Bare Knuckle Pickups BKP-90

Bare Knuckle BKP-90 calibrated set 7.2K Bridge 6.2K Neck. I ordered them from Bare Knuckle directly and when I check up on their progress they were being wound as we were speaking. These are made for you!! and they are British.

I have fitted these to my Ned Callan Sailsbury, I know you've never heard of it. It was my first real eclectic 36 years ago and is SG like because I could not afford and SG when I was 17. It holds a place in my heart and after acquiring various other guitars it was due an upgrade. First the neck was done by CCGX then the old single coils had to go as with that mahogany body it really needed more guts, and it just so happens that the cavity will just take a pair of P90's. After some research decided on the Bare Knuckle BKP-90's as I wanted a bluesy but not overpowered sound and I thought I'm only going to do this once so I am going to do it right.

Well what a sound, as the reviews below say its just quite addictive. The sound is very alive and responsive to your pick, a bit like single coils with attitude, but very transparent and not shrill at all. Of course not warm like a bucker but still thick with a great middle and they take over drive very nicely thank you. Because I have the 2 wired to a three way with separate vol(500K)and tone .022uf I get a nice quack with the 2 on together.

I got these for Blues and Blues/Jazz and just backing off the tone a bit gives a lovely smooth sound. I thought long and hard about what pups to get and these are exactly what I was looking for.

My old Ned Callan now has a new life and has moved well up the pecking order, ok so the action is a little high and the intonation is not stellar but its been with me forever and I can play it now with a smile.

I should mention that when I fitted them the bridge unit was dead so a quick call to Tim and put them in the post and the braided wire had come away, they turned it around in a day and sent it back. Great service and British made what more can you say.

P90 p/up, passive, vintage Alnico II magnet.

I have been using this with my favourite guitar, and it's the warmest, sexiest sounding pickup I've ever heard. I'm using mine in the neck pos, and I also have the BKP MULE in the bridge.

You won't get a better P90 than this bad boy! It's the most incredible tone you will ever hear, It will literally make anything else you've heard before sound very bad. I am still astounded with it's tone, It's a very very warm, yet never too bright sound, yet it retains a beautifull presence that cannot even be descibed in words. I can EASILY get tones as good as Dave Gilmour, through pretty rudimentary equipment, it's a very balanced tone, but best of all it will make you want to play your guitar a lot more!

There's is nothing I don't like about this pickup, it's worth every penny, and you will NOT find a better sounding P90 anywhere! this is THE P90 to have in your guitar, it will change your life forever. Before you buy it, just consider how much you will fall in love with it, it's a dangerously good product.

Single coil, passive.

It's in the neck position of a thinline tele partscaster.
The bridge position has a Piledriver from BKP in there.
No idea who's using it.
It's not so much a change of pickups as the ones I selected for this build.

The outputs comporable to a PAF style humbucker, cleans up well enough, but breaks up beautifully when hitting the powerstage of a valve amp, outputwise you can treat it like a bucker pretty much.

I'm using it with a Matamp C7 and a Laney LC-15 and am looking at getting a larger amp for more volume soon, probably an Orange or Matamp.

Tonally it's very well balanced, there's a lot going on in the midrange as is normal with this style of pickup, but it's never overly nasal, and it never gets too trebely as some single coils can.

I play lots of genres of music, rock, blues, metal, jazz, but for anything I'd use a neck pickup for, this is perfect. Blusy noodling or the first solo in "Master of Puppets", it can do it if I make it. That said, if you screw up, everyone'll know. It's a really honest pickup, and I feel this, more than the output or balanced tone is what sets it apart. It's responsive and has a clarity that allows you to convey a great difference in sound with very small changes to pick attack, so if you don't practice much you just might after getting this pickup.

This is a pickup wound to be a neck pickup, but I'm sure it would perform well in the bridge position too, but a bridge BKP-90 would clearly be the logical choice for this. As for noise levels, for a P-90 it's quite quiet, but there's still the 50 cycle hum.

If it was destroyed or stolen, I'd get another in a heartbeat, it's that good. I've been playing for about 4 or 5 years I guess, I have a '67 SG junior and another unfinished partscaster, and I run those into the Laney and Matamp I mentioned earlier, sometimes through an Ernie Ball Volume pedal, and an SPF Ego Booster.

I love how flexible the pickup is, it's not weak in the bass, it's tight, it's never flabby or muddy sounding, never peircing or nasal, just a really good meaty single coil sound that can do rhythm or lead equally well. Despite what Les Paul switch washers might say, I rarely find myself wanting to play rhythm on a neckpickup, I think that shows how good this BKP-90 is.

I've compared to other products, namely Gibson P-90s and the Seymour Duncan ones. The Gibson P-90s I've tried have been in my '67 Junior, which is also a fantastic pickup, but the ones made these days just don't have the same kind of mojo, they sound a little too nasal and lack the clarity they should have. The same goes for the Seymour Duncan pickups, they have a real nice sound, but they're a little muddy for my liking. They're good for a mass produced pickup, but for not much more you can get a pickup like this, so it's no competition really.

The only thing I don't like is that it's difficult to balance with a tele-style pickup, but this is more my problem for trying to put them on the same guitar. In the end I made the guitar to suit the neck pickup more, since with a 250k pot it might have sounded too dark, but with the 500k it's perfect.

Aside from that, the customer service was fantastic. I described what I needed, and I was hooked up with a great neck pickup, and pointed towards the right bridge pickup.

Pickup features: Single coil, passive
Impedence or other specs: 8.5 Kohm DC resistance, Scatter wound, Alnico 5 magnets

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Junior
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Gibson P90
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Classic rock
Reason for pickup change: Original pick up lacked clarity and was prone to microphonic squawking.

Perceived output level: Broadly the same as a standard PAF style humbucker
Tone: Balanced, clear , very warm and no microphonic squawking
Sonic evaluation: This pick up sounds great through anything. I usually use it through a Mesa Nomad, Marshall 1974X or a Marshall 1987X RI. The pup delivers in all cases. The scatter wind brings an unbelievable clarity, especially when the guitar volume is backed off and really gives the tone control something to work with. A massive improvement on the modern stock Gibson P90.
Tim double pots his pups and this totally cures any micropnonic squawking.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: If you love the Les Paul Junior concept, you won't find a pickup that beats this. Set your amp to roar and 70s blues rock floods in.

Comments: I have been playing for nearly 40 years and have owned or used at least one of every piece of decent gear known to mankind. This has covered working as a full time professional to my current weekend warrior status. I have been a Les Paul Standard/Strat player throughout but always had a soft spot for P90s ever since my first Gibson, a 1964 330.
Since sticking this pickup in my Junior, it has jumped to #1 sounding guitar.
I haven't tried Voodoo or Lollar pups but my ears tell me to stop exactly where I now am.
The only trouble is that I want to replace the Classic 57s in my Standard with Bare Knuckles!

Pickup features: Single coil P-90 type
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: sg junior 1965
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: di marzio humbucker
Other pickups on guitar: no
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): rock / blues
Reason for pickup change: a di marzio had nothing to do there, on pure vintage axe...

Perceived output level: slightly less than a humbucker
Tone: well balanced rich ringing tone, it smokes !
Sonic evaluation: guitar direct through a lc15 laney (tube amp)
my other guitars seems a bit flat compared to that screamin babe

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: blues / rock

Comments: I'll buy it again asap !
I've been playing 25 years long to now
I finally get that secret so rare big sound