# Which is the BEST Bareknuckle bridge Pickup?



## KevinTJH (May 15, 2017)

I'm currently in the process of building a custom high-end 7-string guitar with a fixed bridge, a single bridge humbucker and one volume knob.
The lowest string will be a .66 and tuned to Drop A.

The specs of the guitar will be a fixed bridge, Maple neck, Ebony fretboard, and Ash or Mahogany body (which will probably affect the pickup decision)

I'm set on a Bareknuckle pickup and am deciding between the *Black Hawk*, *Juggernaut* or *Aftermath*. I haven't considered other models from Bareknuckle pickups but am open to other options.
In terms of tone, I like something that sounds big and fat but still very tight.


Which Bareknuckle pickup would you go for? Also, how will the Ash or Mahogany body affect your decision?



Thanks in advance!


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## jerm (May 15, 2017)

Aftermath is very bright so it won't work well with Ash as well as it would with mahogany.

A C-Warpig would work well in Ash. 

Black hawks and Juggz should be good in either.


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## Stijnson (May 15, 2017)

I would ask again once you've fully decided on what specs to go with for your guitar. Ash or mahogany? Not exactly similar choices, and considering BKP's are a bit finnicky about which woods they work well with.


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## kylendm (May 15, 2017)

I have juggs, c-pig, and aftermaths. I think the aftermaths are a bit too stiff and tight but the juggernauts sound huge and clear. Especially with chords. 
Ceramic warpig is definitely one of my favorite pickups too. Fat and clear but still can get nice and tight. If you have a brighter guitar it'd be perfect for you.


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## Talmaci (May 15, 2017)

I have Cold Sweat, Painkiller, Aftermath, Blackhawk.
Cold Sweat - you can play everything you want. I put it in LP and play Buckethead.
Painkiller - extremely tight but it still has tons of bass. Fast and aggressive.
Aftermath - super aggressive humbucker. Perfect for separate notes. Perfect for modern metal. But you can't play anything else on Aftermath. It is created for modern metal and lives in that territory. 
Black hawk - more natural sounding than Aftermath, not such percussive. It sounds more aggressive than Cold Sweat. It is very unusual humbucker.

In your situation and for your guitar I would 100% recommend Painkiller.
It is great for downtuned stuff. IMO it is NOT djent pickup as it is written on official site. It is just clear, tight, aggressive. .66 string? You need Painkiller.


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## Emperor Guillotine (May 15, 2017)

The Black Hawks are a peculiar pickup. They have a lot of treble in their EQ curve, which gives them a lot of presence and clarity. You'd think that having a lot of treble, they wouldn't sound good in ash which is a naturally bright tonewood. However, I've personally yet to hear the Black Hawks sound bad in any guitar of any wood (ash, mahogany, alder, basswood, walnut, poplar). Like Talmaci said above, it is an unusual humbucker. Although, I will say that the Black Hawks have lasted longer as an "in-demand" pickup that players love versus some of these other "flavor of the month" pickups.

The Aftermaths are ALL mids, super stiff, super dry, and super tight. In my opinion, the Aftermath only sounds good in mahogany or any tonewood that is warmer and deeper to balance out the immense mids of the pickup's EQ curve. A guitar that I got awhile back has an ash body with a purpleheart neck, and it came with a set of Aftermaths installed. So, I have a naturally bright piece of wood (ash) along with a very mid-present piece of wood (purpleheart) with even more mids thrown on top (Aftermaths). Dialing in a good tone with the guitar has been near impossible. I'm not a fan of the Aftermaths. Like Talmaci said above, it is pretty much a pickup exclusively for modern metal.

The Juggernauts I feel were just a "flavor of the month" pickup. Similar to the Aftermaths in terms of sound, feel, and response but with a hybrid magnet design and more balance in the EQ curve so that they sound better and fuller.

Many, many guys across the forums recommend the Warpig (Alnico or ceramic), and I think it is a pickup that you can't go wrong with in any tonewood. It's just so well-designed and well-voiced despite being labeled as an "in your face" brutal tone pickup. If you're having this custom, single-pickup guitar built with modern metal in mind, then I would put down the Warpig as my recommendation because it is a straight-forward pickup that will sound good in any tonewood, and there is no gamble as to whether you'll like it or not.

I am not sure what your neck construction will be (bolt-on, set, neck-thru) or what your body thickness/depth will be, but should you go with ash as the body wood, look into the Holy Diver. It's a perfected hot-rodded 80s pickup. Tight, responsive, crystal clear, and plenty of gain on tap while retaining that "almost" traditional tone that you'd recognize from a hot-rodded pickup. It is a darker sounding pickup, so you can tell that it was made with lightweight, ash, bolt-on guitars in mind.

Contrarywise, if you went with mahogany as the body wood, perhaps look into the Rebel Yell. It's pretty much another hot-rodded 80s pickup with plenty of clarity, sweet highs, and harmonic content. (It doesn't sound as "perfected" as the Holy Diver in my opinion.) It is a brighter sounding pickup, so you can tell that it was made with heavy, beefy, mahogany, set-neck or neck-thru guitars in mind.

Lastly, look into BKP's vintage hot pickup offerings. It seems like many players nowadays, even in the modern metal sphere, are realizing that you don't need a super hot, "contemporary output" pickup in order to get a good tone when playing through a high-gain amp/rig/setting. The more vintage voiced pickups retain dynamics better and they can lend to a more "lively", more open, less sterile (or less clinical) sound. Some of BKP's vintage hot pickups just blow away their contemporary output counterparts that are similar tonally. I know that quite a few guys on here advocate for the Black Dog as a bridge pickup and the VH-II as a neck pickup.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 15, 2017)

You want big and fat but still tight- look no further than the ceramic warpig. Personally I found the high end a bit much in my 8 string but otherwise I loved that pick up. It's so savage. It's a darker sounding pickup than the juggernauts or aftermath but not so dark as to be muddy in ash. 
Juggs still have good low end and tightness but they also have a very distinct kind of cocked wah/vocal quality. I would not recommend aftermaths in ash as they are very tight, very dry and extremely clanky/metalllic in the mids.


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## Silence2-38554 (May 15, 2017)

Really, we need to know what scale length you'll be working with. For example, I've been trying to track down the perfect pickup for my 7 that I tune to drop Ab with a 25.5" scale & have been having a hell of a time. The guitar also has a swamp ash body, but a wenge neck w/ maple fretboard. The first set I threw in were Juggernauts, which had way too much low-mid in the guitar & felt flubby. I then tried Painkillers & find myself running into mostly the same issue, but with a different character in the high end. 

I plan to try Black Hawks & Impulses next, very curious to A/B the difference between those sets. For your guitar, taking only the neck woods into account, I actually would suggest the Juggernaut or Painkiller. I fully believe the reason I'm having issues finding a good match for my guitar is the wenge neck and the fact that I use a 68 for my 7th. 

I disagree that the Jugg is a "flavor of the month" pickup. It's like an alnico Black Hawk's mids and feel got married to an Aftermath's clarity. They're normally my favorite pickup from BK, just didn't work in my guitar.

Another thing I wanted to note- since you're going with a single volume knob option, I highly suggest soldering in a simulated tone circuit to the volume pot. Otherwise your high end / pick attack could be out of control, especially if you go with a ceramic mag pickup. Essentially, you take a 500k resistor & .022uf cap, solder them end to end, then solder the whole thing from your volume pot's output lug to ground. Pickup designers voice their pickups with a standard vol / tone knob scheme in mind & using just a volume can throw a whole new wrench into the gears & make everything sound "ice picky".

I went through a few otherwise good sounding pickup sets in my single vol. Ibanez 'till I stumbled upon this little tip & it seriously solved all the issues I was having (even Juggernauts sounded too bright on higher notes).


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## Talmaci (May 15, 2017)

Totally agree with Emperor Guillotine. Also think you don't need juggs if you have possibility to buy Aftermath or Painkiller. 
The Painkiller was one and only solution for my EXTREMELY bassy 7string.
It has ash body, 5piece koa/maple, flamed maple top. Neck through. 
And it has so much bass, that Blackhawks couldn't cope with it. But Blackhawk sounds great in 6string guitars.
So it's very individual. I have ash guitar, but neck-through construction made it sound dark. 

But I'm convinced you will never go wrong with BKPs.


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## TheRileyOBrien (May 15, 2017)

I'd go ceramic war pig in that guitar for sure.


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## KevinTJH (May 15, 2017)

Thank you so much for all the responses! I wasn't expecting this many replies so quickly.

I haven't decided on the body wood yet because I'm making that decision based on aestathics with the finish I'm going for (pore goth). It'll be a bolt-on construction because I want a complete different finish on the neck. It'll be a 27" scale length (I'm assuming that's the standard/most common 7-string length).

Aftermath is definitely out of the picture now. The Juggernaut is what Misha from Periphery uses but I'm personally not a fan of his tone. The Blawk Hawk is used by both guitarists from the band Northlane, and I quite fancy the tone and I'll actually be borrowing someone's 6-string Fender Tele that has it (in Drop A tuning) to record in the studio this week.

It seems that the Warpig has the biggest vote here so I'll definitely check that one out!


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## Silence2-38554 (May 15, 2017)

KevinTJH said:


> Thank you so much for all the responses! I wasn't expecting this many replies so quickly.
> 
> I haven't decided on the body wood yet because I'm making that decision based on aestathics with the finish I'm going for (pore goth). It'll be a bolt-on construction because I want a complete different finish on the neck. It'll be a 27" scale length (I'm assuming that's the standard/most common 7-string length).
> 
> ...



27" is definitely not the most common 7 string length. I wish! 25.5" is absolutely the most common 7 string length, as they have been made that way by larger companies like Ibanez for decades. I would even say 26.5" is more common than 27 (and is my personal favorite). 

The Black Hawk is no longer used by Josh from Northlane, as he worked with BKP to develop the Impulse, his signature pickup set. It's possible both guitarists are now using the Impulse. From the research I've done, it seems the Black Hawk is more aggressive but the Impulse is more balanced.


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## AngstRiddenDreams (May 15, 2017)

If you get an Ash body put a Warpig in it. If you go Mahogany try an Aftermath. I love mine. It definitely is stiff and dry but if you have nuance in your picking hand and the ability to really dig in you can make it snarl. It sounds crazy pissed off in the right hands.


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## Emperor Guillotine (May 15, 2017)

KevinTJH said:


> Thank you so much for all the responses! I wasn't expecting this many replies so quickly.
> 
> I haven't decided on the body wood yet because I'm making that decision based on aestathics with the finish I'm going for (pore goth). It'll be a bolt-on construction because I want a complete different finish on the neck. It'll be a 27" scale length (I'm assuming that's the standard/most common 7-string length).


If you are going for an exposed grain/pore finish, then ash (specifically swamp ash since it has deep grain/pores) is your only option. Mahogany has no grain or pores to it. 

Also, you are aware that you can have a different finish between the neck and body on ANY guitar regardless of neck construction, right? Whether it is a bolt-on, set neck, or neck-thru. However, if you're going for an exposed grain/pore finish, then you're going to have a basic stain job with an oil finish on the body. And honestly, an oil finish on the neck is the best option to opt for since many guys prefer an oil finish on their necks because of the smooth "natural wood feel" over satin-finished necks or gloss-finished necks (which gunk up or get sticky as you play longer). Regardless of your choice of neck construction, you'll have the same finish on your entire guitar body and neck: an oil finish.

No offense, mate, but you kind of sound like you don't know much about the guitar building process or what you want. If you don't know much about the process or know what you want, should you really be shelling out the large amounts of money for a custom?


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## KevinTJH (May 16, 2017)

Emperor Guillotine said:


> If you are going for an exposed grain/pore finish, then ash (specifically swamp ash since it has deep grain/pores) is your only option. Mahogany has no grain or pores to it.
> 
> Also, you are aware that you can have a different finish between the neck and body on ANY guitar regardless of neck construction, right? Whether it is a bolt-on, set neck, or neck-thru. However, if you're going for an exposed grain/pore finish, then you're going to have a basic stain job with an oil finish on the body. And honestly, an oil finish on the neck is the best option to opt for since many guys prefer an oil finish on their necks because of the smooth "natural wood feel" over satin-finished necks or gloss-finished necks (which gunk up or get sticky as you play longer). Regardless of your choice of neck construction, you'll have the same finish on your entire guitar body and neck: an oil finish.
> 
> No offense, mate, but you kind of sound like you don't know much about the guitar building process or what you want. If you don't know much about the process or know what you want, should you really be shelling out the large amounts of money for a custom?


I'm aware of most of what you've just mentioned. High-end is a loose term to use (which is my mistake for using that term), but to me about $1,300 is high end in my budget, and that's how much this guitar will cost me. Just to clarify I'm not the one building it.
My initial choice of body wood was mahogany with a basic crimson red stain, and the tru-oil finish which the builder uses on most of his builds. But then I stumbled across the pore finish on Ash on google, which i am yet to still enquire if he's able to do that for me within my budget.

I was not aware that you could have 2 different finishes on the neck-through construction, the closest I've seen would be the setnecks on Zakk Wylde's signature Les Pauls and I personally think they look hideous where the neck joins the body. l also wasn't keen on having a different colour tone through the middle of the front of the guitar or having a veneer top over it. Apart from that, a neck-through construction will likely stretch my budget a little too far.

The main reason I also included bolt-on construction in my description was just to provide extra info in case the neck construction had a factor to play in the pickup decision.

I take no offense at all that I probably don't know much but i feel like we are both going off-topic a little by discussing my lack of understanding, rather than pickup options!


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## Kaff (May 16, 2017)

Only have Aftermath/Cold Sweat -combo installed in my UV777BK, which has a basswood body and thus slightly on the warmer side of tonewoods. I can recommend the Aftermath for modern metal, it has a very clear tone character, bright sound and good note separation.


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## AngstRiddenDreams (May 16, 2017)

Kaff said:


> Only have Aftermath/Cold Sweat -combo installed in my UV777BK, which has a basswood body and thus slightly on the warmer side of tonewoods. I can recommend the Aftermath for modern metal, it has a very clear tone character, bright sound and good note separation.



Aftermath/Coldsweat is what I'm running. It's insane how versatile it is with a super switch


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## Bearitone (May 16, 2017)

"big fat and tight" sounds like a BKP Warpig to me.

Wood type never affects my choice for anything that has to do with tone. My favorite wood is whatever has the lightest weight and looks the prettiest. Light weight means less stress on your back and shoulders which makes playing more fun 

That said, swampash _in general_ is lighter than mahogany.


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## Emperor Guillotine (May 16, 2017)

KevinTJH said:


> I'm aware of most of what you've just mentioned. High-end is a loose term to use (which is my mistake for using that term), but to me about $1,300 is high end in my budget, and that's how much this guitar will cost me. Just to clarify I'm not the one building it.
> My initial choice of body wood was mahogany with a basic crimson red stain, and the tru-oil finish which the builder uses on most of his builds. But then I stumbled across the pore finish on Ash on google, which i am yet to still enquire if he's able to do that for me within my budget.
> 
> I was not aware that you could have 2 different finishes on the neck-through construction, the closest I've seen would be the setnecks on Zakk Wylde's signature Les Pauls and I personally think they look hideous where the neck joins the body. l also wasn't keen on having a different colour tone through the middle of the front of the guitar or having a veneer top over it. Apart from that, a neck-through construction will likely stretch my budget a little too far.
> ...


Thanks for clarifying, man. I understand exactly what you meant now. 

As far as a pore finish, it is simple to do with a wood such as mahogany that isn't really porous and doesn't have any grain patterns. Simple stain job for the most part. Now in regards to swamp ash, if you want open, empty pores, the process is the same although sandblasting the ash would make it look cooler. On the flipside, if you took the ash and wanted a filled grain like what Mayones does with some of their Gothic models, it is a trickier finish to do. (Filled grain finishes take forever because the luthier has to sandblast the wood and possibly use wire brushes to bring the grain out, then fill the grain with shavings or paint or something, then doing touch-ups by hand with a brush.) Not many luthiers can do the latter with filled grain. 

As far as having two different finishes with a neck-thru guitar, just look at many of the offerings from Kiesel, Legator, and some custom builders. There are production models from companies out there nowadays that will have a gloss body finish and a clear satin neck finish. And I've seen some custom builds from luthiers that have had gloss or satin bodies and oiled necks. Bolt-on construction just makes it easier on the builder because it is less that they have to tape off on the body and take precautions for. It's easier to work with the neck too when it's not attached to the body.

Back on topic to the pickups.



kindsage said:


> "big fat and tight" sounds like a BKP Warpig to me.


^ *ding ding ding*


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## Grindspine (May 16, 2017)

Talmaci said:


> In your situation and for your guitar I would 100% recommend Painkiller.
> It is great for downtuned stuff. IMO it is NOT djent pickup as it is written on official site. It is just clear, tight, aggressive. .66 string? You need Painkiller.



This ^


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## KevinTJH (May 18, 2017)

Emperor Guillotine said:


> As far as having two different finishes with a neck-thru guitar, just look at many of the offerings from Kiesel, Legator, and some custom builders. There are production models from companies out there nowadays that will have a gloss body finish and a clear satin neck finish. And I've seen some custom builds from luthiers that have had gloss or satin bodies and oiled necks. Bolt-on construction just makes it easier on the builder because it is less that they have to tape off on the body and take precautions for. It's easier to work with the neck too when it's not attached to the body.
> 
> Back on topic to the pickups.
> 
> ^ *ding ding ding*


Thanks for sharing some useful info on the process of the pore finishes!

I've definitely checked out those guys too but I really cannot justify spending $2,000-4,000 on a single guitar, which I will only be using for one specific genre and tuning. (I have a habit of setting up my instruments specific to each genre). Since I no longer tour around with my previous band anymore.
Though off-topic again, in case you might be interested in checking out the variety of genres I attempt to do (scroll down for the newest songs):
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=318945





Silence2-38554 said:


> Another thing I wanted to note- since you're going with a single volume knob option, I highly suggest soldering in a simulated tone circuit to the volume pot. Otherwise your high end / pick attack could be out of control, especially if you go with a ceramic mag pickup. Essentially, you take a 500k resistor & .022uf cap, solder them end to end, then solder the whole thing from your volume pot's output lug to ground. Pickup designers voice their pickups with a standard vol / tone knob scheme in mind & using just a volume can throw a whole new wrench into the gears & make everything sound "ice picky".
> 
> I went through a few otherwise good sounding pickup sets in my single vol. Ibanez 'till I stumbled upon this little tip & it seriously solved all the issues I was having (even Juggernauts sounded too bright on higher notes).


That's definitely very important to take note of. Would this be common knowledge to most guitar builders if I mentioned it to them?

I've only got 2 other single-volume-knob & single-humbucker guitars (which I love a lot). 
One of them is the Godin Redlin 1 with a single EMG-81 and that thing just feels and sounds perfect straight out of the box. 
The other guitar is my customised Fender telecaster with a single Dimarzio X2N humbucker and no tone controls. For some reason this guitar sounds very muddy and it needs quite a bit of a mid boost from an overdrive pedal to sound decent at all. I just had the pickup soldered directly onto a CTS 500k Pot. Is it missing something?



I'm pretty keen on either the Warpig or Painkiller at the moment, and possibly the Juggernauts.
I thought I would be set on the Blackhawks, but one of my favourite and very trusted Youtube guitarist gave it some pretty bad bashing about its tone so I'm a little turned off by it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3jRTuVhKKs

What is everyone's preference towards Ceramic vs Alnico V? BKP seems to offer the option of the 2 for a few of their models.


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## jerm (May 18, 2017)

^For the Warpig I'd go for a Ceramic. Tighter low end, slight more cut in the upper range.


I've never heard that regarding the Blackhawks.....I know they're very high output but still.


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## Emperor Guillotine (May 18, 2017)

KevinTJH said:


> I thought I would be set on the Blackhawks, but one of my favourite and very trusted Youtube guitarist gave it some pretty bad bashing about its tone so I'm a little turned off by it


 I'm sorry, but while Fluff knows gear (or at least what he is paid to plug or be the A&R for), he does not know tone-dialing that well. I saw that video and shared it amongst some friends, and we all had a good laugh because we get killer tones out of the Blackhawk pickups no problem - as do many, many other guitarists around the Internet.


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