Fender pickups. How can they get it so wrong?

[Floyd Pepper]

The night I installed the Mother's Milks in my strat I went to bed and slept dreaming about pickups.  (I know it's sad but I did install them last thing at night.)  One of the thoughts I had in the morning was how could Fender get their pickups so wrong?  They've made a few of them over the years and pickups are just some magnets and a length of wire.  Sounds easy enough to put them together and come out if a pickup.  Yet the stock Fender pups sounded thin and uninteresting.  The MMs sound full and rich.

What's the magic ingredient?  Scatter winding?  Type of magnet?  Devon cream?  All of the above?

Help me get a peaceful nights sleep.

[HJM]

I guess it's the pressures of mass production vs hand building. BKP take time and care, and build the best pickup without worrying about costs and penny pinching to satisfy profits and shareholders.

[Tellboy]

I think this one has been discussed in a previous thread  :lol:

It's widely believed that the magic ingredient in BKPs is achieved by sacrificing virgins. I (mis)spent most of my youth (which was along time ago! - the first rock concert I attended was the Yardbirds with Jeff Beck at the Queens Hall in Barnstaple) in the Barnstaple area (where BKPs are made) and can confirm that virgins had disappeared from the area a long time ago.

I think the secret ingredient is that BKPs are made by people with a passion for what they are producing - pickups that they would probably buy themselves if they didn't manufacture them.

What Cornford are you using? I've got a Hurricane with an extension cab.

[Floyd Pepper]

What Cornford are you using? I've got a Hurricane with an extension cab.

I've got a Harlequin.  I stopped gigging a few years back (not sure why it just happened) so wanted a small amp just to play at home.  I planned on trying all the various quality < 10w amps but after trying a Harlequin in Vintage & Expensive Guitars in Denmark Street I didn't bother looking any further.

I find the Harlequin perfect for playing at home where you need low volume but quality of sound as you can really hear what your playing.  I didn't think I'd ever need another amp but I wish it had a reverb which make the new Cornford Carerra seem very appealing.

...and I thought "Why are BK's so good had been discussed before?" but I'm also confused as to why other pickups can be so bad.  :)

[Toned.F]

Hi to everybody - I'm new on here but not new to BK pickups, as mentioned above Tim obviously cares a lot about his products and workmanship.I recently had a custom shop tele bridge pickup fail under warranty.I had the option of sending the pickup back to Fender UK for replacement or send the faulty pickup to Tim to repair.I opted for the latter and damn glad I did.Although Tim kept to the original specs and output the hike in quality was clear and commented on by the guitar tech's at the dealership.
The tele now sounds amazing.

Bob

[dave_mc]

^welcome to the forums (i only joined less than a month ago ;) )- cool name, by the way

and am i the only one who wonders how a certain "sd" got it so wrong with his "jb" pickup, yet 95% of guitar players think it rules?  :?:

they mustn't have tried handwound pickups...

[Floyd Pepper]

I've always wondered about Seymour Butts JBs. It's supposed to be the best selling replacement pickup and magazines still go on about how great it is.

Anyone ever used one?  Are they really as pants as online forums make out?

[dave_mc]

^i've tried one in a shop several times

let me put it like this:

even before i'd tried GOOD pickups, the JB sucked, IMO (head to head with dimarzios)

[PhilKing]

There is a huge difference between the original SD JB pickup and the current one.  I have one which is so old it doesn't even have Seymour Duncan on it anywhere.  It DC's at 14.7 as opposed to the current 16.4.  I had a JB from about 10 years ago (before the name was on the top of the pickup), and it sounded awful compared to my original.

[dave_mc]

^that's a distinct possibility

however, anyone buing them new now will be (obviously) buying one of the cr@ppier new ones, so i stand by my position that they suck, since unless you buy one of the originals second hand, you'll be getting a cr@ppy one...

cheers!

[Peterku]

Hi to everybody - I'm new on here but not new to BK pickups, as mentioned above Tim obviously cares a lot about his products and workmanship.I recently had a custom shop tele bridge pickup fail under warranty.I had the option of sending the pickup back to Fender UK for replacement or send the faulty pickup to Tim to repair.I opted for the latter and damn glad I did.Although Tim kept to the original specs and output the hike in quality was clear and commented on by the guitar tech's at the dealership.
The tele now sounds amazing.

Bob

Glad to hear that! :)

[Davey]

well, i got the JB, which is besides the ibeenhad powersounds and V7 and a shitety epi P-90 an awesome pickup. i've had it for years and to my ears it sounds great, though my hands on experience is VERY limited

will change once i get my custom rhoads with a BKP in it and Lazs' own pickup set to try out, so i'll coment more on that later

[Floyd Pepper]

I've got a set of SD Seth Lover's in my Epiphone Sheraton and the sound great.  They're about a year old so SD can still make decent pickups.

I got the SDs before I found BK.  I've never tried BK humbukers just Mother's Milks.

[Ratrod]

I've got a set of SD Seth Lover's in my Epiphone Sheraton and the sound great.  They're about a year old so SD can still make decent pickups.

I got the SDs before I found BK.  I've never tried BK humbukers just Mother's Milks.

Get some Stormy Mondays, MQ's or Manhattans for that.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

We've rewound a set of Seth lovers recently to the Mule spec and the customer was more than happy with the tone. We rewound a SD custom shop EVH, wound by MJ to a Nailbomb spec too, and again the customer was blown away by the difference.