DiMarzio vs Bare Knuckle pickups

[Adam Of Angels]

Actually, there was logic, its just implied - give a novice a typical violin, or give him a stratovarius, and you're simply not going to hear the difference as well as if you made the same comparison with a virtuoso playing. No condescension, just logic.

 

[ev1ltwin]

Actually, there was logic, its just implied - give a novice a typical violin, or give him a stratovarius, and you're simply not going to hear the difference as well as if you made the same comparison with a virtuoso playing. No condescension, just logic.

you're equating the sound of a technique with the sound of the guitar tho. the intrinsic tone of the guitar itself is independent of the player, and that's why there is no logical conclusion to draw about woods and pickups with how skilled someone is as a player.

I agree that satriani can make a $100 guitar sound better than I can make a $2000 guitar, but that has nothing to do with statements like: "the quality of wood, whether good or bad, is going to be very apparent whether plugged in or not" or "If the guitar makes less difference than the pickups, your playing is sub-par". Both of those statements are illogical.

EDIT: the whole point i was making, for example, is that satriani is going to sound a lot better on a cheap guitar with expensive pickups than he will on an expensive guitar with cheap pickups. the logic i used to draw this conclusion is based on how an electric guitar produces sound.

 

[ev1ltwin]

god, i come off as such an asshole

 

[Adam Of Angels]

There is a connection, though. That's my point - the sound of a guitar is not entirely independent of the player's skill. Practically speaking, there are few, if any, ways to determine the sound of a guitar without a player. That's almost aside from the point though. A beginner is likely to sound very similar on a MIM strat as he is on a USA PRS, and an expert is likely to demonstrate the difference between the two.

 

[Adam Of Angels]

god, i come off as such an asshole

Don't worry about it, I'm not a pussy

I mean well, and I know you do too.

 

[JacobShredder]

Well..we've gone from helping a lad pick out pickups to having a dick measuring competition of know-how.

How bout we leave it at:
Crap guitar+goodpickups sounds good
Great guitar+good pickups sounds great.

Everybody happy?
Goooooooddddd.

TS have any questions?

I'm not trying to be a dick either

 

[Adam Of Angels]

I'd call it more of a circular argument.

Anyway, to the OP: unfortunately, the only way to know what works for you is to give some pickups a try. I STILL don't know which pickups work best for me, after all of these years.. but the good thing is that its fun to try a load of different pickups. I say start with the cheapest option, though.

 

[ev1ltwin]

Don't worry about it, I'm not a pussy

I mean well, and I know you do too.

haha, thanks man. the internet brings out the worst in me.

but back to the topic, i guess we will have to agree to disagree. i find this post from this thread almost entirely untrue, just based on how an electric produces sound:

This is entirely untrue. The guitar itself (meaning everything other than the pickups) comprises a lot more of your tone than the pickups. Pickups are around 12 - 20%. Otherwise, you could just get a piece of trash and spend 300+ dollars in pickups and have killer tone.

You can get a GREAT tone from a shit guitar with awesome pickups. I'm 100% serious. The whole reason why you wouldn't want to do this is because a shitty guitar isn't going to play as well, look as good, be as reliable, stay in tune, etc. as an expensive one. That's why you should save up for a nice guitar instead of blowing $300 on pickups for a guitar that you have to battle to play well or stay in tune.

 

[ev1ltwin]

Well..we've gone from helping a lad pick out pickups to having a dick measuring competition of know-how.

How bout we leave it at:
Crap guitar+goodpickups sounds good
Great guitar+good pickups sounds great.

Everybody happy?
Goooooooddddd.

TS have any questions?

I'm not trying to be a dick either

i'm average sized, and i'm okay with that

 

[JacobShredder]

I agree with Adam, go cheapest, if you don't like em, trade around still don't find anything then move on to more expensive pickups

 

[ev1ltwin]

in my rush to start an argument, i neglected to offer any advice to OP.

First: What kind of sound are you going for?
Second: What amp are you playing through?
Third: What don't you like about your current tone?

 

[xlabambax]

hmm.. I think I am gonna stick with the cheapest. I am sure DiMarzios will be good enough for me

 

[maxoom]

I have and like both brands and am just as pleased with Dimarzio`s as BKP`s but will keep both.
The LF/CL set is a really great set and a good price too.

 

[onefingersweep]

i have to say, for my carvin dc727, i did not notice the slightest difference when i tried bkp nailbomb and painkiller, i have no idea why. then i put a d-sonic in, i was instantly happy. pickup is but a small part of your tone equation. i feel guitar itself tends to dominate the sound. i have similar experience with all my 5 guitars. no matter how i switch pickups, i can tell there is something in the tone that never changes

True and the more transparent the pickup is the less the sound will change, it will let the sound of the guitar come forward more. This is also a thing handwound pickups like BKP's tend to have, more transparency.

 

[Zugster]

I don't see the point in throwing BKP's in a cheaper guitar like that one to be honest

Go DiMarzio from CL.

Makes sense. Zimbloth (Axe Palace) deals DiMarzios, and I'd definetley recommend doing business with him.

 

[Andromalia]

I agree with Adam, go cheapest, if you don't like em, trade around still don't find anything then move on to more expensive pickups

disagree. When trying stuff, you're not sure about, try the easily resellable first. Store returns are all nice but it costs postage at length. And a specific store might get bored with it if you abuse their return policy.

 

[sevenstringj]

Maxofmetal said it best.

BTW, if you want BKPs without paying quite as much, just send the stock pickups to BKP to rewind. The shitty exchange rate will still mean it's more expensive than new Dimarzios, but not that much.