Product descriptions

[Tim]

I'm in the process of redesigning the pickup descriptions both for the website and for a brochure. What would you find most useful in the descriptions:
applications< suggested positions<suitability to different timbers<comparitive power ratings etc>
Let me know!

[chris o'donnell]

A sub section with a brief outline of the differences between the Alnico magnets and how they affect tone might help people make an informed decision.

Chris

[willo]

maybe some kind of desription of how the different magnets will sound in the context of the wood of your guitar? i think that would be well helpful, but maybe it would be too much information?

[PhilKing]

I think it would be great to have an idea of the overall tone and harmonic content, as well as suitability to woods.  Another thing that I think would be really great is a description of the sound flat out and also with the volume brought down.    Perhaps an idea of the sound you were after when you were voicing the pickup would be good too (I know that this is reflected a bit in your choice of names, but I am sure that you were looking for more than the sound of one song :note:  ).

Also, when different magnets are available, a comparision of how each sounds with this pickup would be great too.

Last, and probably not least for me, would be an idea of which position works best for the pickup, and what pairings work too.

[HJM]

The danger is you risk pigeonholing the pickups if you describe the sound, eg the Mules, they can do everything!

Perhaps a table of what magnet types sound like, how they work in different woods, and wire tone differences?

[Peterku]

You could write some words about your experience w/ each humbucker in a...
- Strat
- LP
- RG
I think three such sentences/pickup would be enough to add to the current descriptions. As I see the current website and the reviews, one of the best things about most BKP models are versatility and a certain balanced feel to the tone. I think that things like tone curves, millivolts, etc. are not necessary at all. There's too much that depends on the guitar. What's more, probably most players whose ears are used to mass-produced pickups, can't ever imagine what a wonder scatterwinding does to the tone, although that factor makes it necessary to interpret tonal descriptions from another perspective IMO. Finally, I think most players understand more from gear-specific opinions than guitar-independent specs. :)

[Miracle Man Matt]

I thought you might be on the case :D

I reckon a simple mark out of ten for each spec to start with like on the dimarzio website,  And the a brief descriptin that describes it a bit more thouroughly.

(I would still keep the original stuff you have there as its good but a thing at the bottom with the specs would be quite cool)

E.g.

Messiahbucker

The god of all hubuckers, Extreme power that is extremely articulate with angel like harmonics. ......etc

Alnico IX magnet gives a warm but expressive sound.....etc

built for guitar dueling... can kill at 100 paces
Heavy rock and expressive guitar heavy solo's :shock:

low....8    tight as a cats spincter, as well as round and full
mid....8    Full but not pokey and spiked
high....9    screaming like a the cat with a red-hot poker in its....

output....10!!  Incorporates the power of God himself (miracles sold separetly) :twisted:


Just as a side note I hope that doesn'y offend anyone, but thats just my idea of a good lay-out and a cool PU

Cheers

MMM

[Ratrod]

Some sort of equalizer graphic would be nice. A line diagram with on the horizontal line the frequencies and on the vertical line the output. This way it's easy to see the tonal balance of a pickup. :idea:

SD has sometjing similar, they have bar diagrams with the amount of bass, mid and treble. Personaly I'd like to see something a little more detailed; with a line crossing the entire frequency range from 60 hertz to 16 kilohertz, for example.

[chris o'donnell]

What about a Hot Diagram which gives an indication to the out put of the pickup and also give an indication of the Hi  Mid and low of that pickup.

Chris

[Tim]

Keep the ideas coming ladies and gents-the bar graph type idea I've looked at but we're constantly being accused by SD of copying them, Gibson use one too for output so maybe something a little more detailed without going over the top and being confusing maybe??

I agree with HJM about pigeonholing-I play in an Ozzy tribute and I take out LPs with Mules, Holydivers,Miracle Man and Emerald sets in them, I use them in any order I like and simply enjoy the tone and response.That's what HJM and I were trying to point out in the Mule clip we recorded-that they can go from subtle to full on depending how you use/approach them.Another for instance-we sell alot of pickups in France and over there the Warpig is loved by..........jazzers!Now explain that one :D Me, I'm just happy that players are experimenting with our pickups and finding what works for them.Just because a pickup doesn't sound good in one guitar doesn't mean it's cr@p,it's down to finding the right pickup for the guitar,ie I normally recommend a Mule set for classic PAF tone but they just wouldn't do anything for me in one of my 1970 LPs-I ended up with a Crawler set in there and the guitar has suddenly come to life and sounds.....well,right. So does that make the Mule cr@p?Certainly not, it's about being informed and making the right choice.
I like to speak to as many customers as I can, to really get inside their tone requirements and try to get the pickup choice right as painlessly as possible-obviously I don't get it right all the time and equally I only have so much time in a day too(I actually work with a headset telephone these days as the phone rarely stops ringing and I need to keep working too!!)so I feel the time is right to get more information on the site AND a hard copy too in the form of a brochure/catalogue.
So...what I want to be able to convey is the capabilites of each pickup AND the possiblities of each too without it becoming a smokecreen of confusion.
It'd be nice to put together a brochure that could be used as a reference manual too, something you can keep coming back to.

So.....keep 'em coming!

[Ratrod]

F :censored: ck Seymour Duncan, they don't have a patent on bar graphs or any other kind of graph. They don't have a patent on scientific measurments either, I think the man feels threatend a bit. Tim, you're 'stealing' his customers. You're right about sound, it can be greatly influenced by a lot of factors. The biggest help in finding the right pickup are the sounclips IMHO.

Fender once gave away free CD's with demo's of a dozen or so of their amps on it at guitar shows. :idea:  A bit expensive, maybe.

[Johnny Mac]

I thought you might be on the case :D

I reckon a simple mark out of ten for each spec to start with like on the dimarzio website,  And the a brief descriptin that describes it a bit more thouroughly.

(I would still keep the original stuff you have there as its good but a thing at the bottom with the specs would be quite cool)

E.g.

Messiahbucker

The god of all hubuckers, Extreme power that is extremely articulate with angel like harmonics. ......etc

Alnico IX magnet gives a warm but expressive sound.....etc

built for guitar dueling... can kill at 100 paces
Heavy rock and expressive guitar heavy solo's :shock:

low....8    tight as a cats spincter, as well as round and full
mid....8    Full but not pokey and spiked
high....9    screaming like a the cat with a red-hot poker in its....

output....10!!  Incorporates the power of God himself (miracles sold separetly) :twisted:


Just as a side note I hope that doesn'y offend anyone, but thats just my idea of a good lay-out and a cool PU

Cheers

MMM

You should get this man on board Tim! He definatly has a way with words!

[Hayden]

You should get this man on board Tim! He definatly has a way with words!

He also seems to have a thing about cats bottoms....Rock on!

Edited because I spell like a three year old with ADD after eatng a bag of sugar.

[everton_fc]

I guess I was looking to read something relating to a certain tone of a song/album/artist.

For example, the Irish Tour set would suggest it sounds similar to Rory Gallagher, but I never heard any of his music before I purchased the pickups, so the name didn't help me that much.

When I spoke to Tim on the phone, I asked "I'm looking for great Strat tones, that can take me from Little Wing through blues/rock and pushed harder when required" - I said that I like my tone to be a little more overdriven than just pure, clean strat tones - Tim suggested the Irish Tour straight away.

I guess if I had read something similar on the site it would have saved a phone call, however, it was really good to speak to Tim on the phone as it really helped me to have more understanding of the different products available from BKP, what tones I can expect and generally have more faith in BKP products/service etc, as at that point, I'd never really heard of them, when compared to other Pickup manufacturers.

Maybe a chart of some kind on each page with comparisons to other similar BKP's listed, is: say for Strat pups you would list all the different Strat pups available, and list tech spec, as well as tone audio samples, description, what to expect in a live gig environment, studio environment etc

Knowing how the pups would cut through and be driven when required in a live set up was one of my priority questions to Tim.

Hope that helps! Sorry for garbling on... am writing this on the sly at work and trying to unload my thoughts on here as quick as possible before i get busted! Quality.....

[Miracle Man Matt]

I really like that idea of a line graph going through the resonance and freq's....that would be really cool and give a really detailed description in a simple form, as well as a graph of output if you can.

One probelm tho, is that Im thinking that this would take a long time which im sure tim doesn't have too much of.... Then again the website is probably the most important part of his buisiness.

I think That by naming the pickups after a particular sound that you aimed on modelling is a fantastic idea, but it might be a bit narrow for alot of players who don't have a vast range of musical knowledge or history, so If a few more examples were introduced, with the description, that might clarfiy things a bit better.

MMM