Author Topic: How I saved my guitar (Read 7636 times)

richardmca · « **on:** July 02, 2007, 05:40:52 PM »

I'm posting this for anyone who might be considering a first set of BKPs, and especially if they are doing that because they are not happy with a guitar. I'm not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs here, so please excuse the enthusiasm of a newcomer to BKPs.

I've recently had my first set of BKPs put into a guitar that was a complete dud when I took delivery of it (a 2006 Gibson SG Custom Re-issue VOS). Not a particularly cheap guitar, but as delivered it had no tone, not much feel and no future in my guitar rack. I was so underwhelmed that I didn't bother with it for months, then I took it for some SG nuts to play and they thought it was great. So I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't an SG kind of guy.

Anyway, while pondering whether to sell it I thought I'd give it a chance with a set of BKPs. I read in some magazine that Tim reckons the majority of a guitar's tone comes from the pickups rather than the wood and construction (I think that's what he said anyway) so this one seemed like a good test, since acoustically it sounded like gnat playing a banjo and plugged in it managed the impossible trick of sounding muddy and tinny at the same time. On top of that it seemed a complete waste to have a guitar with three pickups wired to give only three combinations (Bridge, Bridge and Middle, and Neck).

So after talking it over with Tim, I had a set of PG Blues and a Mississippi Queen for the middle, and Tim did them in a very natty aged gold finish to match the existing hardware (you know the SG Custom with the Lyre Vibrato looks like a six-string Cadillac - all in the best possible taste...). Need I say Tim's finish looks much better?

But the sounds are something else again. From being a complete slapper, this guitar is a total siren now. I can't go anywhere near it without having to play it, and that can go on for hours before I realise what time it is. The combination of sounds with the out-of-phase PG set and the MQ P90 tones combined is just endless. There's so much air, body and subtlety in the sounds, I would neverhave believed it possible of the same guitar. OK, I did tighten up the screws on the tailpiece and get a TonePros bridge, so that might have improved the sustain, but really this thing is born again. I was sceptical about how much difference a new set of pickups (and a change of wiring) could make to a guitar that just seemed acoustically hopeless, but I've got to hand it to Tim. It feels great and sounds out of this world.

So, my point is, if you are unhappy with a guitar and thinking of dipping your toe in with Bare Knuckles for the first time, I reckon my experience ought to encourage you to give it a go. I'm certainly looking at some of my other guitars now - ones I'm very happy with - and wondering what might come of a little tweak or two from Tim.

I might get round to posting some sound samples if anyone's interested, because I think this combination gives some very distinctive tones. Really justifies the three-pickup layout.

38thBeatle · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2007, 07:29:12 PM »

Welcome to the forum.That is a great story.

Tellboy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2007, 07:34:37 PM »

Quote from: richardmca

I might get round to posting some sound samples if anyone's interested, because I think this combination gives some very distinctive tones. Really justifies the three-pickup layout.

Welcome - glad you're pleased with your BKP'd SG. :)
I'm sure there would be great interest in some sound clips. I can't remember anybody else having a set of PGs installed in an SG - definitely no 3PU SG clips on here.
Some photos would be appreciated - presumably it is white/gold with the long Vibrola?

lulusg · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2007, 07:54:14 PM »

Enjoyed very much your story. Greetings from the Birthplace of the Blues.... :)

Davey · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2007, 08:44:01 PM »

as for it sounding muddy and tinny.. i bet there were issues with the soldering itself, not so much with the pickups.

buuuuuuuut... welcome to the fold :D i love my BKPd geetars :)

808 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2007, 10:09:46 PM »

Welcome!!

Looking forward to pics and clips! 8)

richardmca · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2007, 11:43:21 PM »

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as for it sounding muddy and tinny.. i bet there were issues with the soldering itself, not so much with the pickups.

Really? What sort of thing do you mean? Just bad joints? (My electrical knowledge is limited). Are we talking about loss of signal?

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Some photos would be appreciated - presumably it is white/gold with the long Vibrola?

No it's a...what do they call it....aged red finish...can't remember the Gibson name for it. I wanted a white one, but this looks great. (Smells good too, if you like Turkish delight). Yes, long tailpiece, acres of gold-painted metal. I'll post a picture as soon as I can find the camera lead. So good now to have a guitar that sounds even better than it looks.

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Enjoyed very much your story. Greetings from the Birthplace of the Blues....

Well, thanks! New Orleans is about my favourite city in the US, and source of a lot of my favourite music (having grown up with a jazz-mad father), not to mention favourite recipes. And thanks to all for the welcome. You're all BKP'ers of long-standing though, I think, so you know much more about all this than I do.

I'll get some sounds organised to demo the tones out of this thing. I don't know if there are any other PG Blues clips on the site - I couldn't find any. Might take me a few days.

gingataff · « **Reply #7 on:** July 03, 2007, 02:45:52 PM »

Welcome brother :)
I too got a BKP to liven up a dull guitar and it did wonders, its great to hear a similar story.

Tim · « **Reply #8 on:** July 03, 2007, 03:45:23 PM »

Welcome and thanks for sharing the transformation of your SG.
For the record I don't adhere to the theory that guitar tone comes mostly from the pickups and not the wood. I personally believe most of the tone comes from the player first and foremost, after that it's a combination of pickups,strings, timber, construction, amp and speakers. Pickups do play a pivotal role in the translation of the tone from guitar to amp but they translate the string vibration into AC signal and can't pickup anything from the wood itself.The wood and construction effect the way the string vibrates and the harmonics produced along with sustain.The flux patterns of the magnets and the coil windings then determine which frequencies are conveyed through to the amp.

richardmca · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2007, 07:09:30 PM »

Oh dear. Humble apologies for misrepresenting you Tim. I should have known better because I'm often irritated by journalists not checking their facts or writing what they 'thought they heard' my clients say (I'm a PR guy). Now I've done it myself after half-recalling something I thought I read somewhere - but obviously I wasn't paying full attention.

Anyway, it's still a fact that these pickups have somehow managed to overcome the unpromising acoustic sound of my guitar and produce a big range of full tones that I couldn't get out of it before - to a degree that I find really surprising. For which I am very grateful.

Ratrod · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2007, 07:18:49 PM »

Pickups do have a huge influence. A cr@ppy pickup can ruin a good guitar with a good amp even when played by a good player.

richardmca · « **Reply #11 on:** July 03, 2007, 11:29:23 PM »

So here's a slightly shaky shot of those gorgeous PG Blues and Mississippi Queen in the middle. What a great finishing job. I wonder if I took the rest of the metalwork down to Devon if Tim could give it the same treatment?

Philly Q · « **Reply #12 on:** July 03, 2007, 11:39:49 PM »

I obviously can't say if that SG is/was a complete dud or not, but it looks fabulous. :o

Peter Antal · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2007, 01:04:34 PM »

Glad you like the new pickups. :) Now you only need to age that pickguard or put on a black one. ;)

richardmca · « **Reply #14 on:** July 04, 2007, 01:29:00 PM »

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Now you only need to age that pickguard or put on a black one.

...and practise saying "yeah, I've had this old thing since I was eight years old" with a straight face.