Hi, everyone!
I'm new to the server, and am looking to purchase my very first set of Bare Knuckle pickups, to swap into an ESP Forest GT:
https://i.imgur.com/b5qRDdD.png (opting not to embed because it displaces post formatting)
Similar to:
https://reverb.com/item/50330724-2000-esp-forest-gt-electric-guitar-see-thru-purple-japan-w-seymour-duncan-shr-1-tb-4The guitar in question has a Mahogany body, Swamp Ash top, Maple neck, and Ebony fretboard.
It originally comes with a Duncan JB (TB-4) and Hot Rails (SHR-1n), but the 2nd revision of the guitar apparently came with the Duncan Distortion (TB-6) instead.
Here are the specs:
https://espguitars.co.jp/original/forestgt/The previous owner swapped at least the neck pickup out, so I'm not quite sure what it's currently loaded with. It's aesthetically similar to a "lil 59" though, the single-sized version of the 59... I will confirm this afternoon.
The main issue is the bridge pickup sounds particularly lackluster, and my gut tells me it's not an actual JB. I've had this guitar model before, and it didn't sound nearly this hollow/lifeless to my recollection.
A few questions:
1) For the bridge pickup, as far as I know, the Holy Diver is BKP's take on a JB-inspired pickup - correct?
If I understood correctly, BKP also does custom winds - would it be possible to have the Holy Diver adjusted to a slightly more Duncan Distortion-esque EQ? (Hell, we could even nickname it the UN-holy diver
)
They seem to both share 16.6k impedance in the bridge position, but the key difference appears that the JB uses an Alnico 5 magnet, whereas the Duncan Distortion uses Ceramic... with that in mind would I just be better off going with one of BKP's Ceramic offerings?
https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/holydiverhttps://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/jb-modelhttps://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/duncan-distortion2) As far as the neck pickup, feel free to point me in a different direction, but I'm personally in love with the "blade" aesthetic, so I think a cool idea would be to replace the Hot Rail with one of BKP's bladed offerings - Impulse or Cobra.
https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/hot-rails-strathttps://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/strat/impulse-single-coilhttps://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/strat/cobra-single-coilAny advice between the two? Cobra does note suitability for "Alder, Swamp Ash, [...] and mahogany body" which seem to align to the tonewoods used in the Forest-GT... but the Impulse seems to be voiced stylistically more towards where the Forest-GT shines: "Progressive Rock & Metal, Hardcore, Thrash, Death Metal, Punk, Hard Rock, Metalcore and Extreme Metal"
Thank you so much, in advance!
