Bare Knuckle Pickups Irish Tour

3 calibrated Stratocaster pickups, scatter-wound, no hum-cancelling on the 2 and 4 positions. The RWRP option IS available, but I bought these on eBay, sight-unseen. A free set of medium strings comes supplied, which is a nice touch. Sent the bridge pickup off to Bare Knuckles to have it re-potted with a base plate: ten quid, two-day turnaround, great service.

Self-build Strat, alder body, rosewood neck. I was looking for some overwound pickups to replace my old Texas Specials: I???m your typical guitar nut, always looking for something new. I generally prefer a traditional Strat pickup (thin, sparkling), but a lot of artists use(d) ???hot-blues??? models, of sorts: Mark Knopfler, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, et al.

The product description from Bare Knuckles says ???gritty, bright and hot???, which is exactly right. The brightness is the first thing that strikes you, even with a rosewood neck. I went from Seymour Duncan APS-1s to these too, the biggest Strat contrast you can imagine. Bit of a culture shock. Scatter-winding apparently adds top to the sound, and ITs are spikier even than Texas Specials, with less mid-range boom. I was expecting a fatter tone, but through a Fender Blues Deluxe amp, they???re more edgy and plain aggressive than fat. Don???t buy these pickups expecting sweet, hi-fi Strat tones ??? over-winding means you lose a certain amount of hollowness and transparency.

The base-plate gives a tighter bridge tone ??? into Telecaster territory. I didn???t try it before the mod, so I couldn???t swear, but bridge does sound different from a usual Strat. More presence and definition. I wire my bridge pickup to the tone pot and you get a really biting tone with all the controls on full. Good for a lead sound with drive and/ or compression. Recommended mod.

BK tone guru Tim Mills reckons you get a better sound without the reverse polarity middle pickup. I would have preferred hum-cancelling, but the ???notch??? positions do sound pretty funky.

ITs are not particularly versatile, in my opinion. I play in a covers band, all different styles, and these pickups are great for harder rock and R'n'B, but not exactly subtle with pop and country. In that context, they???re just wrong.

I???m aware of being a dissenting voice in an avalanche of unqualified praise. I???ll have to face up to the fact I???ve probably bought the wrong model (which is why I haven???t given a rating). This is just a cautionary tale for anyone with similar tastes to mine. Irish Tours are good pickups, but they have a very specific sound, and I can???t get past their harshness. Expensive too. It???s good that that a UK manufacturer is doing boutique pickups, but we???re not getting much of a bounce on price. I would buy Bare Knuckles pickups again, just not this particular set.

Single coil, not sure of the specs but they have more output than standard Strat pickups without being too hot.

Installed in a Squire Classic Vibe - transformed a beautifully playable dirt cheap guitar into a tone monster!
Installed in all positions, with new switch, pots and electronics to replace the decent but not brilliant stock pups.
Loved the feel and unplugged sound of the Squire (and the price) but wanted "that tone".

Beautifully balanced, excellent note separation, bags of punch without losing the essential nature of a Strat.
I play mainly country a la Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Albert Lee etc (nowhere near as well as them I ought to add!).
Unlike most people who have reviewed these pups, I'm not so interested in the SRV or Rory G tones, I was after something more like Mark Knopfler in the mid 80s - ie clean, punchy and bright but not thin. The good people at BKP recommended Apaches or Mother's Milk and said Irish Tour would be too hot for that - I ignored them, and I think I was right. Yes, these pups are great for that dirty blues sound, but cleaned up they are fantastic and exactly what I was looking for. After 25 years I finally have the tone I've always wanted.

I hate to join the hype surrounding these pups, I was almost put off by the gushy stuff people have been writing as if they were trying to justify the price they paid.
But I can honestly say I was blown away by the Irish Tours. My Squire has now been rapidly promoted to first choice guitar - jumping over the heads of some others that cost me four to five times as much.
I've been playing for 25 years - most of which have had me searching for a tone I was happy with. Before these, the only guitar I've had that I was 100% happy with the tone was a P90-d vintage SG Special, but that was too delicate an instrument for major gigging and not suitable for chicken pickin' style country.
I haven't tried every pickup under the sun, so there may be other great pickups out there, but these do it for me. The search is over.

Set of three single coils. Bridge pickups has zink plated steel base (optional). Flat polepieces (optional). Very nice waxed wiring.

I purchased these pickups for a Strat-style project. I currently own a Fender '56 Custom Shop Strat, and wanted this project-guitar to be hotter and blusier than the '56. And oh my, it is! Before installing them in the project guitar, I also tried them out in the '56, comparing them to the stock Fender '56 Custom Shop pickups.

The output-level of these pickups is a bit higher than the '56 Custom Shop pickups. I mainly play blues through a 1957 Fender Tweed Deluxe-clone, using various boost, drive and wah-pedals.
The tone of these Irish Tour is nothing short of amazing! I wanted a hot, gritty, dirty blues pickup, and I got just that. If you are looking for that SRV/John Mayer/Hendrix sound, look no further! They respond very well to the smallest details in your playing - if you play gentle, they will clean right up, if you dig in, the sound will get dirtier. I felt they responded very well to every subtle nuance of my playing. Compared to the '56 Fenders, these have a bit darker tone, but at the same time they are extremely clear. They never seem to get too muddy or too nasal.

I've been playing for more than 15 years, and I never really messed around with pickups. I just usually play the stock ones, and I only got this set of Irish Tour, because I was embarking on my first project build. However, at the moment I'm seriously considering getting another set for the '56, or maybe to try out the Apache set. These Bare Knuckles are simply amazing! At the moment my project 60's Strat is the best sounding Strat I've ever played.

Technical Specifications straight from the Bare Knuckle website hope you understand it, I don't...

DC: 7.4/6.3/6.3k calibrated*
Magnet: Alnico V flat profile
Options: Vintage stagger hand bevelled magnets, choice of pickup covers. Also available singly.

Single coil "Strat" replacement set of 3 pickups

The Irish Tour set of three pickups were fitted to an old Squier Strat (circa 1994).The pickup set came mounted on a pick guard (bought seperately) but fitted and ready wired leaving two wires to solder to jack socket. This was really a nice touch that i wasn't expecting.
They replace the standard Japanese pickups.
I don't know of any artists using them, but I know a few who should! The company website lists the artists who use the range of products but it does not specify who uses which model.
My reason for changing these pickups was to get a better (read Hendrix) strat sound in a well balanced guitar. I got that in spades, plus SRV, Erics Clapton & Johnson and mark Knopfler.

The output level is "pushed" and sounds very strong. Bare Knuckle describe it as "...Gritty, bright and hot..." and that's the truth.
I have tried a Line6 Micro Spider and a Marshall MG100DFX amp. Despite the difference in amp size these pickups are so well defined you still get the exact tone you want.
I have tried them through the following effects; Keeley Blues Driver (phat modded Boss BD2) and an Electroharmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress flanger. The gritty sound is pushed more with the Keeley and really is bright whilst breaking up, think Foxey Lady, or Pride and Joy.
The tone is bright in all but the neck position which is bassy and mellow, on a five way selector switch. Positions 2 and 4 "talk", sounding like they are breathing. Mid position is bright and bell like with that punchy funk sound going on. The bridge position is
fierce almost telecaster like. All tone pots full up when tested but the variables are probably endless.
Overall the tones are clearly distinguishable but I would need another six months to get the full range out of them.
I think these pickups do exactly what I wanted, but it is a distinct strat sound and that could be limiting for a covers band like mine. Our range covers anything from the Beatles to Stereophonics. Then again I didn't upgrade the guitar for the band...

If destroyed or stolen I would buy again immediately. I have not gigged these yet, and wonder how well they will withstand my punishing right hand which is fairly heavy.. Long term durability issues could lessen my enthusiasm but I dont think it will be an problem.
I have been playing over 25 years but only gigged properly this last year. I have an Ibanez RG1570 which has a more versatile range in its H- S- H pickups but they do not have the quality of tone. I am thinking of upgrading the stock pickups with Bare Knuckles.
The range of tones and how the Irish Tours nail the Hendrix and SRV sounds is it for me! Oh, I haven't mentioned your man Rory Gallagher, yes they sound perfect for his sound too. I don't hate anything...if I had to moan I would say the pickguard was too flexible for me but that is a minor issue as i have never broken any sort of pick guard ever and this is a pickup review.
I compared these pickups in price and spec with the Fender vintage series. In the end I opted for these as I didn't want Fender pickups to fall short of my expectations and the technical details they provided were not as clear as Bare Knuckle.
I have my sounds now and don't think I will be searching anywhere else.

Single coil set for Stratocaster.
Stock wound but also available reverse wound/reverse polarity.
Different colour covers available

1986 Fender -57 reissue Strat.
Replacing stock pickups neck and middle, Bill Lawrence humbucker in the bridge.

Original pickups dull, lifeless, low in output. Neck pickup was best of the three.

I've spent a bit of time juggling heights - they seem quite sensitive in that aspect, at least more so than the stock Fender pickups I took out - but I've now got them settled.

I was hoping for a bit more body and output without losing the Strat character. What I've got though is so much more Strat than I had before! I used to live on the neck pickup, partly because of its bluesy, Hendrixy tone that suits my playing but mostly because the other two pickups sounded a bit lame and lifeless in comparison. I'm enjoying the middle and bridge pickups enormously and recognising so many classic Strat tones that I didn't have before.

These are higher output than stock, but not enormously so. This is just what I was after - bit more urge to push the amp harder whilst still being able to hear that its a Strat.

I'm currently using them with a Boogie Studio 22 and a small homebrew single ended amp. More amps to follow in a band context when the guitar comes back from having a re-fret - 2nd part of its birthday.

I'm playing mostly blues and 70's rock and they fit that nicely. They work well with effects and with a Univibe I'm getting some great Hendrix sounds. The 'in between' sounds are much stronger than I had before, great for those SRV moments when he goes for that tone or even early Knopfler if thats your bag.

I've been playing for 34 years. I've got another strat, a tele, a Les Paul Special, a 335 etc. I have a number of different amps - all valve - and have owned many others - Marshalls, Fenders etc.

I bought this guitar new and should have changed the pickups a long time ago. I tried swapping out the bridge but really should have done the lot. But then Bare Knuckles wasn't around back then and I would have put in something inferior!

I love them for the way they bring so much more of the guitar out - you can hear the wood and the trem cavity. Go for other brands or higher output and I don't think you'd get that so strongly. This is the perfect upgrade to an otherwise very good, very desireable Strat.

Part of the joy of buying Bare Knuckles pickups is the support and advice from Tim Mills. He is highly knowledgable about not only his own products and pickups in general but all things guitar related. Years of experience of being a pro player have given him this.

Highly recommended.

Passive single coils. My set was ordered with vintage staggered poles and stock polarity in the middle pickup. I installed them myself with a new pickguard, new pots, switch, shielded cable etc. I also did a super shielding job with a Callaham alluminium pickguard shield and a complete cavity shielding with adesive alluminium tape, so the guitar is dead quiet now.

Fender Mexico '60 Reissue, replacing stock pickups. I bought the strat without pickups and pickguard so I paid less for the guitar.

Output level is medium in my opinion, considering it's a single coil. (I don't have many single coil guitars so can't honestly compare them with other single coils). I use it with a Roland Jazz Chorus 77 and a Cicognani 6V6 blues amp. Tone is very balanced and also the volume remains constant when switching between the neck and bridge pickups.
I usually play fusion/jazz/blues and very rarely play strats at gigs, generally preferring humbucking guitars, but I do like to have some strats around the house and enjoy the Fender sound now and then.

I would surely buy these pickups again, I've been playing for 40 years and I think these are among the best single coils available today. I like the fact that they never sound thin, shrill or too trebly. Great for blues,rock, country and with 10/46 or 11/48 strings, the neck pickup, and the tone pot rolled off you can also play jazz convincingly. I recommend these pickups to anyone searching for a top quality replacement. I'm sure Bareknuckles rank among the big names in pickups like Lollar, Holmes etc.

Single Coil for Strat, DC 6.5 - bridge 7.65 - vintage hot

American Stratocaster Highway, rosewood fretboard, replaced stock picks - they had nothing I looked for.

Output level is a bit higher than stock, but not really HIGH OUTPUT. The do have a nasty edge (in a good way), reminds me of Texas Special (except that I don't like the TS's). The bridge have some more mids that the other two. Generally I'm not a fan of a stronger bridge pickups, but this time I really think it's appropriate.
The tone has som mids to it (especially bridge) but also a considerable depth and bass. Much more useful tone than original pickups.
Vintage sound but bit hotter and bluesier.

I also have a set of Slowhand from Bare Knuckle, which I had in another more bright sounding guitar (sold the guitar, kept the pickups). Even though they're supposed to be darker sounding than the IT's, on that guitar they sounded brighter. That goes to show that the guitar itself has a significant impact on the sound.
On this guitar with rosewood fretboard, these IT's really are a nice fit. On a spanky sounding guitar the might be a bit bright - but that's just my guess.

A pleasure to do business with Tim at BK!

Single Coil Bridge pickup. Vintage stagger, slightly hotter than vintage spec strat pickup.

I installed this pickup on a Fender 60's Classic Reissue Strat, replacing the stock Bridge pickup. The original pickup was too bright and glassy and did not suit the bluesy rock that I play.

The output is higher than a stock Strat single coil and easily drives my amp in to a great bluesy break-up tone. I can safely say that this is the most amazing sounding Strat pickup I have ever heard and I've heard plenty in the 20 years I have been playing! The tone is huge and 3 dimensional sounding. The bass is stronger than on a vintage pickup and the mid range is MUCH stronger. The top end really cuts through without sounding in any way harsh. These pickups are excellent for the blues/classic rock/hard rock I play and even my band mates have commented on how great the guitar sounds.

If this pickup was stolen I'd most definately buy this pickup again..in fact I'd buy the whole Irish Tour set and replace all three pickups! As I mentioned earlier I have been playing for a long time now and my strat is now one of the best sounding guitars in my 11 strong collection of instruments. My main guitar for years has been my Gibson Les Paul Standard and my back up has been an old battered Fender Tele, but at my last gig I played the Strat the whole way through while my les paul sat at the side of the stage! The Strat can now cope with anything I throw at it from high gain to jazzy clean. If you love a vintage sounding strat pickup but would love extra bite than this is definately the pickup for you!

Single Coil passive set.

Installed in a Fender Standard Strat set up for Slide Playing.

All three (I bought the set).

Standard USA Fender issue.

The original pickups (11 years old from new) had gone microphonic and I had heard good thinks about Bare Knuckles.

Believe me, they are the best.

The Output is very good with volume matched by tone, a lot more middle end than most giving a full,lush, shimmer to your playing.

The guitar is going through A Budda Superdrive Head and an old Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

Effects are minimal, a little Boss Chorus as and when required.

Our band is an originals Blues/Rock Band and these Pickups are ideal for me ranging any where between sweet through to Overdrive.

I would but bare Knickles again (in fact I may be looking to replace the Texas Specials I have in my main Strat and this si first place I would go.

Playing for 40 years, I also own a Bonnie Rait Custom Shop Signature Strat, PRS Single Cut 10 Top, Owens Crossroads Resonator, Mighty Mite Custom Strat,Martin D18.

I have a Mesa Boogie Maverick Combo which was used exclusively up until I bought The Budda Head, a Marshall JCN 800 Lead series 50 Watt Head and 4x12 Cabinet.

I love the tone and versatility of the pickups as our playing goes through many dynamics and the pickups blend right in.

I am very satisfied with the Pickups and the service you get from the company, very approachable and freindly service witha great personal touch.

Absolutley excellent, I heartily recommend them to any Tone Merchants who are looking for quality sounds at an acceptable price.

If you want to hear proof visit our bands website for some audio on:
http://www.blueonblack.co.uk

Keith Howe
Blue on Black

Single Coil. Vintage Stagger

2003 American Strat
All Positions
stock pups in all positions
none
Munk from LAZ
stock Strat pickups just have no beef

Output is a little higher than standard pups
I run it through a JCM 900 and some effects: VOX 847, Small Stone, Digi Delay, and an occasional Electric Mistress.
The tone is godly. I play guitar in a Lead bass driven funk/jam/metal group out of Chicago called LAZ (www.lazinmyhead.com). I really wanted to post a review on this pickup because it can be used for more than blues and SRV sounds. I get the most incredible distortion from my Strat and Marshall thanks to these babys. They bring such refinement to the table which allows me to go from Metal to Blues to Hark rock and glorious cleans. I grew up on Hendrix and the Chili Peppers, and wanted to bring their Funk rock and Blues tones into the Metal arena. With the Tours, I can do that.

Four months ago, my guitar was stolen. It was an American Strat that I had loaded with the Irish Tours. After the incident occurred, I did three things. I ordered another set of Irish Tours, called the police, and began looking for another Strat. In that order. They bring out everything that makes a Strat a Strat. I personally hate the hard rock/metal sounds of today. Les Pauls are nice, but too chunky for my tastes. I've always been a Strat guy. The issue I've always had was their inability to get any ballsier with throwing on a Tubescreamer or another pedal, changing the entire sound of the guitar. I read about the Tours on here, e-mailed the Boys at Bare Knuckle, and got the perfect sound. Buy these. They are the best pickups I have ever played. If, in the future, I ever get a solid contract and have the chance to put out a signature series, these will be in my Strat.