New used pickup day. I finally got my paws on a set of BKP Warpigs in 7 string soapbar format, for an EMG-routed guitar that can't take rings. This is only the second used set I've seen on the Verb in the 2-3 years I've been looking, and at a great price too (for Bare Knuckles, anyway).
Love: This has become one of my favorite sets over the past year or so, in the right guitar (they work best in a guitar that's naturally on the brighter side). Keeping the bridge pickup on a blower switch is the key for me. It's got aggressive attack and crunch with plenty of definition. Less "hair" and more hammer-and-tongs than a Distortion, but with better string separation... and yet still kind of forgiving! Some bridge pickups sound harsh and cheap going straight to the jack, but this one (like most BKPs) opens up nicely. Going through the usual 500k pots, it's more of a dark roar at full volume, more Invader-y. And yes, I'm a metal player, I like my ceramic fire breathers, but the neck pickup is fantastic. It has a really sweet sound for smooth leads and it cleans up extremely well. Middle position is good too; it sounds better on my 22 fret 24.75" Les Paul than it does on this 24 fret 26.5" monstrosity but it's still nice, clear and usable. It's my second set, and if I could swing buying more of these for my other Schecter and my baritone, I'd do it. It's the closest I've come to having a thick pickup in a bright guitar that feels like a bright pickup in a dark guitar.
Kvetching: 7 string EMG routes, man. A non-standard standard that some other companies have picked up (the same size as some 5 string bass soapbars). Bigger overall routes that aren't wide enough for standard mounting tabs, and the mounting holes have different spacing. It's cool that Duncan offers a handful of classic passive pickups in this size for 7-strings, but outside of that, you are stuck with custom orders, whether it's from them or smaller makers. And if you know what you want (and maybe even have the right pickup) but it isn't offered in that format? Well, on one EMG-routed guitar, I made some non-reversible and fairly ugly (but hideable) mods to add rings so I could use normal 7-string humbuckers; on the other I wound up dismantling and reassembling several pickups on the flat EMG-sized Duncan baseplate and stuffing them into the plastic EMG-sized Duncan housing so I could hear what they sounded like.
But Bare Knuckle, I guess they're super special... they chose for some reason (probably constraints of their metal covers) to space their mounting holes in a way that doesn't line up with either standard. They're so close... a mm or two... but not the same. It's a third standard. On some direct mount guitars this would be a matter of filling and redrilling the mounting holes, which BKP recommended when I contacted them a few years ago. A couple toothpicks. Wood screws. But not on my Schecter! No, my Schecter has bushings. Bushings for standard pickup mounting machine screws, the kind you get with rings. Bushings that would be in the way if I tried to drill new holes, but would leave dowel-sized gaps if I pulled them (dowels would have been the right way to go, but at this point, no thanks). Anyway I found myself at the intersection of three overlapping and conflicting "standards". I wound up drilling a bit more out of the baseplates so I could finagle the screws into the bushings at a slight angle. It isn't ideal, but there's enough slop for it to work. Ugly, non-reversible, hideable. I feel like I shouldn't have had to do it.
All that is offered in the spirit of constructive criticism. It would be super cool not to have to repeatedly jump through stupid hoops with expensive gear just to try finding a good sonic fit. I like tinkering, and I have some tools and a long history of risk tolerance when it comes to working on my guitars. I'm sure there are people who want different pickups, but don't have hundreds of bucks for non-returnable custom orders or a willingness to ruin the value and possibly the finish or playability of their guitar in the pursuit of tone. So if you're looking at 7 string guitars, and the one you like is set up for actives, but you really want passives... think twice!
Pic for fun:
Love: This has become one of my favorite sets over the past year or so, in the right guitar (they work best in a guitar that's naturally on the brighter side). Keeping the bridge pickup on a blower switch is the key for me. It's got aggressive attack and crunch with plenty of definition. Less "hair" and more hammer-and-tongs than a Distortion, but with better string separation... and yet still kind of forgiving! Some bridge pickups sound harsh and cheap going straight to the jack, but this one (like most BKPs) opens up nicely. Going through the usual 500k pots, it's more of a dark roar at full volume, more Invader-y. And yes, I'm a metal player, I like my ceramic fire breathers, but the neck pickup is fantastic. It has a really sweet sound for smooth leads and it cleans up extremely well. Middle position is good too; it sounds better on my 22 fret 24.75" Les Paul than it does on this 24 fret 26.5" monstrosity but it's still nice, clear and usable. It's my second set, and if I could swing buying more of these for my other Schecter and my baritone, I'd do it. It's the closest I've come to having a thick pickup in a bright guitar that feels like a bright pickup in a dark guitar.
Kvetching: 7 string EMG routes, man. A non-standard standard that some other companies have picked up (the same size as some 5 string bass soapbars). Bigger overall routes that aren't wide enough for standard mounting tabs, and the mounting holes have different spacing. It's cool that Duncan offers a handful of classic passive pickups in this size for 7-strings, but outside of that, you are stuck with custom orders, whether it's from them or smaller makers. And if you know what you want (and maybe even have the right pickup) but it isn't offered in that format? Well, on one EMG-routed guitar, I made some non-reversible and fairly ugly (but hideable) mods to add rings so I could use normal 7-string humbuckers; on the other I wound up dismantling and reassembling several pickups on the flat EMG-sized Duncan baseplate and stuffing them into the plastic EMG-sized Duncan housing so I could hear what they sounded like.
But Bare Knuckle, I guess they're super special... they chose for some reason (probably constraints of their metal covers) to space their mounting holes in a way that doesn't line up with either standard. They're so close... a mm or two... but not the same. It's a third standard. On some direct mount guitars this would be a matter of filling and redrilling the mounting holes, which BKP recommended when I contacted them a few years ago. A couple toothpicks. Wood screws. But not on my Schecter! No, my Schecter has bushings. Bushings for standard pickup mounting machine screws, the kind you get with rings. Bushings that would be in the way if I tried to drill new holes, but would leave dowel-sized gaps if I pulled them (dowels would have been the right way to go, but at this point, no thanks). Anyway I found myself at the intersection of three overlapping and conflicting "standards". I wound up drilling a bit more out of the baseplates so I could finagle the screws into the bushings at a slight angle. It isn't ideal, but there's enough slop for it to work. Ugly, non-reversible, hideable. I feel like I shouldn't have had to do it.
All that is offered in the spirit of constructive criticism. It would be super cool not to have to repeatedly jump through stupid hoops with expensive gear just to try finding a good sonic fit. I like tinkering, and I have some tools and a long history of risk tolerance when it comes to working on my guitars. I'm sure there are people who want different pickups, but don't have hundreds of bucks for non-returnable custom orders or a willingness to ruin the value and possibly the finish or playability of their guitar in the pursuit of tone. So if you're looking at 7 string guitars, and the one you like is set up for actives, but you really want passives... think twice!
Pic for fun:
