Just ordered a pair of Iconix

[Afghan Dave]

The pub analogy is the most apt with this board... I only spend marginally more time in here.  :lol:

[Kiichi]

Sir, I do find your pub analogy very fitting, so my congratiolations on putting this situation in a perspectiv everyone can understand.

But one thing...if this this is a pub...where´s the thread with Chuck Norris jokes?

[JacksonRR]

So why is it that you can go on any other pickup manufacturer's forum and start a thread about BKPs or whatever else and not a single person gets religious? There's obviously a huge barrier here that I was unaware of. We can post uninhibited all day long about every single tiny piece of gear on the planet, without the slightest hint of snobbery from anyone. We can literally put a microscope on everything BUT pickups? Even the Soldano forum has a "Other Amps, etc" section. What if I just mentioned that Iconix is the only handwinder of custom stacked single coil humbuckers that I could find on the whole face of the planet and that I ordered that? Well he'll do them and Tim won't.

I was reading an interview a guy did with Tim where he said something along the lines of, "There's no magic in pups. It's pretty much all bullshitee. The key is to use good parts and construction." I thought what a laid back dude, Mike Soldano and Randall Smith would never admit that about amps.

It seems to me it's not BKP that is upset at this, it's the users of the forum. What is this, masturbation in the 50's? We all know the other manufacturers exist and that they're an option. We should be able to talk about that here as no one's got anything to hide, right? Right.

[MDV]

It seems to me it's not BKP that is upset at this, it's the users of the forum. What is this, masturbation in the 50's? We all know the other manufacturers exist and that they're an option. We should be able to talk about that here as no one's got anything to hide, right? Right.

Quite possibly.

Yes, tim has a no nonesense attitude about pickup making and a no fear attitude to other makers; he freely talks about them in honest terms himself - sometimes its complimentary sometimes it isnt - and as I said before no rules have been set out to the effect of 'thou shalt not talk about other pickups', and it does seem to me to be more of a tradition among members. Not a religious one, or you wouldnt have BK members that use other pickups freely admiting this, but a courteous one; we're on BKs forum and talking about the purchase of other pickups is rather crass.

Plus, what other brands choose to do with their sites isnt of any relevence. Like it or not, this is a private forum; you are in effect on private property, house rules apply, blanket freedom of speech doesnt.

That said, Tim/BK havent made any pronouncement on discussion of other pickups one way or another that I'm aware of; maybe you should ask them?

[Slartibartfarst42]

I've not been aware of anyone getting 'religious' about this at all and we have talked about other manufacturers pickups before. There's certainly been discussion about hum-cancelling single coils, who makes good ones and why Tim doesn't. I don't think anyone has a problem with that at all but I'd have to agree with MDV and Afghan Dave in saying that it's the link to the website that I felt was odd. BKP don't seem to have a problem with it as the thread hasn't been blocked but from my perspective, that link wasn't entirely appropriate and I think the pub analogy makes perfect sense. If everyone else had responded to me by saying 'Don't be and arse, there's nothing wrong with the thread' I'd have been fine with that; it just wouldn't have been something I'd have done personally. That's how I see it and it seems others feel the same but you're completely entitled to your own opinion, as are BKP and whatever that opinion is I'm relaxed about it, but it won't change how I would behave myself.

[JacksonRR]

Ok, for one thing the link should be the smallest of any issue. We all know how to use search engines. I hope.

Feelings aside, say this became the norm instead of taboo. Instead of members leaving this forum to go discuss it on another, they stay and do it here. No other site or forum on the web has EVEN CLOSE to the concentration of positive comments on Tim's work(some forum threads on other sites aren't exactly as flattering all the time), nor do any of them have an enormous ACTUAL ADVERTISEMENT for BKPs in every thread. The wider the guitar vocabulary used in this forum yields search engine results leading people into the BKP website. Someone does a thread or a post on Duncan Invaders here and Google puts it up when someone searches for Invaders. Higher traffic=higher sales. The good comments on Tim's work will never die here and everyone knows 90 percent of the other choices anyways so where's the real problem?

[Tim]

There's never been any issue or rules about objectively mentioning other pickup brands here on this forum - a quick search through old threads will show other brands being mentioned lots of times in the past. Obviously direct links out to other manufacturers isn't acceptable and serves no purpose other than to direct people away from our forum.
The only time we have said we don't want other manufacturers pickups mentioned is in the players section - that exists purely for our forum members to share clips of their playing and the tones they achieve with their BKP loaded guitars.

[JacksonRR]

I woke up this morning and removed the link.
For the record, any short clips would have been done here or in the build thread (as the players section is clearly labeled). I'm not thinking this is something I want to continue with. This thread has racked up some seriously bad juju, regardless of the final decree. It's just not fun and informative. At least we know what the score is and the postulation is over. See ya.

[Twinfan]

I think you've missed the point JacksonRR.

This isn't Harmony Central, Music Radar or some other "neutral" forum to discuss guitar gear.  This is the Bare Knuckle Pickups forum, and as such the hard and fast rules are made by Tim.  He makes his position clear in his post.

The rest of us respect the spirit of the forum, and wish it a long and happy future, so we self-moderate in the most part out of respect for Tim and his company.  Common sense prevails, and we visit Tim's pub whilst enjoying guitar gear responsibly.

:D

[Afghan Dave]

BTW... Those mints in the urinals taste funny and the condom machine is empty.  :? :)

[Frank]

he condom machine is empty.

I thought that was a bubblegum machine?

Tasted lousy but man I blew some great bubbles.

[Kiichi]

Is that still the pub analogy? If yes 5$ for the one who can explain that one to me xD

[Philly Q]

I'm not thinking this is something I want to continue with. This thread has racked up some seriously bad juju, regardless of the final decree. It's just not fun and informative. At least we know what the score is and the postulation is over. See ya.

To be honest, I think we've all been polite and tried to make the point very gently.  Just relax.

[FELINEGUITARS]

There's never been any issue or rules about objectively mentioning other pickup brands here on this forum - a quick search through old threads will show other brands being mentioned lots of times in the past. Obviously direct links out to other manufacturers isn't acceptable and serves no purpose other than to direct people away from our forum.
The only time we have said we don't want other manufacturers pickups mentioned is in the players section - that exists purely for our forum members to share clips of their playing and the tones they achieve with their BKP loaded guitars.

Tim is a lot more accommodating than some might expect based on his statement on the subject.
And many of us also have other brands in our guitar collections
What can be more useful than open discussion and comparisons of things we've tried (like "I found my BKP Cold Sweat to have slightly more/less mids than the Duncan Custom that I also tried in the same guitar")

None of us deny the existence of other brands, and nobody looks down on others for having to take a more "budget route" as many of us face tough financial times and BKPs are a serious (but sound) investment, even when funds allow.

But Tim pays for the bandwidth that this forum uses and it's a pretty penny for sure, and he does so that we might have a forum to discuss the slightly abstract subject of tone and more specifically the merits of different BKP pickups
So as Al Murray would say " My Gaff - My Rules"



So most of us recognise and respect that and avoid being blatant in promoting other brands (and there are times when one might find that a certain "other" pickup may just suit a particular guitar for the purpose in mind for us), although we do discuss our findings for sure.
Discussion is pointless without objectivity

Mostly we like hanging around here shooting the breeze and waiting for Afghan Dave to find a nice "Double Entendre" to pick up on.

[JacksonRR]

Have at it, Dave......