Bare Knuckle Pickups

Admin M@

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Fractal Audio Systems
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Where have you BEEN all my life?! I just put some custom "Ragaroks" in my Vader and this guitar has instantly stepped into the big leagues. The stock pickups never sounded right for me. BK considered the scale of the instrument (27") plus what I said I wanted in the tone ("big tone, modern dynamics") and MAN do these pickups deliver. I've played them tonight through the Brit 800 #34, Deluxe Tweed, Class-A 30W Hot, 6160 Block, Double Verb Silverface, and various other amps and every choice reveals something else that I LIKE.

Coming from a world of high tech digital, you imagine that pickups must be simple. But there's something more to these—and they're not the first Bare Knuckle pickups I've really liked. These folks have mastered an art and then improved on it.
 
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One of my great gear regrets is getting rid of the BKP HolyDivers I had in my PRS 24. They were made a tad aggressive, but voiced phenomenally for that mahogany guitar and they looked drop dead gorgeous. I should buy another set for it...



Edit: Damn. Well, I have a matched set of Abraxas BKPs on the way to me now. Thanks for the fuel on the GAS fire @Admin M@!
 
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I bought a Steve Stevens Rebel Yell neck pick up for my SG and it's amazing!! Work well with the Tone Zone in the bridge.
 
I put the Rebel Yells in a JP6 BFR when i had it years ago. It sounded awesome. I miss the guitar and pickups. Thinking about putting some BKP in my Epiphone guitar.
 
I have Steve Stevens Rebel Yells in both of my PRS's. Covered in the SC245, uncovered in a custom 22, they are in both guitars outstanding I love the similarity's and the differences in both. Awesome pick-ups!!
 
I have 3 sets of mules and some stormy Mondays. Mules are my favourite pickups ever!

I tried some aftermaths once though... hated them.
 
I agree M@. Something about them. I owned a Nailbomb that while it wasn't for everything I do, it was an awesome pickup that that something special about it. I want to try some of their PAF style offerings. Vintage or Vintage/Hot.
 
I play a lot of styles and I have a one guitar for everything concept. So I put Rebel Yells into a Carvin DC727, a 7 string guitar and can play everything from vintage to modern metal. It's amazing what this alnico set can deliver.
 
Hmm. I've never heard a bad review on these PUP's. Might be time.

I didn't like the ceramic nailbomb in my 7 string? I felt it scooped my sound too much in a bandmix. And I had a 2nd hand microphobic nailbomb? Swapping the ceramic for the alnico version helped a lot though. And waxpottin the nailbomb fixed that problem.

As a Muse fan I use Nailbomb humbuckers and they sound great to me. But the ones I really like are the Mississippi Queen humbucker sized P90's. Man! Those things take no prisoners!
 
Love my BKP’s! I’ve got holydivers in my number 1 guitar and they’re great but I’m itching to try some of their lower gain pups
 
I have black hawks in an ibanez prestige and juggs in an OS7 and in a LTD KH-603. The black hawks sound great and the 6 string juggs sound phenomenal in my KH-603, however the 7 string juggs sound a bit weak in my strandberg.. not sure why but the output just isn't there. I even sent the guitar to strandberg to make sure it was properly wired and to no avail.. the only thing that helps is raising the pickup height. Didn't mean to derail, just my $.02.
 
I have black hawks in an ibanez prestige and juggs in an OS7 and in a LTD KH-603. The black hawks sound great and the 6 string juggs sound phenomenal in my KH-603, however the 7 string juggs sound a bit weak in my strandberg.. not sure why but the output just isn't there. I even sent the guitar to strandberg to make sure it was properly wired and to no avail.. the only thing that helps is raising the pickup height. Didn't mean to derail, just my $.02.

Maybe a heavier string gauge. My Strandberg OS6T came with .010's on it and I dropped it down to .009's and it seemed weak, so I had it set up with .010's again. The guitar just has less mass, It resonates great but the amplitude isn't as big as a full-meat guitar, and it shows in the output I think.
 
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