Bare Knuckle Pickups The Mule

Passive humbucker. Open poles. 4 conductor.

Modified 80's strat. Bridge position.

I've been through a few pickups on this guitar. I replaced the original single coils with Seymour Duncan little 59's which I used for years. I've always loved the sound of full size humbuckers so thought i'd try some. I got a set of Suhr pickups , DSV neck, SSV bridge and a Fletcher Landau middle single coil (I'd been listening to Mike Landau a lot). The neck and middle are great and are still on the guitar but the SSV has a slight upper mid honk which started to annoy me. As I liked the DSV neck so much i thought i'd try one on the bridge so I bought one but it was just really bland sounding. I'd read a lot about Bareknuckles so I emailed Tim asking which pickup I should get. He reccomended the Mule and also the VHII. I'd seen clips of the Mule on Youtube and thought it might be a bit bright for me so I bought a VHII. Now this is a great pickup, it has a fat bottom end and great mids but the top end was wrong for me. As it happens I have another guitar that this would suit perfectly so that's where it's going. I emailed Tim again, this time with a clip of someone playing with a sound close to what I'm looking for. Again he reccomended the Mule so I bought one. From the first note I played with it I knew this was it. It's fantastic. Not at all too bright. It's very well balanced, fat and clear, quite smooth too but in a really good way with a lot of tone and character. It goes well with the other pickups and also sounds great when in split coil mode. Very happy now - at last, whew!

I think Tim is a bit of a star, he answered my emails at the weekend and was really patient with my stupid questions. I would definately buy another BKP - they are really well made and sound great, in fact I might try a neck Mule on this guitar sometime although I think i've spent enough money on pickups for a while.

You guys know the spec of this, check the website for details.
One thing i will mention is that, although I chose nickel covers, I also requested that underneath the nickel covers, the bobbins are zebra coils, just in case I ever wanted to remove the covers, no extra charge, thanks Tim.

This is installed in the neck position of my Edwards LTS 98.
Replacing stock pickup (Seymour D Jazz)
Other pickup on instrument is BKP Riff Raff (reviewed in the Riff Raff section)

Tim Mills himself uses this set of pickups on his R9.

Bought these to go straight into my brand new Edwards for the PERFECT les paul.

Beautifull!! This is the first neck humbucker I have been truly happy with. I started out (on a Gibson les paul studio) with a 490R, which was LAME. Then I bought a burstbucker for one of my other guitars, not impressed with that, it could be ok for other people, but not my bag. Then got the Seymor D Jazz to go with a JB I had, much better, but still not quite there. Also what is important to me is a bit of a 'quacky' middle position, and I have never been happy with anything I got from any other pickup set until I got these Bareknucks!!! These give you a great set of tones, as mentioned, if Tim Mills himself has these in his 59 RI, then it's got to be pretty damn good, and I can confirm that it is damn good!

This gets a 10/10, proper paf motherpickup!!
This is a keeper, this is MY sound. My les paul now does what I want it to do, if you downtune your guitar one semitone and play the solo from sweet child of mine (as slash did when he recorded it) you NAIL that tone, every bend has the right sparkle and nuances. Damn good!!

Described as a historically accurate PAF replica. Normal hunbucker, vintage style, passive. Think it's Alnico IV. Slightly hotter than traditional typical PAF, think it's around 8 ohms, maybe a bit more.

I wanted an upgrade to the Duncan Designed pickups in my Aria Pro II, so I decided to try Bare Knuckles, after reading many excellent reviews. I installed the Mule in the bridge, and slipped a Mississipi Queen P90 in the neck. Reason for changing pickups was a wanted to experiment a bit and get a bit more professional tone.

Output is slightly hotter than average PAF. I'm using it with a Roland Cube 20x digital amp. Firstly, let me say that given the huge number of glowing reviews about this pickup, I was expecting great things.

I am so disappointed with this pickup. I have rated it a 6 at best, because for me, that means 'not bad' and that's exactly what it is; not bad. I experimented extensively with the height of the pickup, and the tone was decent enough, and well balanced. But the bottom line is, the character of tone that I wanted, just is not there. Of course, it's largely subjective and comes down to what you are looking for, but to my ears this simply does not sound like a classic PAF, despite the fact that it is meant to be a very accurate reproduction. I disagree with the vast majority of reviews here. The large number of great reviews is not justified in my opinion. The tone is, in my view, very average. The build quality is however excellent, but the tone does not live up to expectations. I shall continue my search elsewhere. I plan to try Sheptone's next...

If it was destroyed or stolen, I'd feel sorry for the clown that took it, but he'd be welcome to it. I've been playing for 12 years. I play Hamer Artist electrics almost exclusively, but use an Aria for experimenting with pickups. Like the quality feel and build of it; hate the tone. Still searching for a 'real' PAF tone.

humbucking,passive,7.4K
aged covered

on a les paul 1958,
neck position
replacing classic 57
the mule uncovered on the bridge
for a better sound

7,4K
LINE 6 SPIDER VALVE 112
tne balanced,brilliant,vintage
rock blues ,he is perfect in all positions

yes
30 years,gibson sg junior 62,stratocaster 1954
simply the best

Humbucker, gold covered, Alnico 4, 8.4K

I put it in the bridge of my Esp Ltd Viper Deluxe, replacing its EMG. With my current setup, the EMG's were just too boomy and their cleans were never good. I wanted a more open and clearer sound, and good cleans. The guitar is tuned down to D.

I'm using it with a Mesa Triaxis - Intellifex - Mesa 50/50.
It's output is moderate, it's sound is very balanced and full. I can get from warm cleans to nice breakup to all the chug and distortion I need with the Triaxis.
Our music is quite the mix of classic rock, metal, prog, surf, basically whatever we feel like, so I use a variety of sounds. This works well for all.
When I first put it in and compared it to the Burstbuckers in my Gibson LP DC, I played it on a low practice level, and I did hear that the Mule was fuller and warmer, in fact a little too. At low volume, the Burstbucker Pros seemed clearer to me.
But, at the first rehearsal, so at band level, the difference became huge : yes, the Mule sounded very warm, very full and yet very defined, and I cut to the mix without problem. Also very responsive to my playing with some cooking tubes behind it. Good controlable feedback, and noise level very good, but I need to lower my gain settings a bit. What works on low volume, doesn't on bandvolume.

When I then switched over to the Gibson, the latter sounded thin and covered with a blanket, revealing even more the quality of this pickup

You see a lot of 10's here, and that's justified imo.
I think the Gibson will eventually get a BKP too, and I'll keep with the vintage kind. I can play metal with it fine, as well as anything else really.
I've been playing for 25 years and had loads of stuff; this guitar with The Mule into the Mesa setup is the best sound I've ever had by far. I've played on old Fenders with pedals, Rivera, Marshall, Line6 and more, with various strats, tele's, and a Lag. I've tried various Duncans and have played on Dimarzio equipped guitars.

See below

I installed this beautiful pickup in the neck of an Ibanez Artist AR300. It is replacing a Ibanez 58. The bridge position has a Rio Grande BBQ. I changed the 58 because it was very lack-luster and even more so after the installation of the BBQ.

WOW! Simply put, this is the best pickup in sound and build quality that I have ever played. Leaps and bounds better than the competition. Just the build quality alone really knocks you out. It has a very organic, alive sound. Perfect clarity across the strings and it is so round (without being heavy sounding) that it just seems like it has a greater output than it does. So much so that it makes the Rio Grande BBQ (no slacker in the beef dept) sound slightly anemic. Clean, it has a lot of size and presence while also demonstrating a light, crystal roominess. VERY warm! overdriven, it is very clear. Notes come out crystal clear. Chords retain all their note quality. So much so that you don't feel an automatic need to go to the bridge for solos. It really is a remarkable pickup.

This pickup has gotten me to the sound that I have always been just short of. I've been playing for 33 years and have played guitars with just about every manufactured pickup you can think of. I've owned Seymours D's, DiMarzios, Fralins, Adders, and Rio Grandes. This Bare Knuckle Mule really is the finest of the bunch. IMHO, they are well worth the money. I definitely plan on stocking all my guits with them. I ordered direct from England and recieved the pickup (I live in SC, USA) in ten days. Tim is terrific and replied same day to my e-mails. Just a great product in every way. Do yourself a favor: If you are a certified tone hound, get one of these. You WILL NOT be sorry!

Passive humbuckers

I put a set in a 95 PRS custom 22. I found the stock pickups a bit brittle and thin sounding at the bridge, and just plain old dull and muddy at the neck pup. The stock split coil sound was OK at low volume, but the crappy at volume w/overdrive.

I took a bit of a chance, considering I never actually played a BKP in person, only read about them. I've played Duncans and Dimarzio's in a Les Paul and Hamer, but they never answered my emails. I emailed Tim at BKP who was very helpful in helping pick out the right pup's for the sound I wanted.
the results were fantastic. The pup's are full, musical and very articulate. A tad more output than the stock pup's, but tone is what I wanted, and what I got.

I think the are so many "10" reviews on HC you don't take them seriously, but if you are looking for new pup's, believe what you are reading here, and the other "10" reviews for BKP.
You will hear a difference.
A lot of money, but worth it.

Neck uncovered 'hotter' PAF style humbucker with (zebra coils), four conductor wiring (although i haven't coil tapped it yet)
Alnico IV magnets, 7.3K ohms impedance, hand scatterwound

Installed into the neck position of my late 90's/early 2000s Epiphone Les Paul Standard (with limited edition sparkly blue top :D ) which has a BKP Nailbomb in the Bridge, both replacing the old stock Epi pups.
Changed them 'cause i never...ever used the neck pup on my paul, it just sounded so dark, mushy, dead.

Output is modest (in comparison to my Nailbomb and Lace Sensor Dually Red in my V!) but i understand a bit hotter than actual PAFs.
I play it through a ProCo Deucetone Rat distortion into a Fender Stage 100 (clean channel only).
This provided exactly what i was looking for in a neck pickup - its light, clear, cuts through the band much better than any other neck pickup I've ever played, has so much more ringing trebble, whilst retaining the humbucker punch, sublime clean, crisp and clear with light overdrive and raunchy under distortion! The only thing i'm slightly not sure of yet is whether i've adjusted it to get enough bass output for when i want an explosively bassy distortion for some of my bands songs, but am reluctant incase it overpowers the trebble response clean. (so thats not the pickup, nothing can do everything like it sounds in your head!)
One of the main reasons i wanted to change the stock neck pickup was after using my friends gibson SG i realised what i was missing out on not being able to use the neck pickup on my LP. I also play in a 3rd wave ska punk band, and the 490R in the neck of that gave a really good clean ska sound - much clearer and snappier than i thought a neck humbucker could be. After getting this pickup i realised that the 490R wasn't even close to the sound i was now creating! It has revolutionised my guitar playing, and i sometimes feel guilty that i am not using the Nailbomb in the bridge enough, i just can't switch away from this wonderful sound! clean this thing blows any other humbucking (& most single coil) pickups out of the water, but with the added bonus of being able to deliver a 60cycle-hum-free, harmonically rich distortion where you can hear the thick heavy (really really heavy) mahogany body of the LP 'breathe' through the distortion! (I think the metalic finish might make it even heavier lol, its the heaviest paul i've held, more so than 3 gibsons i've tried played!)
Soloing and picking also shows alot more character, with picking dynamics and harmonics coming through very clearly, and a less 'characterless sustain' no matter what u do on a distorted solo like i used to get from the stock pup, with the mule you can hear the tone of the guitar and harmonic undertones really ringing through. This however means i need to concentrate on playing better otherwise you'll hear me choke a note ;P
It also very good when selected in parallel with my nailbomb. i often turn the nailbomb down a tiny bit on the bridge volume so that they are better balanced for clean.

Would definately consider getting another mule, if not then definitely another Bare Knuckle. Im tempted to replace my Korina Flying V's neck pup (equally poor sounding, but slightly less muddy perhaps due to the korina wood?) with a P90 humbucker retrofit, like the Mississippi Queen, or a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat if i can't afford it!
I am a student of 21 and have been playing now for 7 or 8 years, am a huge humbucker and gibson/epiphone fan (also have a Dot Studio) although i've been struggling to resist buying a Telecaster (watching about 8 on ebay atm :-S ) but I doubt even that will sound as good clean as the Mule does, it is a truly phenomenal sounding and playing pickup, responds wonderfully to picking dynamics, sounds great when really spanked with a ska upstroke, and has changed the way i use a guitar now - much more often on the neck pup than i was, cos this beauty lives there! I have found the best sounding neck position of any guitar, for clean and overdrive.
Tim mills was very helpful in describing the differences between covered and open poled, PAF and modern pickups, and all of his models (although i already had my heart set on the nailbomb!) and was a great help in my choice of pickups. emails were responded to often within the hour! quickly delivered, free rotosound strings, really fat plectrums (cant use or i'd break strings/fire the pick into the crowd! bassist appreciated tho!) and lifetime warranty. Expensive but for hand scatterwound, the service, and the sheer quality of product, i can't say it wasn't worth ??90 GBP

Passive humbucking pickup with impedance of 7.3k

I had this pickup put in the neck position of an old 1970's Les Paul Custom Black Beauty replacing a Seymour Duncan 59 which sounded too muddy and lacked clarity. There is a Riff Raff pickup in the bridge.

I play blues/rock/metal through a Mesa Single Rectifier head and 2x12 Box with no effects other than a Holy Grail Reverb and a Sonic Maximiser. The Mule in the neck position has warmth and lots of tone but doesn't sound muddy like the Seymour Duncan that it replaced. It's ideal for those bluesy solos.

I was actually thinking of selling this guitar because the previous pickup in the neck position to be honest sounded terrible but I certainly wont be selling this Les Paul now. I would certainly buy this again if it is was lost or destroyed. I emailed Tim from Bare Knuckle Pickups regarding the right choice of pickup and he suggested the Mule to nail the Led Zep sound that I was after. He couldn't have been more helpful and my set of pickups duly arrived only nine days later. The only pickups that I have heard that sound as good as this are the HRW pickups in my Heritage H-140 and Heritage H-150.

Passive, humbucking PAF pickups. Alnico IV magnets.
The neck measures out at 7.3, bridge at 8.4.

I bought a calibrated set for my Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus to replace the Burstbuckers Pros, which were entirely to harsh and raspy. This is the 5th set of pickups I have gone through on this guitar. I've tried them all: GFS mean PAF'S, Seymour Duncan SH-1, SH-4, and SH-5, and Gibson Burstbucker Pro's. Needless to say, I'll be sticking with these!

First of all, I got in contact with Tim from BKP and he recommended these pickups for the sound I was looking for, alnico IV magnets(which are a real rarity these days). I don't use many effects. Just my Keeley modded SD-1 overdrive and my tube amp. I play blues and rock. These things fit the bill perfectly.
The "Mules" are the most dynamic and punchy PAF pickups I have ever encountered. Truly astounding, I haven't played a humbucker yet that comes even close. The neck is pristine and beautiful clean. Not your typical muddy neck PAF. Very punchy and clear, musical. Tons of harmonics. The sound just jumps out of the guitar. Overdriven it's just smooth, maintains great clarity.
The bridge is super tight, matched up with the neck beautifully. The lows are tight and punchy and the highs just soar. Most importantly, the bridge pickup is beautiful clean. Super versatile. Excellent set!!

It's a shame I can only rate these things a 10. I have been playing for the most part of 20 years and these are the best humbuckers I have ever heard. A truly unique tone, I have never heard anything quite like them. Not to be overshadowed, the customer service that Tim and his group provide is simply outstanding. If you have a question they are quick to provide a thoughtful and accurate answer. They will work with you to find exactly what you are looking for, whatever it may be. Despite the fact that these are a bit expensive, it is money well spent. I look forward to trying out some of the other pickups in their line in the future.