Bare Knuckle Pickups

The Bare Knuckle pickups are handmade in England with specs that make them very (or maybe too) expensive! I have never been a fan of Seth E. Lover's invention, preferring single-coils and the P90. However, I became disillusioned with the arrival of my pair of The Mule, which don't seem to have any relationship with the other humbuckers I have been able to test, particularly those of Gibson. They came mounted on a Custom77 London's Burning HB (an ES-type guitar in LP format with the back nicely curved...) These humbuckers try to resemble the original PAFs, like all others today, but using Alnico 4 magnets, which you might think is only a mere anecdotal detail, but it isn't! Unlike its 2 and 5 "cousins," this alloy has the particularity of producing a more brilliant, even biting, sound when you drive it hard enough. This means their sound is far from the characteristic and well sought-after warm and vintage humbucker sound. At first, I was a bit surprised, and even disappointed, by the fact of not being able to feel the warm "Gibson vibes," but I said to myself: You paid almost 300 euros for them so you'd better do something! That's where joy resides! Finally, pickups that need to be tamed, to be domesticated. They need to be shown who's the boss around here! The dynamic response of these pickups is hard to describe. You are sometimes under the impression of hearing Peter Frampton comes alive (without the same dexterity, obviously). The sound is quite simply organic, both clean and distorted. It's fantastic with a Vox AC15 and its natural distortion! I can only imagine what it can achieve with an old Marshall Plexi ... Despite everything, the price is incredibly high (the pickups cost almost the same as the guitar...). It's good to know that if you don't have a fitting model, it's not worth it. You can play any pre-70s music style, given their dynamic response and exceptional take on not-too-extreme distortions. I don't play much jazz, but that's probably not their main strength, due precisely to their dynamic response (and my other gear, that's true ^^). Every nuance is faithfully translated and, if you plan to buy them, you should know that you need to use them with a high-quality circuit to be able to take the best out of them. The circuit of my C77, even if quite acceptable, doesn't seem to be up to the job and the sound starts to lose quality as soon as I touch the knobs... What a pity =/ In short, you need to be very sure of what you're doing when buying them, they are very particular pickups. You might risk giving the cold shoulder to a brand that could surely satisfy you besides having lots of models....but with hefty prices ;(

I snagged this matched set new off an eBay authorized dealer. Bare Knuckle is known for having some of the best pickups around and you would be hard pressed to find a bad review...and you won't find it here! I put this passive set into my 2000 Gibson Gothic LP. The guitar originally came stock with 490/498. A lot of people rip on these Gibson pickups, but I enjoyed them for over 10 years, recording a lot of material and played a lot of great shows. I always wondered about upgrading- what guitarist doesn't? When the stock bridge pickup went bad, it gave me the chance to plunge into BKs. I selected the set based on my recent musical changes...I used to reside in Eb and drop Db, sometimes E/dropD...but recently have really enjoyed playing a bit lower in dropC. My material has drifted away from friendlier pop hard rock to hard rock/metal, if that makes any sense. I figured the mid prominence displayed on the BK site for this set would work well...plus, it is one of their newest and most modern offerings. result? Awesome response. My guitar cuts through any mix with pure fire, yet does not get abrasive- a tough balancing act. The lows are super fast responsive to quick picking, tight yet delivers a thunderous low end. I would say these pickups could work in a variety of genres, but if you're reading/considering this, chances are you like a good level of brutality to your playing... this set delivers. My chops are a bit sloppy, and previously I would play most of my leads on the neck pickup. However, this BK ceramic bridge delivers such a pleasing mid and hi frequency, it allows me to jam out without getting spikey or abrasive. It truly is inspirational- and flat out rules for hi gain detuned applications. The alnico neck pickup is sensational, it puts a great smooth huge low end tone to phrases. It somehow delivers HUGE low end without ever getting muddy. I think the heaviness and darkness of the LP body helps make this a great combination, make sure to contact Tim at BK before choosing your pickup. He's known for great customer service and my experience was no different- give him your guitar specs and needs, and he will respond very quickly with great advice. the pickups are a bit pricier, but worth every penny. I'm now looking at replacing all off my guitar pickups with BK, the quality is blowing me away!

In the long search for the perfect (is that even possible?) pickup in my Carvin Dc127 I have stopped with the nail bomb. The nail bomb is just a very well done pickup that does not only excel in metal but can actually provide tons of tones and has great response to picking dynamics and volume knob twiddling. My Carvin has a mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fret board, and a floyd rose. That combination can be pretty bright but with the nail bomb it's just a full sound with great string definition that can go from clean to modern metal easily. I previously tried the EMG 81, 85, Dimarzio tone zone, Seymour Duncan JB, Invader, and some others I can't think of right now. The nail bomb is better then all of them in this guitar in every way. The best I could describe it from those would be the fullness of the tone zone with much more clarity and attack and not the quacky kind that the JB gives in bright guitars. It seems to have a fairly flat EQ curve as nothing really jumps out at you. Not too smooth and not too bright and packs a lot of punch without getting too bass heavy and flubbing out.It's tight when you play tight but softens up when you do which is something you do not find in many metal oriented pickups. This is also one of the very few pickups I have tried that I can actually use clean in the bridge position. It's still not as nice to me as a great neck pickup sound but far more useable than most. The price is high for these but the customer service is great. I bought this one used but when I was looking for a neck pickup I was given great advice by the company as to what would fit my needs. I don't think you can call up most big companies and get anything but a canned response or a link to their tone description page. If I could afford it I would have Bare knuckles in all my guitars but until the exchange rate gets more in my favor I think I'll just be stuck with the set in my main guitar.

These were without a doubt some of the worst Strat type of pickups I've ever used.... I purchased a heavily modified Jimmie Vaughan signature Fender Strat with these installed at the tail end of last year. I had heard so many good things about BKPs and was hoping that a $300 set of pickups would sound at least passable... I was wrong. The nature of the pickups was extremely hot and scooped sounding, not at all what I was looking for. The name to me implied reference to an Yngwie Malmsteen type of sound. For those that don't realize, Yngwie uses very low output pickups into a cranked Marshall with a boost. These do not do his tone, or any other classic "Strat" tone justice in my opinion. For starters, they had FAR too much output for a pickup that was apparently (given its name) supposed to ape a classic "Yngwie" tone. This made for a very muddy and bad sounding set of pickups. To me, the idea of high output and Strat pickup together is never a good combination and these pickups prove why. Clean tones were far too bass heavy and fairly flat in the treble, with no midrange to speak of. There was none of the glassy top end and shimmer that make a Strat pickup shine. Compared to my '79 Strat that had stock greybottom Fender pickups, my JV Strat with these pickups just sounded dead out of the water. Also, the fact that they were extremely scooped in nature was a huge annoyance and frustration to me. I like pickups that have a neutral frequency response that allow your picking dynamics and amp texture to come through. With these pickups, all I noticed was a sound that scooped the mids out to a point that all I felt I could use them for was thrash metal... very disappointing. I wouldn't be so harsh if it wasn't for the fact that these pickups are around $300 for a set. Handwound or not... they're absolutely terrible and I feel bad for anyone paying for the $300 hype. If you want good Yngwie esque tone, look into the DiMarzio HS3s, YJMs. or the new Seymour Duncan YJM Fury pickups. All of them are much cheaper and sound much better than these abominations.

The Bare Knuckle Pickups Warpig is the highest output pickup that Tim offers in the contemporary line. It’s truly a take no prisoners pickup meant for modern metal. Like all BKP pickups, this comes with a ton of options. The model I tested had an Alnico V magnet, adjustable allen head bolts on both coils, no cover and four conductor wiring. Those of you looking for probably the most brutal pickup on the market will want to look no further than this pickup. It’s one hell of a beast. First off, this pickup is very thick sounding. The bass is HUGE on this thing. The midrange is also extremely huge, so it slams the amp like crazy. Treble is pushed back a bit to really allow this thing to sound ridiculously thick and smooth. However, this thing also remains tight and clear sounding. Complex chords really shimmer with this thing, and you can truly hear every nuance in the sound. It’s not super compressed, either. I haven’t tried this in split coil or parallel, so I can’t comment on those sounds. To me, the Warpig sounds best in neutral to brighter woods. I really enjoy this pickup in neck-thru guitars where maple is actually the main tone wood of the guitar. That allows the Warpig to truly shine and show off its low end without being overbearing. In mahogany, it could get a bit too dark sounding, but it all depends on how your particular piece of wood sounds. If you’re looking for an extreme output pickup with gobs of tight low end bass and a round top end, this is the pickup you want. It’s truly a monster of a creation. Just be careful on what wood you put it in as it could potentially get a bit too bass heavy, in my opinion.