Some praise for Bare Knuckle Pickups [Archive] - Gibson & Epiphone Guitar Forum

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fabien
August 12th, 2004, 11:27 AM
Hi everybody,

I just received and installed a Bare Knuckle 'The Mule' humbucker in my custom made axe and wanted to share my satisfaction. (Yes, same post as on the TDPRI! 8) )

I know a few of our UK TDPRIers already know them but if you don't, they are made in the UK by a guy called Tim Mills, all by hand.

Tim states that he does not pretend or try to make vintage replicas but good sounding pups using good quality modern material and the old recipe.
So The Mule could be best described as a modern PAF. It has Alnico IV (mine) or II magnets and despite a DC resistance of about 8.5K (9.4! on mine because of 52mm spacing) a very reasonable output.
The real secret is the tone. Great balance of highs and lows, warm, quite percussive and very present but not overwhelming. In addition it's the best split HB tone I've ever heard, has a great qwack in combination with the strat middle pup (Haeussel Blues model) and a very clear and woody tone when combined with the SD Jazz neck pup.
Lead tones are singing and wailing with no harshness at all and 'in between' crunch tone is soooo sweet and clear.

They have an extensive range of models, humbuckers, strat, tele and P90's and, for all of you unlucky bast**ds not living in the UK, their prices include shipping worldwide

One word about the service: fantastic!
Tim took time to discuss possibilities and give me very usefull advice via email before ordering and the pup was in my hands within a week of ordering, inclusive 3 days shipping, a weekend and some credit card payement problem (my mistake!).

I would trust blindly any pickup they make, the only problem beeing which one to chose.
There are other good pickup manufacturers here in Europe : Harry Haeussel in Germany makes excellent pups but is slow in reaction (one to two weeks to contact then two month to deliver). Wizzard Pickups in UK seem to get good reviews but I'm still waiting for a reply on two mails I sent early June!
Bare Knuckle is a pleasure to deal with.

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/

That's all for now, let me go back to that great axe of mine and try to severe even more the relation with my neighbours icon_lol.gif

Happy playing

Fabien

Fourthfeline
July 6th, 2006, 10:13 AM
Hi Fabien , and welcome to the forum !

Thanks for your input about the 'Bare knuckle' pickups. I was looking for some sweet vintage pickups to replace the stock Gibson 490R and 498T pickups in my 1997 Les Paul Standard. After speaking to Tim I have ordered a calibrated set of 'Stormy Monday' Pickups from Stringbusters.com who are selling them somewhat cheaper than Tim himself. Even though I have used an 'external' supplier, Tim has still obliged with phase splitting diagrams and advice. I guess he is happy for someone else to do the marketing whilst he does the P.R. and the winding. I am sure he will continue to reap the rewards he so richly deserves.
I will post my findings on this forum when I receive and fit them in a few days time.

:D