$600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

[Lewguitar]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

Bardens are hard to explain and they are NOT for everynody...listen to some Danny Gatton and you'll get the idea...simply amazing sounding pickups but again, not for everybody

I played Bill Kirchen's old Tele with Bardens at NAMM and I was blown away by the tone. I've never heard a better sounding Tele. Bill has a handmade bridge plate that's milled from a solid piece of steel instead of stamped from thin steel like all other Teles, and I'm sure that contributed to the strong, solid, deep tone. Also, Bill uses a Talos amp, and the Talos that I played through was a great super-natural sounding amp. But, IMO, the Barden pickups are among the very, very finest Tele pickups I've ever played. The tone is very throaty and full and not thin and ice picky...although every note rings clear as a bell if that's what cha play into them. By the same token, they get a very ballsy tone when you dig in and shape the note with your picking attack. I've never heard a better pickup for my style of playing. Lew

 

[Curly]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

supply and demand

shows that tele players are as much freaks as everyone else, even for a so called "simple" guitar

Lew, just get a set of Ant IIs - they won't sound the same, but they will have the bright snap you like. I honestly am skeptical that you'll get that new set of Bardens any time soon. Maybe your best hope is that SD would get involved in helping him, per your suggestion.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

supply and demand

shows that tele players are as much freaks as everyone else, even for a so called "simple" guitar

Lew, just get a set of Ant IIs - they won't sound the same, but they will have the bright snap you like. I honestly am skeptical that you'll get that new set of Bardens any time soon. Maybe your best hope is that SD would get involved in helping him, per your suggestion.

The Ant II's won't sound the same...they're totally differant. It's not about the bright snap. It's about that throaty tone the Bardens seem to have. What did you think Curly...you were there. Weren't you impressed with the tone of Bill's guitar? I sure was! Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

I'll tell ya Lew...no doubt that the bardens are a HUGE part of that tone but the bridge helps for sure...Bill is using Vintique hardware that like is simply not around any more but there are other bridges out there that will give tou some of that tone...the Barden bridge can be found on Ebay for around $100 and the Callaham bridge is a fine replacement as well...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

I'll tell ya Lew...no doubt that the bardens are a HUGE part of that tone but the bridge helps for sure...Bill is using Vintique hardware that like is simply not around any more but there are other bridges out there that will give tou some of that tone...the Barden bridge can be found on Ebay for around $100 and the Callaham bridge is a fine replacement as well...

The Barden bridge appears to not be milled from a solid piece of steel. It looks like it's stamped and bent into shape from a flat piece of steel. I might be wrong...just going by what it looks like.

On the other hand, the bridge plate in Bill's guitar was milled from a solid piece of 1/2" thick steel...not stamped from a thin piece of steel and bent into shape.

The guy at the Talos booth that Curly and met made that bridge for Bill...I'm pretty sure of that. He had one just like it that he offered to sell to me at the time and I had a chance to hold it and check it out.

Lew

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

...
but heres the trick- I happen to love this detailed aspect and use it a lot- but when you spin a split these pups have an entire contium of tones as well, much much more than any other spin I have ever found...

"Spin a split"... so how do you wire that up? Peavey had a rotary splitter in the 70's with a special taper pot- turn it one direction and it was a treble cut tone control, turn it the other direction and it would dial out the second coil for a brighter sound. You would wire up the wiper to ground, with the coil junction on the CW terminal and the tone cap going to the signal from the volume pot on the CCW terminal.

Stan Erhart who gigs all over the SF Bay Area plays a tele with Bardens, and he gets a very wide range of sounds from it. (I love teles but I do think that their range is a bit limited- but not so with the Bardens: I can listen to his tele all night long and keep hearing new sounds from it.)

I don't look for a "Holy Grail" sound in my guitars, but just a good sound that is very responsive to playing nuances. I have only listened to Bardens so I can't say what it is like to play them.

There is a lot of over-priced equipment out there... like $3000 for a new Gibson LP that isn't made that well at all. I think I'd rather spend $700 on a pair of Bardens than $3000 on a LP or PRS...

Thanks for your input (I didn't know that about "spinning a split" with Bardens! :smack: )

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

The Bardens, like most great pickups, sound like the player. When I listen to Jimmy Thackery playing his Strat with Bardens he gets a little more steely tone than I prefer. But it's just the way he plays and sets up his amp.

So much tone comes from the players hands and the angle of his/her pick, etc....and thier sense of taste, phrasing and personality.

EVH used to mention that when Ted Nugent played Eddie's guitar through Eddie's amp that Ted still sounded just like Ted...and I'm sure that's true.

Lew

 

[Jeff5]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

See, that's a good example for me to give to my wife when she complains about me spending money on Duncans! =P.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: $600 for a set of Barden Tele Pickups...

BlueGuitar - Yeah I remember the peavy and I guess the similarity is that both mods give you a cotinum of variation.Surprisingly spin a split is one of the easiest mods and it opens the door to another one that I also love-

Search spin-a-split on the duncan site and you'll find the diagram- It's really easy- Either sacrifice a tone pot, add a pot, or go cocentric- However you get the pot, all that happens is that the out of the first coil and in of the second (white and red with duncan) come together at the pot and the pot simply controls how much of the second coil is grounded out- easy-

now if you want another simple mod, set this up on bypass and ground all of your pups center wires out on this same pot- What you get is parallel coils, with spin picking how much of the 2nd coil you get and the selector picks which 2nd coils get added- sounds far more complex than it is, all you do is the same thing as a spin a split for all pups and add a bypass-

spin will give you plenty to play with up front and although the bardens are exceptional, practically any humbucker will give you a good selection of tones in between single and humbucker- the paralelle i described is really best on strats and gives you a lot of extra quack opportunities.