laughter when she said she'd paid Ģ190 for them, and couldn't wait to have a good laugh at the stupidity of silly girls with too much money once she'd left the shop. I thought an upgrade to an Epi was not a bad idea and had heard of BK but thought she'd be disappointed. What a mistake to make!! I was totally blown away, it was one of the best sounding SGs I'd heard. I've fitted and tried many models since then, including a set of 'Apache' on my own'54 Strat Replica, and have never been disappointed, nor have any of my customers.

[Jag Panzer]

I have a friend that works in a vintage guitar shop here in my town.  They sell old Strats, Les Pauls, etc.  These guys are guitar experts.  They've been working on my guitars for years.

Just looking at my Bare Knuckle Miracle Man out of the box impressed these guys.  The workmanship, wiring quality, plating, etc.  Basically everything about the pickup was top quality.  And when I say 'top quality' I mean miles beyond Duncan, DiMarzio, etc.

I picked up my guitar the next day and thier first words - 'Wow'.  I plugged it in myself and loved the tone.

Mark

[Tim]

As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.

What I'm hoping to do in the future is update the lists to show the model of pickup each player uses.

[Hayden]

One thing I have noticed with all the BKP loaded guitars I have tried is this, they all sound as if they have been 'opened up' somehow. I'm sure there are plenty of explanations for this involving DC,amps,ohms,wire guages, and voodoo, but for me it's just that X Factor they seem to have.

[Anonymous]

The way i understand it, the reason why they seem to open up is because handwound pickups have this characteristic. Tim, explains it in the web page. Handwound, decreses capacitance so then you have less top end loss(sort of the top end loss with long cables). Not only that, havenīt you noticed that they seem louder than pickups with the same specs? Thatīs because of the increse in the harmonic content. I donīt wanna look like i know all these, i just learnt it by reading the page. Still, i checked it for myself. So, now itīs not something that i read, i experienced it.
Bless Bareknuckle!!!!!

[balde]

oh! and before i forget. Of course, not everybody winds pickups the same way... so thereīs that extra x factor you mention. Tim knows his job man!!

[Jag Panzer]

As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.

I'm glad Tim brought this up.

I'm no rock star by any means.  Not even close.  But I've been in the business long enough and released enough albums that I could get a free pickup or two from one of the big companies.

My tone is the most important thing to me.  Not getting a special deal on equipment.  You can't compromise something you love (music) for the sake of saving a few bucks.  My Bogner head was $3,500, so the price of a Bare Knuckle is an absolute bargain when I consider how much it improves my tone.

[Hayden]

oh! and before i forget. Of course, not everybody winds pickups the same way... so thereīs that extra x factor you mention. Tim knows his job man!!

Oh I know, and bless his cotton socks he has tried many times to explain it all to me in laymans terms only for me to reply 'So that'll be louder then?'.

[TwilightOdyssey]

As with all our artist users-Mark bought his pickups. We don't give pickups away to anyone-all the players on our user list are just that, players who have bought and play Bare Knuckle Pickups.
What I'm hoping to do in the future is update the lists to show the model of pickup each player uses.

A good policy, too Tim, and one Fulltone has as well, as do many other custom manufacturers kind enough to help starving artists (like Wayne Guitars). The idea of the pups purchased on the user list is a great idea; might not be a bad idea to make the band names into a clickable link, too ;)

[TriCe]

My first BKP was a set of calibrated Warpigs. I found out about BKP after reading an mini review of the Warpig in Total guitar. A few e-mails later and my pickups was on the way. They are soo sweet sounding!

My second par was a set of calibrated VHII's, recommended by Tim after telling him what sound i wanted. They sound like heaven!

10+ for BKP's

[The amazing Phil]

My first set is "The Boss" one for a telecaster that I've yet to build, I'm itching to put them to work, it's madenning! I'm also gonna start scouring e-bay for good project guitars, I wanna get my paws on an early 70's SG deluxe, slap some war pigs in, give it a distressed camo paint job and distress all the hardwear to match.

[Tim]

What a cunningly evil plan-bet it'd look amazing and with Warpigs SGs are simply brutal weapons :twisted: