BG1400... Tell me about it

dr.barlo

dr.barlo

New member
I am in the process of getting one. And I am thinking of putting it into my strat with a tele lead pickup. Currently, I have a Duncan JD in there, and I love that pickup. If you wanna listen to it:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12048550

Anyways...

Would I like it? I am very satisfied with the JD. Don't get me wrong. Yet, this pickup should not be a joke you know... Currently, this guitar of mine has stock 250K pots. Should I change them to 500K's?

BTW even though I like the JD, I think I could go for a bit more thick and solid tone. And humcancelling kinda helps in live situations...

Thanks in advance.

B
 
Re: BG1400...

Re: BG1400...

BTW here is the guitar:

MaryKayWhiteStrat122012006_zps11deb770.jpg


B
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

I have a pre-owned customer-order Duncan Tele Lead Stack with specs very close to the BG-1400. I would describe it as a beefed up and noise free Tele tone in the manner of the Reverend Willy G or, say, Rick Parfitt of Status Quo rather than a traditional twang monster. Definitely a rocker. Also great for slide.
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

It's a bast of a pickup...

It's like you mixed up a PAF, a Tele lead coil and a Filtertron and it'll easily overpower 2 Strat pickups...
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

That sounds like....................................amazing.

WTF is it and where do I get one?

EDIT: googled... looks insane. could be a candidate for the Les Paul / Tele hybrid I am building.....
 
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Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

Cool!

I am going to change the neck to a lil59... and them pots to 500K's...

Thanks guys!

B
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

Some time like 10 years ago, I went through a bunch of tele sounding strat pickups, including Rio Grande's Stelly and Duncan's... But then I decided to do the wood mod (a bit of wood work is needed under the hood) and check out the pickup OC Duff wound to my specs. It was a 8.00K #42 PE A5 staggered tele lead pickup. It was almost like a PAF but still great you know. But over time that whole "thick" thing got to me you know, and I became more of a regular tele kinda guy. First I went with a Fralin Blues Sp. but that still was kinda too thick you know... Not clean enough. Later used the JD that was in my "real" tele... And hence the JD. And I think it is simply phenomenal. It is clean, and it is thick... Really way too cool!

In fact, I am gonna keep the current pickguard as it is. No changes at all. Instead I am gonna install the BG1400 and Lil59 into another pickguard, and am gonna use the single coil pickup that came stock in my Gibson MM (5.5K bridge, 5K neck,and I dunno which one I will be using... it'll be the one that has the reverse polarity with the others). That'd cope with the BG1400 and Lil59 in the neck. I kinda like them Gibson pickups... Powerful but still very clean!

The reason of the current change (I have been using this guitar as it is --with Fralin Vintage hot underwound neck and middle-- for more than 8 years now) is the gigs... Carrying my R7 is kinda more difficult... And this guitar is one that I love. So I want to make it sound more thicker, and noiseless...

B

PS. BTW my real tele is loaded with a Hamel STD-A and Duncan Ant neck HB. So I dare not touch it... No way!
 
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Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

You might dig the BG-1400 is you ain't looking for 100% Tele tones...

I wanted a noiseless Tele a few years ago and stuck a BG-1400 in my Esquire and it was a cool sound it just wan't a Tele sound so I pulled it for a Joe Barden and again it was cool but still didn't sound like a Tele to me so now I run an OC Duff pickup, 56/57 spec...Alnico 5, staggered magnets, 42 gauge wire, low wind and it smokes however it;s no longer noiseless!
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

Mine is in ash, in the profile pic. The sound is in a comfortable grey zone for me. While not sounding like a traditional tele, as everyone else has already said, it sounds more tele than a Strat w humbucker. It can do bright and snappy cleans, yet takes distortion great without sounding like a full humbucker. Also, it gets a really bright single coily sound when I run it parallel. Too bright and thin for high volume, but I've had success recording it.
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

Well Dr, I loved your sound and playing in that sound clip. From the way everyone has described the BG1400, I suspect it's gonna put your tone over the top into tone heaven. Good luck with the change and post a clip when you get it up and running.
 
Re: BG1400...

Re: BG1400...

Update:

I've got the pickup.

But the polarity is WRONG!

:banghead:

Of course polarity cannot be wrong, here is what I mean... It has reverse polarity when compared with my JD... So that means, I cannot use the same neck and middle pickups to preserve noiseless 2. position (of course with the BG1400 split)...

B
 
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Re: BG1400...

Re: BG1400...

dr.barlo said:
Update:

I've got the pickup.

But the polarity is WRONG!

:banghead:

Of course polarity cannot be wrong, here is what I mean... It has reverse polarity when compared with my JD... So that means, I cannot use the same neck and middle pickups to preserve noiseless 2. position (of course with the BG1400 split)...

B
Click to expand...

Is that true? Now I am a bit confused, because I realize that stackeds may be a bit different.

After all they are HBs... Hence, RWRP between top and bottom coils, which are wound opposite to one another (or one has the ground as the signal). But what about the polarity between them top and bottom bobins. Don't they have the same polarity? But then how come RWRP and noiseless tone?

And if one of them coils (top or bottom) were to have reverse polarity with the other (top or bottom), then I can find a coil (top or bottom) to use in the split mode in the second position... Hence problem solved.

See?

Anyways, here is the question: On stacked pickups, do the top and bottom coil have reverse polarity? If not, how do they sound noiseless...

B :dunno:
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

I would think you'd want it to spit to the top coil, but I'm sure it really matters all that much either. Just swap the green and black wires and see what it sounds like splitting the other way.
 
Re: BG1400... Tell me about it

HRH Frank F. Lee had a BG1400 and wired it split. In split mode, it sounded reasonably like a normal Tele, but once you hear it full on you might reconsider ever splitting it again. You might end up removing other pickups from the guitar as well.

Thank you.
 
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