Bare Knuckle Pickups Nailbomb

This is an HSS calibrated set of a Nailbomb humbucker at the bridge and Trilogy singles in the middle and neck. The Nailbomb in this set is rated at 15.7k ohms, while the Trilogies are up to 13k ohm.

Keep in mind that the original configuration for the HSS Nailbomb set is with the Irish Tours. But at Bare Knuckle they will calibrate whatever pickups you want in your set.

Installed in a Jackson SL-1. Was replacing the stock Duncan JB4 and classic stacks. The stacks were somewhat OK, I did not like the JB4 for my style. Stopped playing that guitar for a while just because of the JB4.

I am playing this through a VHT Sig:X and and Ear Candy Buzzbomb with Celestion G12K100s.

Talk about tone!!! These things are amazing!!! The Nailbomb is definitely very organic sounding as Tim had mentioned (he recommended this pup for this guitar), but definitely packs a punch. The lows are tight, the mids are definitely there, and the highs chime through beautifully. A very versatile pickup, excellent from some brutal metal and also some good 'ol rock and roll. I think also the combination of the amp with my cab and speakers makes this thing sound very, very brutal even in standard tuning. Furthermore, the dynamics and harmonics from this pickup are just ridiculous. Don't think I'll ever need another pickup

As for the Trilogies, also awesome pickups, maybe hotter than I originally wanted, but hey, just turn down the volume knob and they clean up quite nicely. As previously stated, Tim did recommend the Tours with this set. In the end though, I think these were the right choice for me because of the versatility and fullness of the tone. Yes, they are very, very, very full of tone and will drive your amp to its sweet spot. Just as the Nailbomb, very clear, articulate, and dynamic.

I mostly play metal (black, death, technical, etc) and also enjoy playing blues and jazz. I think these pickups are a great match, again, because they are very versatile.

If something happened to these pups they would definitely be replaced ASAP. I would probably also cry like a little kid ... well, not really, but you get the hint.

I've been playing for about 16 or 17 yrs. My other guitar is a Jackson Kelly Pro (1996). Yes, I love Jackson guitars. Have some Dimarzios in the Kelly (D-Activator and PAF Joe). These are much better than the Duncans in the SL1, but can't stand up to the Bare Knuckles (not hating on Dimarzios at all, they are still solid pickups). Until I put some Bare Knuckles in the Kelly I might be favoring the SL1.

Again, I think these pickups are perfect for this guitar and my style. They make me not want to stop playing. Soloing is just ridiculous, the harmonics are crazy. As many others have said, they are very detailed, and you will hear any mistakes even more so; they will force you to become a better player.

And yes, they are "expensive." But guess what? Once you stick some in you probably won't ever be buying another set of pickups again.

Tim was awesome when it came to answering all my questions. So if you are someone that takes customer service into account, not to fret (no pun intended), you'll want to buy the pups just based on the customer service. Thanks Tim!!!

Massive 7 String Humbucker

Installed in ibanez basswood rg1527 at the bridge.

i have tried a couple of dimarzios but the sound with them was more behind the amp,far away feeling.with bkp it's like a huge hummer in your face punch.Alot of Presense not like dimarzios i have tried.
from the first time when i first installed this beast i was blown away realy.
i have 2 of these pickups one with alnico 8 magnet in mahagony guitar ,and this one with a standart alnico 5 magnet. i like them both but alnico 5 i think sounds more like it.
Be sure you wire everything correctly if not you will not enjoy this pickup at all,as bkp have different colors of wires then seymour duncan or dimarzios.
The middrange of this pickup has this amazinglly belly type of sound,
very defiend very clear.

I like those pickups alot and defenetly recommend them.
they are not cheap, but if you a tone freak like me ,then you will defenetly dig them as i do.
i have never posted any reviews ever on anything i buy,but i think
that this pickup realy deserves it.
and btw Tim is great guy, very professional and responsible.
thanks for taking time to read my review.
Yuri
from Israel

Passive humbucker.
Technical Specifications
DC: 16k*
Magnet: Alnico V
Wiring: 4 conductor
Covers: Custom Camo cover or open coils
Options: Black or Zebra Coils, nickel, chrome, gold or black covers and as a fully calibrated set

I play a Caparison Dellinger 2.I had a warpig on the bridge and a stock shaller on the neck when i decided to buy a nailbomb calibrated set and keep the warpig for another axe in the future.Maybe something more thin sounding than the caparison mahogany,just to boost it up(and what a boost that'll be)

The bridge nailbomb has amazing clarity.Same gain(tons of it)as the warpig and same rich harmonics.Awesome pickup.I'd say tight low end,a bit worm mids and smooth highs.On the neck possition now.No fizz,nice clarity,worm tone,same rich harmonics.Very versatile with the split system too.I mean some other pickup companies should really go off the market with the stuff they're making.Even if you tap this thing to single coil,it sounds heavy as f***.

I've heard several othe pickups.The only one i can compare nailbombs to is EMG's, but only gain wise.Nailbombs are wormer and tonefull in my oppinion.Expencive?Nah!!!They worth every penny.They'll sure draw a big smille on your face once you hear them sing

This is a passive humbucking pickup. They have a great selection of different covers, ranging from open poles, to the most gnarly lookin haggered metal you've seen. I went with gold covers.

I installed this in a Fender Showmaster in the neck position. the guys at Bareknuckle also do a neck version. They also offer the choice of calibrating the pickup for said position.

I replaced the stock fender pickups, which were fairly good but didn't quite cut through with the bite I need.

I have two Irish Tour (also Bare Knuckle) single coils in the middle and neck position. These came as part of a HSS set with the Nailbomb offered by Bare Knuckle.

I know Matt Bellamy of Muse uses this pickup in some of his guitars, which is the sole reason I know of Bare Knuckle's existence in the first place.

As I mentioned earlier; this is a passive pickup, but it gets the kinda tone you'd expect from an active.

Fender Showmaster > Ernie Ball VPJR > Digitech WH-1 > Boss DD-5 > Morley Bad Horsie II > Boss CS3 (PedalDoc Mod) > Marshall AVT50

The tone is hard to pin down properly, it's very dependant on your playing dynamics. For those chugging riffs, it gets just enough bass response to kick your stomach out of your ass, but it doesn't muddy up and keeps it balanced with enough highs to remind you that this is still a guitar you're hearing.

For those face melting solos, it nails (pardon the pun) the EQ smile you need to cut through the mix, and has gets enough sustain and harmonic overtones to really give you some wicked playing options.

When you roll off the gain, it cleans up really nicely, which seems rare; most pickups I've played are good at one thing or the other - The nailbomb has a very bright clean tone - Sounds good with a bit of wah chucked on for some early Incubus style funk.

I play Progressive/Alternative Rock, and this really is a good match for what I need - It wouldn't suit all types of music however as it is somewhat of a beast. Bare Knuckle have a wide range of different pickups to choose from, so I'm fairly sure you could find the tone you're after quite easily.

If it was destroyed or stolen I would definitely replace it, but only after the spell in prison I'd get for hunting down and killing whoever dared rob this beast from me!

I've been playing guitar for four years now.

I mainly compared it to other Bare Knuckle pickups, as after I bought my first set a few years ago, I've not needed to look anywhere else for what I need. This purchase was a toss up between a Nailbomb and a Warpig. I chose this set because I already own a Warpig humbucker in another guitar and wanted to vary my tone.

I am very satisfied with this pickup, but I wouldn't say I'm done searching for 'that' sound either - I like to experiment with what I can find.

DC: 16k
Magnet: Alnico V
Wiring: 4 conductor
Humbucker, passive. The description from the site is "Chaos in a Pickup". More on this later...

Guitar: Jackson SLATQH (mahogany body and neck, neck- and string-through, maple top, ebony fretboard, 22-frets).
Pickup Replaced: I was replacing the most awful (to my ears) pickup of all time, the Duncan JB.
Other pickups on the guitar: BKP Crawler in the neck position (will post a review soon).
Artists using the pickup: Geoff Whitehorn I hope!
Reasons for changing: The JB and the Jazz in the neck just killed the guitar...

Output level: The pickup is fairly hot. Not in EMG ballpark, but definitely more than your average pickup.
Amps+Effects: My main amp is an ENGL SE with EL34s. Setup is as follows: Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah-> Keeley BD2 Phat Mod -> Keeley 4x2 Flexi Tubescreamer-> Keeley DS1 Ultra Mod-> BOSS NS2 Noise Suppressor-> ENGL SE input. FX-loop Send -> Keeley AD9 -> BOSS CH1 Chorus -> Boss Flanger -> FX-loop Return.

Tone: This is where it all comes together. This is by far the best bridge pickup I have heard, period! I cannot compare it with something else, other than, say, a blend of a very hot PAF with a bit of an Evolution. But that is not it exactly, as this pickup is so full and rich in all the right frequencies. Harmonics just jump out on every bloody fret, and my guitar has finally come alive, as I knew it would. It excels at high gains, where it just nails any Hard Rock sound. Every note, and I mean EVERY note is extremely clear, and it sounds exactly like nails going through you, but without any harshness, if that makes any sense! The perfect pickup for heavy riffing or that fluent, legato-tapping-shredfest!

I am not into Metal, so I cannot say for sure, but I am fairly certain it will do it for you. As I mostly play instrumental 80s stuff, this pickup is what I would call the perfect hot-rodded PUP out there. Vintage tones are in there, as I tried it with my brother's BAD CAT amp and my Tubescreamer and it blew us away again! We got some Billy Gibbons tones (with the volume slightly down) and a bit of early Jeff Beck (think Blow-By-Blow). It also coil-taps well, as it is powerful enough to sound like a full single-coil pickup when tapped, and still retains some aggressiveness and tone.

I have not heard it in the neck, and hence I cannot judge.

To understand how much I like the tonality of this PUP, I have now ordered another one for a completely different guitar, a Vigier Excalibur, to beef it up overall. The Vigier is very bright and lacking completely in soul, but it is still my main guitar because it plays so absolutely great. I am convinced the Nailbomb in the bridge will just make it scream and will make it sound bigger and fuller. I am looking also to install a 7-string version of this PUP into my JP7, as the stock pickup is a little dead to my ears.

I have been playing for about 11 years and between my brother and myself we have owned, bought and sold any brand of guitar imaginable, and I am here to tell you that the moment we heard the Nailbomb both he and myself ordered a few more for our other guitars. It is just an awesome pickup that will not let you down under any circumstances. If you are in the Hard Rock territory though, this pickup will put a smile on your face every time! I have found my sound, and I will stick to it religiously from now on.

Humbucking passive pickups, Calibrated open set. Zebra pickups. Spacing 50mm. Scatterwound by hand with 43 gauge plain enamel and using a vintage cut, unpolished Alnico V magnet for balanced bass, punchy mids and excellent top end articulation.Double wax potted to eliminate michrophony and fitted with 4 conductor wire as standard. DC 16k at Bridge 10.7 at neck

I installed these pickups as a direct replacement for the stock items in my PRS SE Custom fixed bridge. The stock pickups were quite good in the guitar but they never did clean very well. It all tended to get a bit mushy and woolly. And there was not enough distinction between the front and back pups. I also installed new 500k pots and Orange caps.

These pickups are the mutts nutts. Where before there were woolly sounds there are now crisp and clean. Where before there was no point changing pups during a solo, I now get hard as you like crunch from the bridge and beautiful flutey highs from the neck. They also clean up much better from the volume control. I play the guitar through a Mesa Boogie express and the bottom end on these pups just makes the burn channel come alive. Harmonics jump off at you all over the neck. But then go on the crunch channel and you can either AC/DC it or roll off the volume a little and you have some great blues sounds. Kick in the clean channel and on the front pup you get a fantastic jazzy clean sound or some really fantastic arpeggio's for you chord work.

I have been playing properly (not the crapola I was playing when I was at school and in my teens) for the past 8 years. I have been in a band that plays all its own material for the past 2 years. I have a Ibanez RG570, the PRS, a Yamaha acoustic and a lovely cheap Mex strat for recording. I have the Mesa Boogie Express that I use for live work and recording. I then have a Boss Micro cube for practice and headphone stuff. I also own a Boss BR900 for all my song idea's and to jam along with our bands recordings. If I had these stolen I would find the mother who did it and make them eat the pups before making them buy me some more. I think these pups are the best I have heard for this type of guitar. My drummer has a Gibson LP standard, and my guitar sounds better on the bridge pup and equal on the neck. It fits my sound perfectly because we have so many styles of songs in our setlist. From Heavy rock, to classic rock to jazzy stuff to a bit of grungy rock to indie rock to love songs to de bluez and all points between. I now have the guitar to cover all these genre's. And I do have to say that Tim at Bare Knuckle is a real gentleman and a pleasure to do business with. He was the one that recommended I get a calibrated set of NB and he was 100% correct. I was thinking of putting a Mule in the neck and I so glad I did not. Just send him a mail tell him your type of guitar, the type of music you want to play and he will come up with the right combo for you.

Calibrated set of humbuckers

Installed into a home made fender double fat strat which i employed my dad to build! it has an ultra light ash body, birdseye maple neck and fender locking machine heads and american series bridge. I used a set of them to try and get a beefy, thick humbucking tone with the extreme playability of a strat.

These pickups are just awesome to listen to! on clean they have insane clarity and a smooth, lively sound. They work extremely well for clean work, and playing lots of jazz and blues this is a feature i needed from them.

Their sheer versatility is also amazing. They work in almost any situation, particularly at home under heavy gain. Unlike cheaper pickups, the highs are not tinny but full and thick and brimmig with life. They are the best set of pickups i own, and i also own gibson, seymour duncan and fender SCN pickups - so that is a big statement!

If these pickups were blown up in a freak guitar pickup blowing ing upping accident i would certainly get another set. I cant see my strat with any other pickups in it! Having played 5 years and reached grade seven, i've owned lots of other guitars and pickups and these are by far the most versatile, best sounding ones i can think of. They simply are the bees knees!

I would also like to mention BKP's great support. Tim helped me choose the right pickups, and as one arrived damaged they asked me to send it back in. They refunded my postage fee, fixed and re wax potted the pickup and had it back to me in 3 days. Absolutely great service!

High output (14.6k ohm impedance) passive bridge humbucker.
Alnico V magnets, 'burnt' effect chrome cover (awesome looking!) 4 conductor wiring

Installed into late 90's or early 2000's Epiphone Les Paul Standard (Sparkly metalic blue Limited Edition top) in bridge replacing stock epi pup, cause it was a bit weak sounding, and lacked character, was painful to hear clean.
The Mule in neck position (i've reviewed that too) both only wired in series humbucker style so far, not coil tapped. Used by Matt Bellamy of Muse (i must confess this did persuade me to read up on this pup, like its persuaded thousands to buy it to fit in their home made 'matt-o-casters', along with zvex fuzz factories and P90s!)

Output is immense. not just volume but the sheer sonic range, full of harmonic richness and sounds so punishing with thick distortion! very versatile too when cleaning up with the volume pot, can do bluesy crunch very nicely too. clean its quite harsh, wouldn't play chords with it unless slightly driven, or vol rolled off a bit, but thats because i have a mule in the neck, which sounds amazing clean!
Using it through a ProCo Deucetone Rat distortion into a Fender Stage 100 (clean channel only). Also played it through multiple Marshalls, including tube combos, and it makes them sound how they should, so raunchy! I also have a Korina flying V fitted with another high output pickup - Lace Sensor Dually Red humbucker - sounds differ, the lace sensor is more tight & punch in the V, palm muting sounds crisper, Nailbomb has more ring & sustain, throbs a bit more in palm muting, much thicker sound (stupendously heavy les paul might contribute to that too though), more trebbly harmonics in strummed chords, lots of harmonic undertones, a harmonic assault is a very good way to describe it under heavy gain, but can behave itself too! Power chords are thick and interesting on the ear, bring it up to full barre chords and it doesn't lose clarity, but can sometimes be a bit much if you want a tighter rhythm sound.
Sounds great with fuzz (Dirty Rat), lots of character, and can do a very good Supermassive Black Hole impression (the lace sensor does a more Smashing Pumpkins sort of thick fuzz). Solo's sear and sustain for days, feeds back wonderfully, in key with what you've been playing if u stick it infront of ur speaker cone!
i play a wide range of genres, v eclectic, from punk to pop, ska to bordering on metal (or just heavy rock) indie, bluesy stuff, brit-pop, acoustic stuff (not with this though :P ) litteraly everything. I play a mix of all these genres in my main band's original material, as well as being in a ska punk band, writing alot of songs and playing covers for my own & others amusement. This pickup is very versatile, and combined with the mule in the neck position of the LP makes an incredibly versatile guitar. could even coil tap it do get single coil sounds too, but it can pretty much handle any genre and playing style! I almost dont need the V, my Dot Studio and a Fender Telecaster i've got my eye on at the moment (watching about 8 on ebay :-S ) but wheres the fun in that!?

Would definitely consider getting another Nailbomb if i needed to replace a bridge humbucker, and may well get another Bare Knuckle for the neck of my V (Mississippi Queen maybe) or and other pickup they make. If these two i own are anything to go by, they'll rock!
I'm a 21 yr old student and have been playing 7 or 8 years, and am a bit of a humbucker & Gibson/Epiphone nut. The Nailbomb sounds so much fuller and more interesting than my friends Gibson SG's 490T, and i feel sorry for him that my old Epiphone LP now blows his Gibson out of the water in tone!
The burnt chrome cover looks ace, and matches my sparkly blue finish & zebra coil neck pup to make the LP look much more interesting too! It's my favourite bridge pickup sound, everything it should be - beefy, harmonically rich and well balanced between bass beef, mid punch and treble & harmonic ring & cut!
Tim mills was a great help too, v prompt email replies (sometimes within the hour) and wasn't patronising when i was asking more basic pickup tone questions (covered/uncovered, PAF v modern). Expensive pup, but sounds (and looks) worth it, I'm only typing now instead of playing it because its 4:15am and i dont think my housemates would approve, no matter how good it sounds!

Two calibrated humbucker, including 4 way hookup for multiple wiring configurations.

Calibrated set installed into a Charvel ST Custom.

The guitar was completely reworked, including a new pickguard to house a twin humbucker configuration, two new CTS pots (volume and tone) and a Schaller Megaswitch.

Output was much greater than the stock Charvel pickups.

I put this guitar through a Digitech GNX3, into an Orange GRO100, and through a Marshall 4x12 bottom cab.

My style is kinds rock/blues. Gary Moore is a huge influence, but I'm also into Reeves Gabrels, Allan Holdsworth, Yngwie (in moderation!). I also like guys like Van Halen, Satriani and Vai, anyone with something interesting to say. I've done thrash in the past, and like to play with a variety of tones.

The sound has MUCH more bottom and mid than the stock pickups. The Orange is a pretty bassy amp, and my whole setup had to be adjusted to accommodate the new setup. However, plugging the guitar straight into the front of the Orange gave me some unbelievably vintage sounds - turning up the volume gave me incredible Peter Green/early Fleetwood Mac tone. The break up of the signal was perfect - for "hot" pickups they give a suprisingly vintage, organic tone. And, whereas I used the volume attached to my last set of pickups as an on/off switch, with the Nailbombs both the volume and tone controls have added a whole NEW set of sounds to play with.

Plugging into the GNX3 made me completely rethink my sound. I had previously used the FX box to drive my tone. However, the Nailbombs have so much more character, I needed to reduce all of my gain, amp/speaker simulation and EQ. Using an overdrive setting, the pickups sound beautifully warm. Again, "organic" is the way I'd describe them, they seem to breathe through the amp. Through a hotter overdrive/distortion setting, I managed to get a range of very modern tones, thrash, nu-metal etc. Not my thing, but great to play with for a while, particularly through the Orange. Ditching the OD, and adding a hint of chorus, the clean sound is amazing. Straight away I was getting John Sykes from Whitesnake "1987"

Employing the Megaswitch, I was able to dial in seperate coils in humbucking mode. I'd given up a very generic SuperStrat to add in the Nailbombs, so it was nice to hear some almost-Strat tones. I might actually add a proper coil split at a later date as I do miss the single coil neck and bridge tones a little. Once I've made this mod, my Charvel will be absolutely perfect.

I love my Charvel. It's a beautiful and very, VERY playable guitar. It always sounded OK, a very versitile little guitar.

However, adding these pickups have turned it into a monster. It doesn't sound like anything else - or rather it sounds similar to those magical tones that you hear sometimes, but BETTER and coming through your own fingers!

If the guitar was stolen, I'd grieve. Then I'd go and buy myself a custom Gordon Smith with the insurance money, and ask Mr Smith to load it with Nailbombs.

Actually, I'd fiddle the insurance, get a couple of Gordon Smiths, and load the second with Warpigs. Then I'd join a Black Sabbath tribute band!

You've probably read about Tim from BKP on this forum, so I'll only reiterate what's been said. I don't do much in the way of guitar maintenance. But Tim was there to advise me technically, point me towards the right choice and make the pain of parting with ??200 slightly more tolerable!

What I DID love was the set of RotoSound gauge 10 strings that he included with the pickups. I'd had my Charvel strung with 9s before, the 10s really compliament the pickups (and the whole guitar, in fact), and have gone some way towards rejuvinating my playing.

Passive Humbucker pickup, dc:16k, with alnico5 magnet, 4 conductor (splittable to single coil),
you get custom camo covers options to..fully calibrated! : black, zebra, nickel, chrome, gold or black covers.

Installed in bridge position on an Ibanez Sabre S-540 (mahogany body, maple neck, flod tremolo type) and Rg-550 (bass wood body, maple neck floyd tremolo type)

The pickup being replaced is a Dimarzio Fred wich I chose after trying all of these:
SeymourDuncan Jb, Dimarzio Evolution, ToneZone, Paf pro, air Norton, Super distortion, Ibanez/dimarzio stock pickup F2, Dimarzio.

All these pickups are great but for my ears in the bridge position all of them where to bright sounding, sometimes harsh.
The tremolo and thin body and neck of my Ibanez S540 makes it a bright guitar on high strings (thow the mahogany body helps a bit)
The Dimarzio Fred is great at getting artificial harmonics, is precise and tight in tube amp but still sometimes ear piercing bright and in amp modelisation in direct such as vox tonelab, guitar rig, boss vf1, gt5, the distortions get to brittle and harsh even when tweeked.

The output is powerfull enough for any situation making a versatile pickup.
I use a Soldano HotRod Hr-50xl+ and various gear played directly in the mixer, a Boss Vf1, Vox tonelab and Guitar rig.

this pickup is absolutly fantastique.. what punch! its fat it sings, it whispers, and all of that enen with
harmonics drifting incredibly..
artificial harmonics literaly sings.. i'v got pickups that make it easy for the artificial
harmonics to come out but never as much and they usually are arsh..
Thank you very much BKP.....

I get a fat sounding bridge pickup with warm lows and fat highs with no harhness making it a very well balanced pickup for the Ibanez.
No mud, nor harshness and the pickup is still precise! I agree with one comment saying that its precision wont be as forgiving as a mudy pickup with sloppy playing.
What amazes me is it how it can sing artificial harmonics, they come out so easy you can just play the harmonic itself. Pikups that are good at that such as dimarzio fred and seymour duncan pearly gates are often to bright sounding for my ears.

I would certainly buy it again!
I wish it would be a little less expensive but hey, there hand made!
I've been playing for 18years and own/and have owned a lot of gear..
I love this pickup because its versatile, I get good clean tones and a suprising split single coil texture. I'v rediscovered all my overdrive and distortion sounds with it, they are all more musical now. I like its warm fat singing tone wich is pretty medium sounding on my Ibanez with plenty of bass and most important to me: fat highs.
It's a precise pickup, I'm not a shredder thow I like to speed up things every now and then.

I find a lot of the pickups i'v tryed are sometimes very specialised at one trick, most of them seem to have a precise sound to get every note sounding in a fat tube amp but be carfule, they can be overly bright,
I find it hard to get the clean to dirty souds with those pickups using the volume on my guitar especialy in a precise modern amp!
Thanks to Tim at bare knuckle for his advice,patience and kindness..
The site is fantastic with hundreds of demos mp3..