Info on Another Forum Stating The Older BKPs are Much Better?

[metalmaniac93]

Here are two excerpts from another forum stating that Tim does not wind BKPs that much anymore due to high demand for his product.  Not to cause a huge issue, but it this true?

"I have a couple older Nailbombs and they are great. They work best in very bright guitars. Lots of harmonics, very full sounding, nothing frequency-wise that is scooped or spiked. Because they are so dynamic under distortion, they feel like they are high output, which they are not. If you could picture a more musical sounding, clearer, lower output Tone Zone you would be close.
The older BK pups are very special. The newer ones, not so much. Tim no longer winds these himself, and he has changed some of the components and materials used. With the exchange rate, Bare Knuckles can be very expensive."

"Hmmm... I've got an Air Zone, it's not that.

You have to find one that's at least 3 years old, that's when the demand forced Tim to change everything. If you could play one that Tim did himself, you could see why the hype started. For a while, you could beg him to make your order personally, but he doesn't do that anymore. I'm happy for his success, but the product is not the same.
Just like Seymour, I remember in 1981 the humbucker he made for my Tele, it was awesome! But now, I really haven't found anything in the catalog I like, and a lot that IMO is just plain bad".



_________________

[Frank]

As they say on wikipedia

[citation required]

I very much doubt the person who posted the original allegation has any knowledge of what goes on in the BKP workshop. Vapourware, rumour, the internet's full of it.

[MDV]

Of course there are other winders. There have been for rather a long time, longer than 3 years, and yeah, the number has increased with time.

FFS, think about it. BK make thousands of pickups, how the hell does one man wind all of them? This shouldnt come as a shock.

Are tims own better and/or has BK quality slipped as a result....I've been buying them for about 6 years now and certainly havent noticed that. Well, I havent got any in the last year-ish, but the doznes of others all sounded exceedingly BK to me. There was no step change in quality, or overall degredation (I've had BKs that were made 5-6 years ago alongside ones that were made 18 months to 2 years ago: I only know for sure that 4 out of dozens were made by tim as well, many/most of the others probably not). I dont see Tim training inadequately, either.

[Miek]

Just like Seymour, I remember in 1981 the humbucker he made for my Tele, it was awesome! But now, I really haven't found anything in the catalog I like, and a lot that IMO is just plain bad".

This is my favorite part  :lol:

[lulusg]

Mmmm... he might be talking about those Chinese clones that are making way to the streets...

[WezV]

this kind of discussion is just what happens. 

Tbh i think BKP raised the bar, now everyone else is trying to reach it - and some are not doing too bad a job.

I remember my first BKPs being a magical moment, i dont quite get the same response from them now but i dont think its because the pickups are any worse.  Just that they have changed the perception of what a good pickup is.... fitting a BKP isn't always impressive for me any more because i just expect them to be that good!

and i suppose the more people who have BKP's the more you will find who simply don't appreciate them.   

and i suppose many more people may have chosen based on the brand name, hype, bit of info on the website.  it doesn't always mean they have the BKP that will most suit their guitar and playing style.  anyone with sense does a bit of research or asks a few questions before shelling out a couple of hundred on a set of pickups... but there will always be just as many who dont because they assume paying the price will make any guitar sound perfect - if only that were true!!

[Sancho]

Typical internet BS. "You have to get an old one bro, they're the good ones!"
Spouted by people who have no personal experience and repeated by the clueless masses...

It's not just BKP, it's every brand. The "older is better" credo is a tough one to eradicate.

['Ash' J. Williams]

^This

[Alex]

Typical internet BS. "You have to get an old one bro, they're the good ones!"
Spouted by people who have no personal experience and repeated by the clueless masses...

It's not just BKP, it's every brand. The "older is better" credo is a tough one to eradicate.

+1

It's the most common guitar myth in general and very popular.
These myths are also repeatedly sqashed by comparison tests; I distinctly remember a comparison of the old Rectifier in a mag - on forums always supposed to be the better sounding one - where the newer model was just soooo much better in all respects.

[Serratus]

I saw that thread on the other forum. I did post in the thread saying all my BKPs sound awesome, but I had to hold myself back from getting into an argument about the 'older is better' myth!

[Frank]

Someone should do a graph of "how good it sounds" plotted against "how old it is".

That's the only way this can be scientifically proven. I might do that right now.

[FELINEGUITARS]

People often ignore the woods and the rest of the guitar's part in that equation and they do so at their peril

Unless the guy swapped out an old nailbomb and put a new one in THE SAME GUITAR and did a back to back test then the discussion is a bit bogus.

If you are comparing a memory of an old pickup to how you feel a new pickup is sounding that is unreliable too.

It only works in a back to back test with the same guitar on the same day with recorded eveidence

Clips or it didn't happen!

Pickups by their nature are  just magnets, wire, baseplates etc

Did any materials change ?

They did about 6-7 years ago when Tim started having all his own bits made - much closer to what Gibson made than he had been able to source previously

[Philly Q]

It does sound a lot like a new urban myth in the making.

The guitar world is full of "that particular period was magic" stories, and they get perpetuated because people read them and repeat them, based on no personal experience whatsoever.  And eventually, it becomes "fact".... whether there was any truth in the original story or not.

Who knows, maybe things at BKP have changed, but it would be very difficult to prove it one way or another.  Maybe I'll get another Riff Raff sometime and compare it with the one I've got now.

[Telerocker]

My recent purchase, VHII and Mother's Milk, have flabbergasted collegue-guitarists. Some of them lend my strat and are totally in love with the sounds. That doesn't say all, but shows nevertheless BKP's are (still) highquality products.

[gordiji]

fortunately all of mine are great and bought reletively recently (last 2 yrs), i say fortunate 'cause i don't know how the
'old' ones sound :D