Bare Knuckle pickups. Who’s used them. What’s what.

Overall i was left unimpressed with the ones i tried, i only play tube amps no modeling Fwiw, they all seemed pretty lack luster and generic. I do like clarity and note definition but they are not for me.
I had tried a few:
alnico nailbombs
pain killers
warpig
miracle man

tried them in the following guitars: suhr modern, 2004 prs standard 24, Jericho premium 6, may havectried in some other guitars.
 
lespaul6 said:
I think all the old gibson pickups were machine wound too?
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Yep, including all the legendary PAFs. Very inconsistent though - the winders didn't have turn counters back then.
Seth Lover said, "We wound them until they looked full." Then those coils were paired at random to make humbuckers.

Today, even so-called 'handwound' pickups are generally hand-fed onto a mechanically spinning bobbin.

Now that Tim White is retired, the only truly hand-wrapped pickups I know of are 'Pure Handwounds' from Zhangbucker.
For an upcharge, David will actually wind them entirely by hand. He makes great stuff; even his regular line are outstanding.
 
scottosan said:
Pretty much all of the most famous humbuckers, especially PAFs were hand wound.
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Not so. They vary a lot simply because the coils are wound to inconsistent turn counts and then paired at random.
PAFs were mechanically wound - Seymour Duncan actually owns one of the Leesona 102 machines Gibson used in Kalamazoo back in the day.
Leesona primarily made machinery for textile factories. (EDIT: Apparently Throbak has one or two of the old Leesonas also.)

The thing is, in the early years those winding machines didn't have counters on them, so every coil was somewhat different.
Sometimes a little different, sometimes a lot. And they grabbed any two from a box of wound coils to put together into each humbucker.

Original PAFs can have two weak coils, or two strong coils, or one of each, or relatively well-matched medium coils, though these are less common.
Mismatched coils (known today as 'coil offset') give a humbucker brighter sound overall and often more 'air' in the treble.
In bridge pickups, it also matters whether the stronger coil is nearest the bridge (more singlecoily) or farther from it (smoother attack).
Matched or 'symmetrical' coils make for a sweeter but warmer tone.
 
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eclecticsynergy said:
Not so. They vary a lot simply because the coils are wound to inconsistent turn counts and than paired at random.
PAFs were mechanically wound - Seymour Duncan actually owns one of the Leesona 102 machines Gibson used in Kalamazoo back in the day.
Leesona primarily made machinery for textile factories.

The thing is, in the early years those winding machines didn't have counters on them, so every coil was somewhat different.
Sometimes a little different, sometimes a lot.
And they grabbed any two from a box of wound coils to put together into each humbucker.

Original PAFs can have two weak coils, or two strong coils, or one of each, or relatively well-matched medium coils, though these are less common.
Mismatched coils (known today as 'coil offset') give a humbucker brighter sound overall and often more 'air' in the treble.
In bridge pickups, it also matters whether the stronger coil is nearest the bridge (more singlecoily) or farther from it (smoother attack).
Matched or 'symmetrical' coils make for a sweeter but warmer tone.
Click to expand...
I meant to say machine wound. That was 14 hours of timezone jetlag talking:D
 
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As for BKPs, I have a few and I like them. I think it's probably true that in general they tend to have very good definition, which also makes them seem less forgiving than some others. But taking them for what they are, they sound good to me.

Haven't owned enough of them to comment on consistency. Still, I've noticed no flaws in the build quality.

I've got the Rebel Yell set, the Holy Diver set, and the Polymath set. I'd say the descriptions of each on the BKP site are pretty accurate.

Love the Rebel Yells in an Explorer, they really gave this full-sounding axe a new clarity and extra sparkle. People are all about the RY bridge - which is great - but I feel the neck pickup in this set is an underappreciated gem.

Holy Divers in a superStrat. Another good match for the guitar. IMO the Holy Diver bridge is like a more civilized JB. Tighter in the lows at gain than the JB and it cleans up far better. Yet it has similarly effortless harmonics & classic-80s-album tone. Cuts through a mix like the JB does, too.

The Polymaths are my latest so I'm still sorta honeymooning. These are in a 20th Anniversary PRS and IMO they're downright amazing. Somehow paradoxically they manage to balance a tight, fast attack with a nice elasticity in the fingertouch. Sweet rich low mids and no nasality in the upper mids. Very touch-responsive feel for a medium-output set. And a beautiful, singing lead voice, even up the neck on the higher strings. Great set.

I haven't owned any from BKP's vintage-output line, which I know many really like about this brand.
Nor any of the crushing high-output models either.
But I certainly do like the ones I've got.
 
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