Author Topic: VHII Installed - Initial Impressions!!! (Read 6311 times)

TwilightOdyssey · « **on:** June 21, 2005, 04:45:05 AM »

It's always a happy day when all the parts you've ordered arrive at the same time. :)

Upon returning home from work, I went for a 2-mile skate through the park, ate dinner, and then started working on my new concept for the Strat. Gone was any notion of preserving any kind of vintage tonality from it; I wanted an early 80s, old school metal beast.

The pickup recommended to accomplish this was the Bare Knuckle VHII. On paper, it looks a bit like the Screamin' Demon. Physically, the pickup weighs more than my Miracle Man, which has a nickel cover! This is one beefy pickup!

I opted for a black pickguard with a white spider web design from www.pickguards.com. All of their pickguards are made to order, so expect to wait about 2 weeks. It cost me roughly $50. Note: Hardware is NOT included. Black scratch plate screws from Allparts cost an additional $8.

The '79 Strat was not routed for a bridge HB, but the original owner of the guitar had done 98% of the routing for me. It took a minor bit of "woodworking" with a hammer and slotted screwdriver :D to accommodate the vintage baseplate of the VHII.

I will eventually be putting a kill swtich onto the guitar, but for my immediate purposes, I wired the pickup directly to the output jack. I can always put my amp in standby when plugging and unplugging. I will be ordering a black mini toggle switch this week, tho.

INITIAL SONIC IMPRESSIONS
When I first put the pickup in, I found myself thinking, "I wonder how this pickup will be different from the Mircale Man ..." The answer is this is a totally different beast!!!!

When the Mircacle Man clips, it creates a rich, smooth distortion that is very articulate with lots of harmonic overtones. The VHII, in comparison, is a swaggering, burly pickup. It has tons of attitude, and a much rawer and dynamic sound. I ended up lowering the pickup a bit in the end, as the bass was too mushy for me. When I lowered it, I lost some of the gain, but got all the bass taughtness back. (Amp gain is not something I need to worry about, anyway)

Next step for me is to put the pickup through its paces with the HomeBrew Electronics Big D overdrive pedal and a 1/2 stack, which I will be able to do at rehearsal Wednesday night. Between now and then I will just continue to stretch the strings and get acquainted with the VHII.

For someone looking to either capture that EVH tone (lots of bite, rawness, and harmonic content) but found that their pickups were just not doing it, this is the one for you. I got it because I wanted that vintage Maiden kind of sound. This is like Killers-era Dave Murray in a box! :D :D

rinse_master · « **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2005, 09:44:44 AM »

Your strat looks cool. I wouldn't have thought sunburst and spiderweb would have gone together so well, but it looks good.

I look forward to the full reveiw :D

wixomwhat · « **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2005, 03:18:46 PM »

yeah, looks good!

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2005, 03:21:02 PM »

It actually looks way better than I anticipated. The scratch plate is, in fact, clear, and the graphic is on the bottom; it gives it a weird, 3D kinda look.

Ratrod · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2005, 04:54:25 PM »

Looks cool! How about a kill switch shaped like a spider in the center of the web?

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2005, 05:08:11 PM »

The hole is actually there, you just can't see it with that kuh-razy pattern.
I'm ordering the mini toggle (black, of course) from Stewart MacDonald today. :)

38thBeatle · « **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2005, 08:09:15 PM »

It looks great Ben. Excuse the ignorance. What will the mini toggle do ?From your post I assume to silence the guitar when plugging in. I like the simplicity of having one pup. A bit of a tone beast methinks. I am looking forward to the clip! If my brother saw that plate he'd run a mile.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2005, 08:12:27 PM »

Quote from: 38thBeatle

It looks great Ben. Excuse the ignorance. What will the mini toggle do ?From your post I assume to silence the guitar when plugging in. I like the simplicity of having one pup. A bit of a tone beast methinks. I am looking forward to the clip! If my brother saw that plate he'd run a mile.

HA! My wife is a bit of an arachnophobe, too. Fortunately, you only see a spider once every 20 years or so in NYC ...

Clips will be coming very soon, just gotta find the time.

Yes, you are totally correct - the mini toggle will simply cut the output of the pickup. Not even a volume control! Currently, the pickup is wired straight to the output jack ... perhaps the simplest way to wire a guitar aside from neural implant ... ;)

HJM · « **Reply #8 on:** June 23, 2005, 07:07:03 AM »

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

The '79 Strat was not routed for a bridge HB, but the original owner of the guitar had done 98% of the routing for me. It took a minor bit of "woodworking" with a hammer and slotted screwdriver :D to accommodate the vintage baseplate of the VHII.
:D

Go for it my son....I'd be lying if I said I'd never gone at a guitar with a screwdriver and hammer... :P

Davey · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2005, 01:31:51 AM »

very nice ben!

glad you found the tone in your head with it hehe
i wonder how the neck counterpart soudns

jt · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2005, 02:45:11 AM »

:D Yer i forgot to post a Congrats on the new P/U . So here it is Congrates !!! :lol: :lol:
As for the Neck P/U let it sing boy let it sing !!! :D 8)

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2005, 04:05:24 AM »

Quote from: jt

As for the Neck P/U let it sing boy let it sing !!! :D 8)

LOL!
I'm really not decided what I will do with that guitar ... right now I'm enjoying the primal simplicity of it. :)

Tim · « **Reply #12 on:** June 26, 2005, 10:45:40 AM »

Good work TO!
The VHII is quite a different beast to the high gain models we make..........it's much more in the hot PAF territory.Essentially you've got two heavily wound coils of 42 plain enamel but what I do to keep the highs is wind in quite a heavy offset between the 2 coils.OK, asymmetrically wound coils aren't 'true' humbuckers as once the symmetry of the coils is disrupted so is the phase cancellation of noise.This doesn't mean the VHII is noisey.............you can offset almost up to 1500 winds before 50/60 cycle as well as airbourne RF become a real pain-the VHII doesn't go that far but far enough to give it some edge.
The bottom end won't be as surgically precise as say a ceramic, the tone is fatter and definately vintage in character but with a contemporary edge.

The VHIIs seem most at home in thinner bodied guitars-PRS,Strat types etc where they can put in some serious beef without ever getting over compressed and losing dynamics.

Again, it's a pickup that leaves you nowhere to hide and you have to work for your money :lol:

I was aiming at recreating EVHs earliest tones which I describe as 'clean'overdrive-much more power amp driven than preamp and I wanted the pickup to reflect this.

As To has found, the detail is in the height adjustment-handwound pickups are much more height sensitive than mass produced so it's worth while playing with the adjustment to really dial in that sweet spot.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #13 on:** June 26, 2005, 01:22:05 PM »

Tim - thanx for another killer pickup!
And welcome back! :D

I have another thread elsewhere, looking for a HB/SC set for my Wayne Rock Legend; if you could chime in, that would be great! http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=587