New Flat 50s

[FuZZBoY]

Hi everybody,

this is my first post here, I'm just writing to talk about the flat 50's I'm waiting for, can't wait!!!
They're going into my US G&L Asat Classic, ash body with rosewood fretboard.
The original pickups were way too harsh. It seems that whether you love them or you hate them... guess which side I am?
It's strange though they're Leo designed...
For those who don't know these pickups, these are called mfd for magnetic field design, which only are ceramic bar p90s in a tele shape.
Well it's been 4 years that I have this guitar, and I always felt like I've been missing something.
I've been playing my bassist's Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster for a few weeks now and I LOVE it, especially the pickups (Alnico III).
So I decided it was time for me to get new alnicos for my dear Asat, and as I want the best for her, I chose Bare Knuckle!!
So I've chose Flat 50s on Tim's advice, as I play in a power trio "ala white stripes/black keys" yet different...
I went for the stock neck polarity as I chose a 4 way too.
I hope I will be satisfied!!

What do you think?

(sorry for the bad english)

[Fourth Feline]

Welcome to the forum FuZZBoy !  :D

I have not tried the B.K.P. tele pickups yet, as my main need of their excellent pickups has been in the Humbucker / Humbucker sized P90 range.  I would love to try a B.K.P. Tele set in my Baja Tele one day, but meanwhile - have just bought a new B.K.P. for the neck of my main Archtop.  I feel confident that you will be delighted, and therefore feel enthusiastic on your behalf !   Don't forget that B.K.P. are very responsive to pickup height adjustments,  as all settings give you a good sound, but one will give the 'Holy Grail' for your ears. I know this is usually thought to be applicable to any type of pickup, but in practice, I  find the mass produced brands can sound somewhat homogenised and 'blocky' - unless you do a large adjustment, whereas B.K.P. can change within  half a turn of the pickup screw, once you get it into the general height range. I usually try about 2-2.5 mm between (fretted ) strings and the top of the pole pieces to start from,  but I hope the many B.K.P. Telecaster pickup users on here will give more specific examples.

Enjoy !  :D

[FuZZBoY]

Thanks! I take note of your advices about pickup height adjustments ;)
And happy to see (again) a very satisfied BKP user, even if you are not a Tele BKP user.

By the way which tele pickups pair would you advise me for slide? (for another tele I could gas for  :lol: )
I've tought about the Yarbirds for a change...

[BigB]

Hi there and welcome. I have an old-spec BFG50s (now known as BFG52s) set on my Telly (CiJ '62 Custom RI) and they are just great. I've not tried the new BFG50s in the flesh but from the soundclips they should really rock for White Stripes / Black keys kind of material and I think you'll enjoy the change.

FWIW I'm considering getting myself a BFG50 bridge someday  (but I'll stick with the BFG52 neck which is really unique with a kind of a stratty tone - gives me better early Knopfler tones than the Texas Specials on my Strat).

[FuZZBoY]

Yes I've read about the old spec flat 50s you all were enthusiastic about  8), it even made me hesitate between the flat 50 and 52!!
I don't know exactly what I'll get, but Tim said it will be perfect!!! (I guess he knows his job ;) )
I hope them to be powerful but pick sensitive, and just enought highs to cut through the mix.
I hesitated to put a p90 on the neck but I was afraid it'd be muddy, and I didn't want to rerout the body...

Do you know if the neck BFG50 is stratty too? Besides, it doesn't seem to be owerwound (DC = 6.8KΩ)

[38thBeatle]

Welcome from me too- I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts after installing your BKPs.

I have a set of Country Boys in my Mex Tele and I use it for slide a fair bit. The tone is superb- warm and clear and responds well to cranking the amp a bit. Having said that, I wouldn't want to suggest that they are your only option.

[BigB]

Yes I've read about the old spec flat 50s you all were enthusiastic about  8), it even made me hesitate between the flat 50 and 52!!
I don't know exactly what I'll get, but Tim said it will be perfect!!! (I guess he knows his job ;) )

You'll get great pickups for sure, and as far as I'm concerned, Tim _really_ knows it's job - I even suspect he has some mind-reading superpowers. For the record, my own "first choice" for this telly was Piledrivers, and I was really surprised when Tim answered "BGF52s", decided to go for what the man said thinking "hey, there's this 14-days return policy you know", and never looked back. 

I hope them to be powerful but pick sensitive, and just enought highs to cut through the mix.

powerful : obviously. Pick sensitive : I have yet to hear a BPK that is not (played : BGF52s, Brown Sugar, Slowhand neck and mid, TS bridge, Crawlers, RR, ABomb bridge, Mule neck).  "cut through the mix": also depends on the guitar and amp, but with Tele pickups on a Tele I don't think you have to worry about this (neck pickup on a dark mahogany guitar can be a different problem).

I hesitated to put a p90 on the neck but I was afraid it'd be muddy, and I didn't want to rerout the body...

P90 neck on a Tele is a well known and proven choice, and I don't think a decent P90 could sound muddy in a Tele. Now the routing is another problem...

Do you know if the neck BFG50 is stratty too? Besides, it doesn't seem to be owerwound (DC = 6.8KΩ)

The very stratty tone of the BGF52 comes from the wire gauge and winding and while based on an historic (even if short lived) spec it's very unique to this model, so I guess the BGF50 neck will be more on the warmer typical Tele neck tone (well, listen to the clips...) - which is nice too when well done. FWIW, quite a few Tele lovers don't like the BGF52 neck that much because of it's "non standard" character.

Anyway: don't worry, wait until you here these pups in your guitar, chances are you'll just love them, and if not (really unlikely for the tones you mentionned but well, shite happens) you can just send them back. For the record, the only time I sent a BKP back was really my fault, the pup was exactly what I asked for and what Tim told it would be, it just wasn't what I really needed for this guitar - and FWIW, I was so impressed with the pup (RR bridge) I ordered another one (whole set this time) for another guitar where it really shines (icing on the cake: the neck is just awesome).

 

[FuZZBoY]

Thanks for all the answers! This is a friendly forum  :D

Welcome from me too- I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts after installing your BKPs.

I have a set of Country Boys in my Mex Tele and I use it for slide a fair bit. The tone is superb- warm and clear and responds well to cranking the amp a bit. Having said that, I wouldn't want to suggest that they are your only option.

Sounds nice, but I'm more about a "P90ish" style kind of pickups for slide. Maybe the flat 50s would be the best for that purpose too!! I like low output pickups too (for practice) but maybe not for my band (but maybe I'm wrong...I'd like to try them though).

For the p90, I guess I'll try the telly neck pickup first (I like it a lot in the squier CV 50), and with the in series position I'll have for sure a nice phat lead sound ;)

So as soon as I get the pickups, I'll give my asat to the tech, a guitar which needs a good setup by the way!!
I'm not fixed yet on the gauge, I use Eb tuning : 9-42 is way too sloppy, I think I'll go to 11-48 with pure nickel strings  8)

About the piledrivers, it's funny I thought the same but Tim said they would be too compressed.

[38thBeatle]

Yeah I know what you mean. P90's for slide is a very good choice. Though the ex guitarist in my band had a Gibson with P90's for slide whilst I used my Tele ( we were tuned to Eb too by the way) and I could almost  keep up with him.

[FuZZBoY]

Yeah I know what you mean. P90's for slide is a very good choice. Though the ex guitarist in my band had a Gibson with P90's for slide whilst I used my Tele ( we were tuned to Eb too by the way) and I could almost  keep up with him.

I'm a single coil guy, I have had humbucker guitars but never liked them...
I find the telecaster perfect for regular or Eb tuning in my band for a nice hot crunch which cut through the mix with clarity (even with a Big Muff Pi  :lol: ) and for slide P90 are just fat enought but still clear.

[FuZZBoY]

( we were tuned to Eb too by the way)

What gauge do you use?

[Telerocker]

Welcome here! I have the old BG50-set  (now BG52) which is stellar.

[38thBeatle]

( we were tuned to Eb too by the way)

What gauge do you use?

Oh I am back down to 10's after having used 11's for ages. I liked 11's a lot but I was given about 20 packs of strings by a friend and they were 10's and I an still working my way through them. 

[Sir_Palomid]

Hi FuZZBoY!
I'm waiting for my flat 50's too, such a surprise to see common thread  :D

I recently got Fender American Standard 60th Anniversary, with ash boby and rosewood fingerboard,
and though I liked pickups when playing clean (especially neck pu), overdriven tone left more to be desired - so I decided to change pickups for my favorute brand, Bareknuckles  :)

I play anything from jazz\bluess, little bit country (I love and learn modern country shredding), and heavy progressive rock, so I wanted pu that would have nice thick, but cutting tone, and with volume pot backed - classic jazzy\bluesy\country tone.
Options I liked were Flat 50's, The Boss and Piledrivers. Tim suggested Flat 50's for hat I want, and I think he knows his pickups (he did great job to offer me Emerald neck\63' Veneer Board single coil\Crawler bridge for my Suhr modern - exactly what I've wanted). So I don't think you would be dissapointed with you purchase.

The only thing I worry about - if flat 50's will have enough cut, but it depends on the guitar a lot.
I use 010 strings and play in standard tuning.

And my baby looks like

[FuZZBoY]

Welcome here! I have the old BG50-set  (now BG52) which is stellar.

Thanks, I see a lot of old BG50 users in this forum, but few with the new one.

Oh I am back down to 10's after having used 11's for ages. I liked 11's a lot but I was given about 20 packs of strings by a friend and they were 10's and I an still working my way through them. 

11's in Eb seem a good compromise for me as I mostly play rhythm (but harder than 10's when soloing) in a power trio (I guess so as I like 10's in standard tuning).

Hi FuZZBoY!
I'm waiting for my flat 50's too, such a surprise to see common thread  :D

I recently got Fender American Standard 60th Anniversary, with ash boby and rosewood fingerboard,
and though I liked pickups when playing clean (especially neck pu), overdriven tone left more to be desired - so I decided to change pickups for my favorute brand, Bareknuckles  :)

I play anything from jazz\bluess, little bit country (I love and learn modern country shredding), and heavy progressive rock, so I wanted pu that would have nice thick, but cutting tone, and with volume pot backed - classic jazzy\bluesy\country tone.
Options I liked were Flat 50's, The Boss and Piledrivers. Tim suggested Flat 50's for hat I want, and I think he knows his pickups (he did great job to offer me Emerald neck\63' Veneer Board single coil\Crawler bridge for my Suhr modern - exactly what I've wanted). So I don't think you would be dissapointed with you purchase.

The only thing I worry about - if flat 50's will have enough cut, but it depends on the guitar a lot.
I use 010 strings and play in standard tuning.

And my baby looks like

Wow very nice guitar (can't find a nice picture of mine right now), she has the same wood combination as mine, should sound pretty similar with the flat 50s. Did you go for the 4 way switch?

By the way (as my guitar will go to the tech), what do you think of 022 vs 047 tone cap for the BG50's?
And what about a treble bleed mod?