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Author Topic: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat  (Read 4159 times)

burnleyadam

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Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« on: July 07, 2015, 09:31:01 AM »
I bought a Strat the other day, lovely thing. Met the fella at a service station and took along a Line 6 Pod to make sure it was working and all was well.

I picked it up for £400. He told me it had a set of BKP Sinners in it. Had no reason not to believe him and sounded fine through the Pod so I went for it, seeing as I wanted a set of Sinners in it anyway I thought "Ah saves me a job" As I want a heavy metal Strat and it seems like a good price as it is a Fender Classic 70s Strat which retail around the £600 mark new and it is in mind condition.

Got home, plugged it in to my 5150 and it just didn't seem right. Didn't drive the amp anything like my Piledriver set does in my Telecaster (I should be able to expect it to at least stand up next to that in a metal scenario, right?) So I opened it up. It does indeed have a Bareknuckle in the bridge, the etching is on the plate. But the other two appear to be stock. Bit annoying.

But the Bareknuckle doesn't seem to be a Sinner to me, not when compared to the sound clips on the site and from what I have read about it. Is there any way I can find out? I am going to get a multimeter on it to measure the resistance but is there any other things I should look out for?
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gwEm

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2015, 01:09:13 PM »
Bareknuckle don't label their pickups so its hard to say. The DC resistance will be the main indicator here.

Maybe the guy has tricked you a bit, or maybe he didn't know himself. Hard to say.

I had a classic 70s reissue and liked it. In the end I took it to bits and did a bit of Fender mix-and-match. £400 is a reasonable price I reckon. The pots, jack and electronic hardware are all decent CTS stuff.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 01:16:12 PM by gwEm »
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Alfi27

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2015, 01:34:18 PM »
You might have a set with a baseplate on the bridge. To my knowledge only the baseplated singlecoils get the Bare Knuckle Pickups logo etched on the bottom.
The Sinners are significantly more powerful and have more DC resistance than other singlecoils in the BKP-line, so you should be good to go measuring the DC resistance. Keep in mind that scatterwound pickups are very sensitive to height adjustments, so you might achieve a better, more powerful tone adjusting them.
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burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2015, 01:56:09 PM »
I think it does have a bassplate yeah.

I'm not big on the tech side of things really but the pole pieces all seem to have been adjusted to be different heights but as I say they just seem weak when it comes to the high gain playing in conparison to my single coil BKP in the Tele.

Gonna try and find my meter tonight and see what it kicks out.

If it is a Sinner in there gotta say I am disappointed with the sound, I just really have my doubts that it is though, I reckon it might be one of the vintage style ones. The fella said he bought it like that and the person who owned it before him said it was a Sinner set and he didn't know much about it.

Other than that the guitar is in mint condition and I like it. Just want it to be a heavy metal machine!
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Alfi27

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2015, 02:14:00 PM »
Quote from: burnleyadam on July 07, 2015, 01:56:09 PM
I think it does have a bassplate yeah.

I'm not big on the tech side of things really but the pole pieces all seem to have been adjusted to be different heights but as I say they just seem weak when it comes to the high gain playing in conparison to my single coil BKP in the Tele.

Gonna try and find my meter tonight and see what it kicks out.

If it is a Sinner in there gotta say I am disappointed with the sound, I just really have my doubts that it is though, I reckon it might be one of the vintage style ones. The fella said he bought it like that and the person who owned it before him said it was a Sinner set and he didn't know much about it.

Other than that the guitar is in mint condition and I like it. Just want it to be a heavy metal machine!
I see. I am not talking about the pole pieces, which are not adjustable, but the height of the entire pickup.
The Sinners should really not make you scratch your head and wonder if the pickups "might not be Sinners", but I won't receive my set before next tuesday, so I have not actually played them... However, there should not be any doubt regarding the DC resistance.
My Sinners will actually go into a 70's strat as well! Kinda.. A Malmsteen signature strat  :grin:
Edit: the pickups have a vintage stagger if the pole pieces have different heights, which is more common in more vintage pickups. It is an option with the Sinners as well, but I will assume it is not quite as common.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 02:19:47 PM by Alfi27 »
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burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2015, 02:46:49 PM »
That is precisely my point. My Piledriver set sounds awesome and I was expecting it to at least stand toe to toe with that, and it just sounds weak in all honesty.

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burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2015, 02:49:44 PM »
All the pole pieces on all three of the pickups (the two stock ones and the BKP) are all adjusted to the same heights. Would it change the character of the pickup at all? Learning alot here! Fifteen years of playing and I have never looked into this stuff, always just ordered pickups and asked a luthier to set them up make it sound great. Haha.
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Alfi27

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2015, 03:00:36 PM »
Some people claim that the vintage stagger contributes to slightly less string-to-string balance, because the stagger was originally made to compensate for the extra volume of the wound G string they used in the 50's. A few players still prefer wound G strings, but the majority of guitar players today use plain G strings.
You might have a set of BKPs, but as I mentioned in the other post the pickups with baseplates are the only ones that are etched with the logo. Due to the exactly samme stagger on all of the pickups that might very well be the case  :wink:
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 03:02:30 PM by Alfi27 »
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gwEm

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2015, 03:14:06 PM »
I have some BKP single coils which are stamped with the BKP logo on to the grey fibreglass base.
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burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2015, 03:19:43 PM »
I will take a photo and upload it when I open it up again tonight.
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Alfi27

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2015, 03:33:10 PM »
Oh, I'm sorry... I just took a quick look at some photos on google of the back, and I did not see anything. Now I see there is a stamp there. Haven't had BKP singles in years...  :laugh:
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burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2015, 09:21:37 PM »
Measured the output of the pickup and it reads 19.54. So it tends to indicate that it is most likely indeed a Sinner. The mid and neck both read between 5 and 6 so they are clearly stock. So I guess it is just a case of the pickup not quite being to my liking, a Bareknuckle first!

My Piledriver is 13.28 which is in the right ballpark as well, checked just to make sure my meter isn't faulty.

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gwEm

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2015, 10:05:24 PM »
does it have a metal baseplate or just the normal fibreglass?
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you wouldn't use the meat knife on crusty bread but, equally, the serrated knife and straight edge knife aren't going to go through raw meat as quickly

burnleyadam

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2015, 10:54:39 PM »
Metal.
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Telerocker

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Re: Identifying BKP single coil in a Strat
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2015, 11:15:22 PM »
This is not the first thread about identifying a BKP. When will BKP start with a simple label on their pickups?
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