Boot Camp True Grit humbuckers: anyone tried them?

[nikosteph]

Has anyone tried these new True Grit humbuckers from the Bare Knuckle Boot Camp? Nolly recommended them to me in a different thread, when I basically wanted something more powerful than a VHII but not quite as modern as a Rebel Yell.

He said these fall in-between, while retaining the more PAF flavor. However, they seem so new that there's not much info on them, just the one video by Rabea on Youtube (where they do indeed sound awesome, but it's hard to tell the tonal details because it's in a mix). In theory, this sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, but I'd be curious to hear more.

If you've tried them, what are your thoughts? Any other clips or videos out there? Thanks for the help!

[capac]

Only Nolly has tried them so far (on this forum at least).

[nikosteph]

So I actually pulled the trigger and ordered them last week, and I'll happily post my impressions, but the guitar they're going into won't be finished for a few weeks to maybe 2 months (it's a custom build from scratch by my local luthier). Hopefully by then someone else will have tried them, or else I guess I get to be the second ever review on the forums (yikes, no pressure...).

I guess I could always put them into a cheap test guitar in the meantime, I'm definitely not above buying a used axe off eBay just for that 

[darrenw5094]

They could at least give us a basic EQ chart on each pup.

[Telerocker]

They could at least give us a basic EQ chart on each pup.

Info is very limited. The result will be a lot of mails thrown at the BKP-headquarter.

[capac]

They won't give us anything in those e-mails ;).

[Telerocker]

If you want to sell products you can't keep them a mystery. And we're talking just a bunch of pickups.

[capac]

It's not like it's gonna be kept a secret for long since anyone can msasure that stuff.

[nikosteph]

I just got the pickup the other day, but don't have the tools to measure the DC resistance, but I'll have my luthier do it when he installed the pickup in the new guitar and let you guys know!

[Telerocker]

So we have to measure to know the dc-resistance? C'mon...

[nikosteph]

Yeah, I'm not sure why BK is being cagey with the specs, when they post them for the other pickups right there on the website (wire gauge and everything). Maybe to avoid seeming too "guitar nerdy" for the average Joe?

All I know is Nolly's comment that they're between the VHII and Rebel Yell in output (which is exactly what I wanted), and PAF-flavored. Having had both the VHII and RY, I'll definitely be able to verify that claim when my new guitar is built :).

[capac]

If you're an avarage Joe looking at that line of pickups, I doubt you'll even gonna search those forums.

[McBrain]

I just installed a set in my Gibson Explorer Pro. Other than the 57 Classic in my ES-339 I'm mostly used to high output pickups, so I'm probably not the best suited to comment on these. I have a set of Dimarzio Titans in a Schecter and a set of BKP Rebel Yells in my US Rhoads. Other than these I've had several models fra Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan over the years.

My first impressions are not that great I'm afraid. However, I did just install them, so I'll need to fiddle with them some more, but I'm finding it a lot harder to find the sweet spot with these compared to my other pickups.

The output feels a lot lower than my RYs and the voicing is very different. This is fine since I wanted something more suited for heavy blues and classic/hard rock for this guitar. The bridge pickup is kinda grainy with distortion and the neck pickup is a lot darker sounding than other neck pickups I have tried.

Will report back when I've had some more time with them. They are extremely sensitive to height and polepiece adjustments, so I'm guessing I just need to tweak them some more.

[Telerocker]

Right. I think it's hard to make a choice when there are no specs.
Btw, I love that Explorer.

[McBrain]

Btw, I love that Explorer.

Thanks! It's a awesome guitar. Light and resonant and sustains really well. It took me 5 years to find a good one, since they only made 400 of them back in 2007 and at that time I was studying, so it was way out of my price range.

Ok - after spending a little more time with the True Grits, I have changed my mind. They sound great! But it took a lot of adjustments to get them where I like them, and I'm not completely done yet. So don't give up if you don't like them at first.

The bridge is grainy/growly but in a good way and the neck is definitely a lot fatter than what I'm used to. They do feel a little mismatched though, so it's a bit hard to adjust my amp where they both sound great, but this is not nearly as bad as with my Gibson 57 classics where the bridge and neck are just way too far apart in terms of treble/bass. I don't think I will be using the TG's for metal, but they sound amazing for blues and hard rock.

I measured the True Grits with my cheap multimeter, and this is what I got:

Bridge: 13.0 kΩ
Neck: 9.2 kΩ