are the WCR\Rio Grande\Bare Knuckles that much better?

[bigangryguitar]

Shane - Man, you should have pulled that Dragon I out of the 22 before you let it go. I know how sweet those are!!

It all happened so fast it didin't even dawn on me until it was too late. Actually after adjusting the height a bit this morning I am going to leave this stock. Actually thinking back when I had the Custom 22 it really didn't sound any better than this axe. The Rosewood neck really helps balance out the #6 pups. I still might look into this at some point but man it was making me grin today with the bridge pup up just a tad. Thanks for all the help guys.

_Shane

 

[dewsterdude]

My quick assessment owning 2 sets of wcr's, a set of bare knuckle mules and having a suhr ssh+ and dsh+ is:

Wcr crossroads neck and godwood or goodwood bridge is great in a maple mahogany guitar. The pickups are full and lively and have a ton of extra harmonics going on. Really fills out a rhythm part nicely, clean or dirty. kind of adds the sparkle of a single coil in with the fullness of a humbucker.

The mules in a maple/mahogany sound great too. A little bit less going on in the harmonics than the wcrs, but definitely similiar. I've got mine in a carvin ct6.

The suhr is a great sounding pickup but a lot more dialed back in the paf vintage harmonics. Sounds great but when compared back to back with the wcr and mules seems a lot more tame. My best friend has suhrs pickups in all his custom guitars now. He prefers the dsh/dsh+ combo but has the ssh+/ssv combo as well. Great sounds and we do a lot of live recording.

I'm a rhythm guy and like all 3, but my lead guitarist likes the suhr pickups hands down because the harmonics on the wcrs and mules can get way over the top when doing fast lead work with a jcm800 moderate to heavy distortion sound. He likes to create his own harmonics and the suhrs are the best fit for him....

In short it depends on what your looking for. I'd say you can't go wrong with any of the above 3 choices.

For slow blues and rhythm I really like the wcrs.

 

[glassjaw7]

I like Duncans and can use them in almost any guitar. That said, there's something special about some of the booteek offerings out there. Played some Anderson H-somethings in a NAMM cobra and it sounded AMAZING. Played a couple LPs with Bareknuckles and the Rebel Yell is also a special pup. Just perfectly balanced, open and juicy, but ballsy enough to grind.

I find that most Duncans have a sort of crispiness going on while a lot of the custom stuff seems to be really smooth and "refined".
I am extremely happy with the JB in my G&L and the 59/Custom hybrid clips sound promising.

 

[RedRider]

I have 2 rosewood neck PRS SC's that happen to have 59/09's in them and they do sound great....but with what they want for the pups I think they are on crack....there will NEVER be a day I spend 500 dollars on a set of PRS pickups....NEVER!!! I had a set of WCR buckers in a rosewood neck McNaught VSC (Darkburst neck/Goodwood Bridge) and it was absolutely FANTASTIC for Rock/Country/Pop....dont think it would have been the best for metal, but it covered literally everything else better than any other set I ever had in a IRW neck guitar. THey were EXTREMELY dynamic and sensitive to the volume controls and were probably my favorite pair of pups ever....

I can say that the Motor City bridge humbucker in Dave Friedmans guitar was one of the best rock pups I have ever heard also....

I have a PRS IRW neck doublecut with PRS 6's in it and they just seem dull to me compared to most other pups...they are ok, but just ok...not anything to brag about for sure...if I could score a set of PRS 59/09's or 53/10's with gold covers or poles for say 200 bux then I would swap them....but any more than that I would just get a set of custom pups instead....no doubt about it...

 

[GuitarGuyLP]

I also agree that matching the pup to the guitar is the most important part, but that being said I currently have WCR pups in both my guitars. I have tried about 6-7 different bridge pups in my Ibanez, but nothing comes close to the WCR Ironman set with A5 magnets. They are a very beefy pup in a bright guitar, the result is just right. I have a Darkburst in my PRS it is a more vintage sound not as modern, or high gain, but exactly what I was going for in my PRS. I had a MCP Afwayu in my PRS before the darkburst, and it sounded too similar to my Ibanez, but a great pickup as well.

I have had some great success with some cheaper pups too. I put a Carvin M22SD (I think that is the model) in a Godin LG guitar that was a bit on the dark side mahogany body, and neck, rosewood board, and the spike in the treble of the M22SD added the cut and clarity that guitar was missing. That same pup sounded like crap in every other guitar I put it in.

 

[Devilinside]

Depends on what you're after. In terms of clarity, as a general rule - yes, BKPs are superior.

-C

Agree. I just removed a set of suhr aldrichs and replaced with a BK AFTERMATH. huge difference in clarity and cut but they would not work for cleans well. Ive had PK'S which are probably still my favorite, and ive got a crawler set in my V and the sound great as well, and clean up better.

 

[whathasitevermeant]

BareKnuckle does stop short of anything you'd expect from a boutique company. Great customer service too.

 

[FourT6and2]

BareKnuckle does stop short of anything you'd expect from a boutique company. Great customer service too.

Huh? The phrase you used means they're no good and failed to meet expectations. But then you say "great customer service TOO." Which means your previous statement was a positive one. I'm confused. Did you like them or not?

 

[jmgman69]

It really just boils down to matching the right pickup to the right guitar. Sometimes it may be a boutique offering and sometimes not.