Mule Neck and Abraxas Bridge vs Abraxas Neck and Bridge

[azadian]

Hello,

I recently posted a thread regarding the best Mule pickup combination:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=32374.0

...and a few of you mentioned that the best Mule pickup combination was a Mule neck and Abraxas bridge.

I was just about ready to purchase the pickup set, but had a few questions for the dealer I was purchasing the set from and mentioned the pickup combination. The dealer strongly recommended that a better set would be an Abraxas neck and bridge.

The dealer claims to have installed hundreds / thousands of Bare Knuckle pickups and from what they've seen, the Abraxas bridge and neck is better than the Mule neck and bridge.

So my question is, what major differences / pros and cons are there between a Mule neck and Abraxas bridge compared to an Abraxas neck and bridge?

Thank you,
Nelson

[Dave Sloven]

Who's the dealer? How many pickups does he have on hand?

I prefer to go direct.  Just saying.  If I was in the UK I might use a dealer, but I've seen posts regarding LONG delays with overseas dealers.

[Telerocker]

I can understand the dealer as BKP did a lot of R&D on matched/calibatred sets.
But, the Abraxas-bridge goes well with the Mule-neck. I don't think there's a world of difference between the Mule- and Abraxas-neck.
The Mule is maybe a little more open and slightly brighter.

[darrenw5094]

This dude probably has sets only, so splitting an Abraxas set and a Mule set would be a slight pain in the a$$ for him.
The Mule is slightly more open, less gainy etc. Nothing wrong with a Abraxas set though.

[Telerocker]

This dude probably has sets only, so splitting an Abraxas set and a Mule set would be a slight pain in the a$$ for him.
The Mule is slightly more open, less gainy etc. Nothing wrong with a Abraxas set though.

Yeah sales might have to do with such an advice. You can order them online if you want a mixed set.

[ericsabbath]

I doubt there's such a big difference to dismiss going with the calibrated set
I suppose the neck abraxas is just a little less mid scooped (less asymmetrical coils), but still an alnico IV 50's PAF clone
reals PAFs weren't intentionally asymmetrical, they just didn't have proper precision machines to ensure coil matching, so some were symmetrical and some weren't

[azadian]

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions.

I plan on going with the Mule neck and Abraxas bridge as I initially was looking for a cleaner PAF sound (Mule neck) alongside a slightly hotter PAF sound which was also good at split coiling (Abraxas bridge) as well as working well together in an in / out of phase and series / parallel configuration.

I've heard so many good things about the Abraxas (and especially the Mule) that I doubt there will be any problems. Furthermore, given that both pickups are using the same magnets and considering that the Abraxas is modelled after the Mule, the likelihood of both pickups not working well with one another is minimal at best.

Thank you,
Nelson

[Yellowjacket]

With my playing style I would definitely go with a Mule neck / Abraxas bridge over a mule set.  I tend to like a hotter bridge in relation to the neck pup and I often have my bridge pickup high and my neck pickup low to accentuate the difference even more.

[metale]

I feel that the neck Abraxas is basicaly a Mule with a touch extra turns, am I wrong? I would go for a calibrated Abraxas set. While I hate a neck pickup that overpowers the bridge, I also hate to switch to the neck for a solo and have it sound weak in comparation...

[m t soule]

What does he mean by "better"?
Is better some kind of fact based objective eg, particular sound
Or
His opinion based on his tastes eg my tastes are better than yours (risky business that opinion thing)

Both combinations will be great for something equally. It's all comparing apples n oranges.

Get the facts  and have fun exploring if they suit your tastes

T

[ericsabbath]

I feel that the neck Abraxas is basicaly a Mule with a touch extra turns, am I wrong?

not really

neck abraxas is wound just as hot as the mule, but I believe it has less asymmetrical coils, which would mean a touch more mids and less bass

the bridge pup is wound with a thinner gauge wire, so it's a different pup by nature
it's not the same of overwinding an 8k pup up to 14k (that would be physically impossible, actually)

an overwound mule set be more like a vhII set with alnico 4
that would be quite interesting