Getting some new pickups: Bare Knuckle or Oil City/Creamery?

Elwood

@Guitars4you have a set of BKP Trilogy single coils for about £115. They look like a good deal and come from a reputable source. I've been keeping an eye to see if any decent humbuckers turn up. 

funhouse

FWIW, I've fitted BK Mother's Milk pickups in a couple of my guitars and they are wonderful. No experience of the other brands you mention, I'm afraid.

markr76

I have the mojo retro 60's pups in my strat. Stock wound middle pup. They are fantastic pickups. I had bkp Irish tours in there before. Which were fantastic, but a bit too hot for what I was after. Before that I had the 63' veneers. They were good pickups. But between the bkp 63's and the mojo pups I have now in that guitar. The mojo 60's just shade it for me. The bridge pup just balances with the other pickups better. 
There is always that element that my brain is telling me they are better because I've spent the Money. When in actual fact the veneers were just as good.

mburekenge

I have the bkp veneers in my avri57 and they are fantastic sounding 

hotpickups

meltedbuzzbox said:

hotpickups said:

Can I throw in the mix, Have you checked out monty's pickups? They are amazing too 

I am really baffled by the praise Monty's pickups are getting. I had a set of his vintage tele pickups and I would have been mortified if I had paid his retail price

I'm surprised. I have humbuckers from him though

mburekenge

The cool thing about these brands (including bkp) is being able to talk to the winder and get their advice.

gordiji

Don't rule out the Abraxas set for the PRS. Alnico iv with similar neck spec as the mule but hotter , fatter bridge. I have them in a custom 22 and love them.
Also can recommend mojo strat set (50's A3) which saw off my bkp irish tours. I'm sure his 60's equivelent would be equally good.

flying_pie

I've come to the conclusion that there are lots of great pickups out there from Iron Gear to handmade in the UK or US. It's hard to buy something rubbish. 

Unless you buy totally the wrong type, such as a 22k metal monster for your archtop jazz guitar, then most will sound great. It's all down to personal preference. Besides your amp and fingers will matter more than the subtle difference between one PAF humbucker over another PAF humbucker. 

Jack_

For me, I find that all these companies mentioned produce quality pickups, so in terms of deciding between them, I tend to go with Oil City or Alegree, just because they're active members of this forum and I like to support their businesses.

I do think BKP are a little overpriced, but I think they can be because of the reputation they've built.

DefaultM

The open coil bkp prices aren't too bad, it's when you start adding covers or anything gold that the price goes up. I think it was going to be £250 for a set of gold Mules. I got some off ebay for half that price so I wouldn't say resale was that good either.

strat84

Oil City Pre-BS 62. I have them in an AV59 Strat. Warm, woody and bluesy are exactly how I'd describe them. A bit less scooped than all the other 60s sets I've tried from BK and Fender. There's a good balance between each pickup, no real volume drop when going from the neck to the bridge.

Jack_

DefaultM said:

The open coil bkp prices aren't too bad, it's when you start adding covers or anything gold that the price goes up. I think it was going to be £250 for a set of gold Mules. I got some off ebay for half that price so I wouldn't say resale was that good either.

Yeah, but £250 just seems crazy, are they really 1/3 better than offerings from others mentioned in here to justify that extra cost? For me no, I just think they've built a solid reputation, which definitely helps with resale. When you try and sell a pair of BKPs everyone is interested, when you sell a pair of Alegree's, only those who know of their quality are interested, and that's not as many people as the quality warrants.

I've used and bought BKPs, just never new. The Blackhawks without fancy covers still cost more than £200 new.

Ash and Alegree both do blowout sales on here, both regularly offer their knowledge here, do good deals for this community and donate prizes to the raffles we have, so in a space where there's not much to choose between these makers, that tips the balance for me.

DefaultM

They're not worth it at all in my opinion. I wouldn't say they were better at all. At a push they're equal, but ive been disappointed with most sets.
I emailed them describing the tone I wanted and sent them some of my music. They listened and recommended the cold sweats but they were nothing like what I wanted. I lost a pretty penny on them as well.
Compare that to Oil City and I always email first describing what I want, and what turns up is always spot on.

crunchman

meltedbuzzbox said:

hotpickups said:

Can I throw in the mix, Have you checked out monty's pickups? They are amazing too 

I am really baffled by the praise Monty's pickups are getting. I had a set of his vintage tele pickups and I would have been mortified if I had paid his retail price

His PAFs have a great reputation - I think that is what he has made his reputation on.  I've also heard some of his P90s in the flesh, and they were very good.  I don't know much about his Fender style pickups.

timmypix

strat84 said:

Oil City Pre-BS 62. I have them in an AV59 Strat. Warm, woody and bluesy are exactly how I'd describe them. A bit less scooped than all the other 60s sets I've tried from BK and Fender. There's a good balance between each pickup, no real volume drop when going from the neck to the bridge.

Well that's a good vote of confidence. Which BK sets did you have to compare it with?

TA22GT

https://soundcloud.com/briangt/matamp-les-paul-fat-solo 

For what it's worth the above is a clip I recorded with a Mule in the bridge. I liked that it had what I call "clean" distortion although I don't ever use a lot of gain. I had a Stormy Monday in the neck position and I liked that too.

I haven't tried any of BK's single coils so can't help there.

timmypix

Oh I know I like the Mules, I had them for 3 years! I'm more asking if I'll get similar results at a lower cost from elsewhere - the OCP Forces Sweetheart looks very similar, for example.

TA22GT

timmypix said:

Oh I know I like the Mules, I had them for 3 years! I'm more asking if I'll get similar results at a lower cost from elsewhere - the OCP Forces Sweetheart looks very similar, for example.

I understand now but if it were me and I knew I liked a certain pickup I would just buy it again and cut out the taking a chance bit.
Then again I like to take risks!!

timmypix

TA22GT said:

timmypix said:

Oh I know I like the Mules, I had them for 3 years! I'm more asking if I'll get similar results at a lower cost from elsewhere - the OCP Forces Sweetheart looks very similar, for example.

I understand now but if it were me and I knew I liked a certain pickup I would just buy it again and cut out the taking a chance bit.
Then again I like to take risks!!

Well I do have a slight concern that the Bernie is a bit brighter acoustically; it sounds balanced by itself but compared to my other guitars it's lacking in the bass and mids, so I'm wondering whether there's a Mule-alike that's maybe a bit darker without going to the fatter and hotter Abraxas. But I guess that's where being able to talk to the winder directly comes in!

DefaultM

The Forces Sweethearts seemed a bit cleaner and rounder to me. I didn't keep them for long though. I got them in black open coil and liked them so much I wanted to order some with gold covers, however I then made so little on resale that I couldn't afford. 

I would say to get in touch and explain what you want. Resale is low, but at the same time I've never resold a set that I got in touch about first because they've always been what I wanted.