OK, I'm going to replace the VOS pickups...

[fbloke]

The Burstbuckers in my goldtop VOS are o.k., but I can't help thinking that they can be improved upon.  I have AII Mules in my other Lester and Stormy Mondays in my 335.  Is there something that will give me the punch of the Mules with the depth and woodiness of the SM's?  Does Tim do customised sets?  Has anyone found anything better than Bareknuckles? 

[Twinfan]

Has anyone found anything better than Bareknuckles?

I don't think you'll find us abusing Tim's bandwidth to promote other brands.  We're very civilised around here  ;)

The punch vs depth/woodiness is the compromise in all pickups, Bareknuckle or not.  You can have one, but not the other.........

[Philly Q]

I have AII Mules in my other Lester and Stormy Mondays in my 335.  Is there something that will give me the punch of the Mules with the depth and woodiness of the SM's?  

Looking at this simplistically, I'm wondering if your Stormy Mondays are Alnico II?  If not, you could try Alnico IV SMs, maybe?  They might give the "in-between" sound you're after.

(Edit:  Didn't realise your Mules are AII.  That confounds my argument totally.  :? )

[fbloke]

Has anyone found anything better than Bareknuckles?

I don't think you'll find us abusing Tim's bandwidth to promote other brands.  We're very civilised around here  ;)

The punch vs depth/woodiness is the compromise in all pickups, Bareknuckle or not.  You can have one, but not the other.........

I think a debate about which pickups have worked for you is fair enough, I agree that shamelessly promoting other brands on this site would be well out of order.  For the record, I have only ever bought Bareknuckles since I've discovered them - I'm currently on my 4th set.  The tone of my question was more along the lines of "these things are so damned good, can they be bettered?" 

I think your comment about punch vs depth/woodiness is astute and helpful, although one could argue that AII Mules get quite close to achieving a nice balance between the two.  I just love the SM's so much.  I'm almost answering my own question, then getting all confused when I think about my 335 tone.  This is the thing with Bareknuckles - so good they can make you go all obsessive and confused about which ones to choose...

[lulusg]

Wise words by Mr Twinfan. I would think that you could have customised pups according to your likeness, give Mr Mills a call.

[shaman]

Wise words by Mr Twinfan. I would think that you could have customised pups according to your likeness, give Mr Mills a call.

I couldn't agree more-Tim has always nailed the sound in my head-make sure you include everything you can in regards to your signal chain-amp(s), pots,etc....

[Twinfan]

The tone of my question was more along the lines of "these things are so damned good, can they be bettered?"

For me, yes they can in certain areas.  I have other brands that I prefer more in specific guitars.  It's all about matching:

* Your playing style and tonal needs
* Guitar
* Pickups
* Amp

I still stand by my "everything's a compromise" stance, and I think the major difference between the tone of your 335 and your Lester is the guitar itself and not the pickups.  335s have that acoustic woodiness that you're not going to get from your average Les Paul.

It sounds to me like you would benefit from other 335 with hotter pickups (AIV SMs or AIV Mules) instead of two Les Pauls......