Author Topic: A bit of realistic advice needed. (Read 7488 times)

foster · « **on:** October 17, 2006, 08:05:38 PM »

Ok so i can kinda gather what the answer is gonna be, but i like surprises ;)

I recently bought myself a new guitar, a gibson flying v and to be honest it has to be the best guitar i've ever purchased :D It could do with a bit more growl to it, but playability wise its purrfect.

Now a friend of mine has mentioned whacking some bareknuckles in as he aint a fan of stock gibson pups, yet i'm kinda reluctant to after splashing out £730 on a new axe.

Now will swapping the pups for bareknuckles make this guitar better? it currently has a 496R in the neck and a 500T in the bridge, i've been told the black dog is great sounding for rock as is the mule for blues tones (pretty much what i play).

question is will it make much difference or would i be better off just twiddling with my amp?

oh and on a side note, would a '67 V look cool with a zebra pup in the neck and black open coils in the bridge? :P

Cheers for any responses - Foster

Dakine · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2006, 08:17:25 PM »

yes to all, lol.
Flying V for blues, that's an OLD choice there bud :)

Gibson pups are ok, but think like this.

BKP's are personal, handmade and tonally superior.

Think of it like this.

You like a band on CD. Then ya see em play a great live performance. Why do they sound more 'alive' live? Thats the BKP difference, they are 'Alive' they are so much more organic.

IMO, a BKP is a Booteek amp to a Marshall MG mini.

Philly Q · « **Reply #2 on:** October 17, 2006, 08:38:11 PM »

Quote from: foster

oh and on a side note, would a '67 V look cool with a zebra pup in the neck and black open coils in the bridge? :P

No.

Seriously though

, I think the cream bobbin of a zebra pickup against a white pickguard looks pretty bad. What colour is the guitar?

Back to the main question, your guitar will sound better with BKPs. If you go for the Mule/Black Dog combo it'll also sound very different, because the 496R/500T are pretty powerful ceramic-magnet pickups.

But if you've only just bought the guitar, why rush into changing the Gibson pups if (as you said) you're reluctant to do so? Get used to the pickups, figure out what you like and don't like about them, and meanwhile have a listen to the soundclips and have a read of all the nonsense that gets written in the BKP forum.

Then buy the right set of BKPs when you're ready!

foster · « **Reply #3 on:** October 17, 2006, 08:48:42 PM »

The V is cherry red, looks very nice too :)

Reason i'm pondering zebra at the top and black at the bridge is i find having 2 black open coil humbuckers to look a bit bland...

Philly Q · « **Reply #4 on:** October 17, 2006, 08:56:04 PM »

I'd go for chrome covers, but then I always say that.

Unless it has nickel hardware, in which case I'd go for nickel covers.

Actually - now I'm started - one thing I hate about 60's-style Vs is the way the pickups sit parallel to the scratchplate instead of parallel to the strings (same goes for SGs). Why don't they add a third mounting screw so you could tilt the pickup?

I do like Vs in general though, wish Gibson would do a non-Custom Shop '58 reissue.

blue · « **Reply #5 on:** October 17, 2006, 10:13:52 PM »

Quote from: Philly Q

wish Gibson would do a non-Custom Shop '58 reissue.

they do, it's called the Epiphone '58 Korina

honestly, is it two grand worse than a custom shop Gibson?

blue · « **Reply #6 on:** October 17, 2006, 10:19:41 PM »

as to the Gibson pickups, don't change them just because everyone tells you to. live with the guitar for a while and see how you like what's in it, and build an idea in your head of what you'd like to change about how it sounds.

the 500T is a fairly hot ceramic magnet pickup, and the 496R is what it's usually paired with, i think it's alnico but i'm not sure. i'd imagine the closest equivalent bkp sets would be either Miracle Man or Cold Sweat. so see how you like the Gibsons and take it from there

Philly Q · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2006, 12:09:26 AM »

Quote from: blue

they do, it's called the Epiphone '58 Korina

honestly, is it two grand worse than a custom shop Gibson?

No, I'm sure it's not! :lol: I wouldn't dream of paying £2K+ for a guitar - for example I think PRS guitars are far too expensive (not necessarily overpriced, just too much for me personally to justify the expense!). But I'll happily buy a PRS SE, as we discussed the other day.

But regular, non-CS Gibsons are really quite reasonably priced - so I still want that '58 V! I must check out the Epi version one day though. And there are alternatives like the Hamer Vector Korina (although again, they're twice as expensive as they used to be). And I live in hope that Tokai will one day reissue their Japanese '58 copy.

FELINEGUITARS · « **Reply #8 on:** October 18, 2006, 12:21:18 AM »

I have found that VH2s are really great in a flying V - especially a Korina one

The cramic pickups that come with standard Vs 500T & 498R are pretty hot pickups but may sound a bit OTT for blues

Here is a piccy of my personal Korina V with VH2s

CaffeineJunkie · « **Reply #9 on:** October 18, 2006, 12:31:22 AM »

^ that looks amazing, as do all your guitars

Philly Q · « **Reply #10 on:** October 18, 2006, 01:02:25 AM »

Quote from: FELINEGUITARS

Here is a piccy of my personal Korina V with VH2s

Nice! I love the look of Korina wood.

As I've already, er, hinted, I've always thought the '58 V was much more elegant than the later versions - the wood, the tailpiece, the control layout, the pointier headstock, the proper pickup surrounds(!). I also think the neck joint looks better, although I suppose it must be weaker as there's a smaller area of neck-to-body contact.

I see you went for a sort of 60s model with some 50s features, Jonathan. Just personal preference, or do you think there are advantages to the 60s style construction?

dave_mc · « **Reply #11 on:** October 18, 2006, 12:34:50 PM »

Quote from: Philly Q

Quote from: foster
oh and on a side note, would a '67 V look cool with a zebra pup in the neck and black open coils in the bridge? :P

No.

Seriously though , I think the cream bobbin of a zebra pickup against a white pickguard looks pretty bad. What colour is the guitar?

Back to the main question, your guitar will sound better with BKPs. If you go for the Mule/Black Dog combo it'll also sound very different, because the 496R/500T are pretty powerful ceramic-magnet pickups.

But if you've only just bought the guitar, why rush into changing the Gibson pups if (as you said) you're reluctant to do so? Get used to the pickups, figure out what you like and don't like about them, and meanwhile have a listen to the soundclips and have a read of all the nonsense that gets written in the BKP forum.

Then buy the right set of BKPs when you're ready!

seconded.

I don't like those Gibson pickups, but keep them for a while to discover what you don't like about them/wish they could do better, and then you can buy new BKP's to specifically counteract those problems.

carlaz · « **Reply #12 on:** October 18, 2006, 03:43:28 PM »

Quote from: blue

as to the Gibson pickups, don't change them just because everyone tells you to. live with the guitar for a while and see how you like what's in it, and build an idea in your head of what you'd like to change about how it sounds.

I'd agree with this. While there's no doubt in my mind that BKP makes markedly better pickups than Gibson, the Gibson pups aren't bad, and you might as well be pretty sure about what you want before springing for BKPs. It didn't take me long to decide I wanted to change the stock Gibson pups in my LP, but it took me a very long time to decide with what to replace them! :)

That said, I'd unhesitatingly recommend BKP Alnico pups for bluesy rock, probably with less DC resistance than the 500T. The Mules are generally good, the Black Dogs a bit hotter, and something like the Abraxases or Crawlers closer in output to the 500T, but with more vintage character which ought to suit blues-rock and classic-rock vibes.

foster · « **Reply #13 on:** October 18, 2006, 07:12:02 PM »

hmm, not quite the answer i expected, but damn good answers :D

Yes i shall be sticking with my current pups for the time being, i'm just used to the sound of my les paul which has a JB in the bridge and some random Gotoh humbucker in the neck. I dunno what it is about that neck humbucker but it just sounds great!

My v plays amazingly well and i still don't feel as comfotable playing my other guitars as i do the gibbo. Give it a few months and i'll see what i like and dislike and work something out from there :)

deg0ey · « **Reply #14 on:** October 18, 2006, 10:03:09 PM »

Quote from: foster

hmm, not quite the answer i expected, but damn good answers :D

Did you expect everyone to say "Yeah, Buy BKPs NOW!!!!!"...We appear not to be that kind of fanboy forum - My opinion on this forum is that everyone's happy to help wherever possible, but they also know how to give constructive advice rather than "Product X is awesome, so much better than Product Y that you have now: Go and buy it today!"

Wow, I sound like Dave with my X's and Y's :lol: