This question arose out of another thread (NGD) so I thought I’d ask it. I bought a telecaster and the seller said there was a Bareknuckle pickup in the bridge. Although to be fair to him he said he couldn’t confirm it as the previous owner had told him that, and so wasn’t charging anything extra for it. He had taken the guitar as a trade in against an amp and was just selling it on. He only told me that when I collected it, so I was never expecting it.
So the question is,how does one ever know what pickups are in a used guitar, on the assumption that there is no branding on them somewhere, but a commenter on the other thread suggested that they’re not (or at least the bareknuckles aren’t) and I can’t recall seeing a pick up branded anywhere except the top of it eg: Seymour Duncan.
So do we just take the word of the seller?
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They are humbuckers though, can't say for sure if their single coils have branding on them.
Would be worth emailing and asking, they're usually very quick to reply.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Worst case scenario, you eventually raise the bridge/tailpiece to discover no BKP logo on the underside of the bridge position pickup. That just means you can not claim the pickup to be something that it is not.
Play the guitar as is. If you like the bridge position pickup, keep it. If you find it unsatisfying, change it.
Thanks for the reply. Ive no intention of changing, and I had agreed to buy it without mention of pick ups. So I don't really care what is in it. It was kind of a "oh and I believe there's a bareknuckle pickup in the bridge" Which just posed the question, without branding, how does one ever know what it is?
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
first guy sells it as a BKP rewind. Second guy sells it as a BKP pickup.
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They do have Bareknuckle labels, so it wouldn’t stop that - just no model designation.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Since, for example, a vintage Fender single coil carried no identifying markings, the purchaser of a present day vintage-alike pickup may wish to pretend that the modern recreation resembles the original item as closely as possible. Hence, no logo.
they also made many custom models for a long time before restricting most customers to the standard range
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It's not that I'm so puzzled by though - it's the lack of model identification on the pickup, so if you've got one you may know it's a Bareknuckle, but without some at best informed guesswork you can't tell what type.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
that stopped when Tim decided the range was complete enough to cover most scenarios. They could have stickers now
Some have also changed names and been tweaked along the way. A tele Flat 50 from 10 years ago is a different model today. I think it became the 52 model and they made a new 50 based on more experiences with the real things
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