Pickup doesn't fit

[RobertF]

I've bought the Bare Knuckle Aftermath with the Black Battle Worn cover and today I found out that It doesn't fit. My guitar is a JP70. Basically a cheaper version of the EB JP7

I emailed Bare Knuckle today but I don't believe they will answer before Monday so I was wondering. Doesn't anybody know if these pickups exist for the JP7 models? Otherwise I have to go to the workshop Tuesday to saw a little bit of metal off the pickup. I don't want to do this OFC so I thought lets ask.

Gr.

Robert

[BigB]

You may have an answer before monday - or not, depending on Tim's emploi du temps, but I twice had answers from the guys during the WE. In the meantime I strongly suggets you don't do anything to the pups unless you are 200% sure you want to keep them and you're not going to ruin them.

[Kiichi]

You may have an answer before monday - or not, depending on Tim's emploi du temps, but I twice had answers from the guys during the WE. In the meantime I strongly suggets you don't do anything to the pups unless you are 200% sure you want to keep them and you're not going to ruin them.

Agreed, sometimes it seems like the BKP guys donīt even sleep, their customer service is so insane. And yes, donīt do anything until you are sure.

Now, does the cover not fit or is it the tabs?
I think the JP models are direct mounted and if I recall correctly those need triangle tabs or something to fit (which BKP can do when you add a comment to your order). If that is the problem you should be able to file the tabs down a bit if you really are sure you wanne keep them.

[RobertF]

You may have an answer before monday - or not, depending on Tim's emploi du temps, but I twice had answers from the guys during the WE. In the meantime I strongly suggets you don't do anything to the pups unless you are 200% sure you want to keep them and you're not going to ruin them.

Agreed, sometimes it seems like the BKP guys donīt even sleep, their customer service is so insane. And yes, donīt do anything until you are sure.

Now, does the cover not fit or is it the tabs?
I think the JP models are direct mounted and if I recall correctly those need triangle tabs or something to fit (which BKP can do when you add a comment to your order). If that is the problem you should be able to file the tabs down a bit if you really are sure you wanne keep them.

Thanks for the reply. I don't believe it is the tabs. It is the whole humbucker. The JP models round off the corners of the hole where the pickup goes with a pretty small radius. The humbucker is "so to say" too rectangleish.

If you see a humbucker as a rectangle, the corners are normally rounded off so that the outer sides per coil are semi-circles. The covers are more ractangles with less round corners so they stick out.

[BigB]

Thanks for the reply. I don't believe it is the tabs. It is the whole humbucker. The JP models round off the corners of the hole where the pickup goes with a pretty small radius. The humbucker is "so to say" too rectangleish.

Well in that case it might be simpler (and safer) to reroute the guitar itself ?

[RobertF]

Well in that case it might be simpler (and safer) to reroute the guitar itself ?

Reroute the guitar?

[Kiichi]

Well in that case it might be simpler (and safer) to reroute the guitar itself ?

Reroute the guitar?

Carve wood out of the guitar to make the pickup fit.
Guitars have routings, like a Strat is often routed for single coils, which means that the places for the PUs and the wire connections between them are carved in a certain way.

[Dave Sloven]

If it's just the corners hitting the body of the guitar rather than the legs being too long or the feet the wrong shape the way forward is to have a luthier rout the existing opening to the slightly more rectangular shape you need.  This will have the advantage of allowing you to put any standard humbucker in that space.  Much more extensive routing is done all the time - for example installing humbuckers in Telecasters or SG Juniors, or installing Floyd Rose bridges in place of TOM bridges - so this should be a very simple fix, but get a professional to do it for a result you will be happy with (ask around for recommendations in your area).

[RobertF]

If it's just the corners hitting the body of the guitar rather than the legs being too long or the feet the wrong shape the way forward is to have a luthier rout the existing opening to the slightly more rectangular shape you need.  T

I respect your vision but it was an 800€ guitar and the pickup was 170€. I don't necessarily "need" the cover. I would much rather modify a view pieces of metal than to ruin the beautiful paint job.

[BigB]

I respect your vision but it was an 800€ guitar and the pickup was 170€. I don't necessarily "need" the cover. I would much rather modify a view pieces of metal than to ruin the beautiful paint job.

Well, that's a point for sure - now it's not garanteed the pups will fit even without the covers (the baseplate might still be too large / squared). In any way: I strongly suggest you wait for the guy's answer, as they won't accept a return for swap or refund if you do any modification to the pickup.

[Lucifuge]

Yeah, it could be the baseplate; my uncovered Mules would not fit into a standard humbucker rout until I slightly filed off the (very sharp and square) corners of the baseplate.

[RobertF]

Yeah, it could be the baseplate; my uncovered Mules would not fit into a standard humbucker rout until I slightly filed off the (very sharp and square) corners of the baseplate.

I checked the pickup, the baseplate dimensions are smaller than the cover. Of course I won't change anything without completely talking this through with the guys from BKP. Meanwhile they where nice enought to e-mail me back outside office hours asking the exact problem. It turns out that they have never encountered this problem before. In fact, I found a site with foto's of someone that build the exact same cover into his JP7. Perhaps the JP70 guitars are routed differently. I'm either going to modify this pickup but I would like to know first if it is possible to return the pickup so they can send me a open humbucker back.

So far so good!

Thanks for all the support guys! After having this problem I was very disappointed but I feel very confident that this is going to work out just fine!

PS.

Moderators of BKP, the sun is not yellow, its white...

[Toe-Knee]

It's very easy to remove the covers yourself if you have a soldering iron and desoldering pump.

I think this may void the warranty though.

[sjwebb90]

I have fitted three PRS guitars with BKP sets of pickups and on all off them I have had to file down the screw lug, both on the outer edges and corners.

On a Charvel I had only to file the corners.

It goes without saying that care needs to be taken when using the file.

NB I haven't tried it but a small Dremel might make easier work of it.