Bare Knuckle pickups...

[Chinagraf]

Anyone here using them? Thinking about a set of Mules for my LP custom. Would be interested to hear any experiences, particularly unpotted vs potted.
Gracias.

[Text_Edifice]

Sorry to muddy the waters, but if you're thinking of going down the handwound pickup route I'd have a chat to Mick Brierley

http://www.brierleyguitarpickups.com.au/humbucker.htm

Aussie made, he stands behind his product 100% and probably work out a touch cheaper than the bareknuckel p'ups.

[rick]

I have had a chat to mick seems like nice fella
Knows his stuff .
Recently I fell into some van Zandt tele pickups
I am Well pleased ..

Steve has been doing the lespaul pickup research
For months / years he recently got some from ???
In the USA
Recommended by Anton who is the only guy I know
Would has a set of real pafs sitting in a drawer
and can explain why !

Hold off on the bare knuckles tell those guys chime in
And name the brand
( could be bare knuckles I have forgotten )

All I know about lespauls is I have tried and failed
A bunch of times but one day I am going to crack it
I love the way they look !
But I have never had a good one

I have recorded and played the grails
No where to go cept try and try again with a les Paul for me

[Text_Edifice]

Hadn't heard of Van Zandt's before – which ones did you get?

[Chinagraf]

Haven't seen Anton on here for ages. Maybe the kids have tied him up..
There are some nice US ones. The Mules have been the first ones to have the 'sound' I really love but you never know till you get them in your bit of wood. Then there is the pots and caps affecting the mix as well.
Thanks for mentioning Mick, Dave. I had forgot about him but knew that Brett Kingman uses his pickups and has an awesome tone, but then he would likely have that tone playing a broomstick with a wire nailed on it.

[rick]

I have the vanzandt true vintage .. They are
Way and above what I expected
I had a 50s tele once .. These are the same brutal rawness
Not controlled at all
Side by side with a Duncan antiquity set
The Duncan's sound polite

One of my 61 strat pickups is marked VZ on the bottom
It's either a rewind or a replacement of the original one
I cant tell sonically or visually
But van Zandt use to make and maintain all Stevie ray's pickups
I was a one man show .. Now it's his son
.. Used to be THE pickup to have in the 90s then
He died ..

Thinking bout it the pickup Steve just got for his les Paul
Are wolf tones ( tbc)
I played it today .. Loud and long ..Not as hot as I expected
Which is a good thing I think !

[tunetown]

I have a pair of the Throbak Limited in my standard and love 'em.

http://www.gundrymedia.typepad.com/

[rick]

wow i just spent an hour on the throback site
if i was buying into les paul pickups i would be believing the whole website hook line and sinker
i havent had so much fun reading about pickups since the infamous seymour duncan catalogs when i was a kid.

only question .. which pickup version to buy .. .?
which ones did you get mr tuntown ( why after all these years has your name dropped off the forum peter .. you under cover )

in contrast to the vanzandt site which tells you just about nothing ..the throback site is almost overload
but which version paf to buy .. ?

spoke to steve about his wolf tones today .. maybe when he is no so busy he will chime in

I cranked my 80s usa reissue blackguard tele that i stuck the vanzants in .. while i was in steves room of amps and guitars as well today .. bejesus is the correct word .

[jkhuri44]

Hi Andy,
I have the Mule in my strat copy. I chose it as the middle pickup (the others being a hum cancelling fralin blues in the neck, and a Duncan tb6 in the bridge)
It's the best sounding pickup on the board ...for all styles...and no matter the style i'm messing with, heavy as hell or clean, i like switching to it all the time.
It really..bucks hum...der..her her...a quality i like about it is how much it really picks up (it seems quite sensitive)
sound is ....good. very very versatile. its supposed to be "quieter" on paper than the tb6, but it has so much presence it seems much louder...buy it etc...

[jkhuri44]

i have CTS pots in mine and they sound great..
unpotted, the signal path would be reduced....cant see how that would be be a bad thing.

[rick]

Potted..? Usually means soaked in liquid hot wax
To stop them squealing .. Not wiring up without a volume pot
But its a curious point your making all the same
Is there a line of thought about no pots in the circuit
Will humbuckers that is also about potting ?

[jkhuri44]

ohh...*flys over head* i didnt know that was the phrase for it...oh well there's your food for thought.
when i was putting things together, i heard people talk about hard wiring their pickups to the switch....
some people probably leave volume, but dont put in the tone pots...or, dont use volume pot on the guitar, and just use a volume pedal instead...(signal purity, etc)

[Chinagraf]

I've only known it as the wax dipping, so unpotted ones supposedly have a little more air but squeal at higher gain.
The original PAF's were unpotted. The tightness of the wind around the bobbin can also affect feedback, I think it's something to do with pockets of air in between the wires? I can't see not having a volume pot as being a useful thing, although I'm sure there is some audiophile somewhere that would disagree.

[tunetown]

Hey Rick, I've been around just really busy. The new premises is presenting some challenges.

I bought the SLE-101 LTD in 2010. They were limited because Throbak bought the last of the original wire from Gibson at the time. I'm not sure the original wire for winding is still available and whether there is any real difference. The name has changed from LTD to MXV. I replaced a set of Modern Burstbuckers and they are far superior. Exactly the tone I was chasing.

I'd be reasonably confident that the new Throbak versions would still be far superior to the modern PU Gibson is releasing. I'd be happy to leave it with you for a few days to play with.

Having said that, a mate has the new Classic & Classic plus from Gibson and they sound great through the right amp.

Sorry for derailing this thread from Bare Knucke. I have never tried them.

[jkhuri44]

im not a fan of the no vol pot either...
a guitar is about a simple a circuit as you can damn well get...
i'd be willing to bet that with closed eyes, no one could hear the diff between a decent pot and hard wired to the switch....there could be something about having no added resistance in the signal path...i think a more sober path would be using a 1meg(?...1000K) volume pot rather than the 250, or 500.. but keep the lower values on the tone controls.

oh, and buy the mule

[tunetown]

I did change my pots to CTS 500 k and with them wide open there is no difference to being hard wired. The higher values just allows for a smoother curve when turning down to find the sweet tone and volume. Season to taste.

[Gian]

If you have a pot in your guitar or on the floor in a pedal, I'm not sure that I understand the difference - in terms of "tonal purity". If it's going through a variable resistor, it's going through a variable resistor? No?

[tunetown]

As I understand it and experimented with, if a good pot is wide open there is no resistance. The resistance only begins once you turn the pots down. I'm only talking about the guitar pots. Not sure about pedal pots.

[jkhuri44]

If you have a pot in your guitar or on the floor in a pedal, I'm not sure that I understand the difference - in terms of "tonal purity". If it's going through a variable resistor, it's going through a variable resistor? No?

some pedals use light dependat resistors, which can sound better if designed right.
i better stop the threadjack from misunderstanding potted!!

[Chinagraf]

Hijack away everyone, more guitar talk is good talk.

[rick]

Mental note
Borrow a grail if thsts still possible and have a lespaul
Pickup day at turtlerock in the next ten years !

[Gian]

In that case...on the guitar, I always liked to drop my volume (with a cap added if there wasnt one) to 4, and when I want a bit more bite/slightly dirty, I bring it up 7, then down to 4. If I wanted more push, then I'd put it at 10. This is going into a tube amp, as there is that natural compression that occurs.

So on the guitar, I have vol on 4, and its nice and clean. 7 for dirt, and full for lead/distortion.