Identifying BareKnuckle pickups help

[elkoki]

I bought a used Ibanez with Bareknuckles , the seller didn’t mention anything about what models they were all he knew was they were BareKnuckles .. how can I identify what these are ? And do they look legit ?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

If you have a multimeter you can cross reference their DCR values in kOhms against Bare Knuckle's website.

Dual hex bolt coils means they are either warpigs, aftermath, juggernaut or silos.

 

[elkoki]

Yeah

If you have a multimeter you can cross reference their DCR values in kOhms against Bare Knuckle's website.

Dual hex bolt coils means they are either warpigs, aftermath, juggernaut or silos.

I got a multimeter , not confident in my ability to use one but I try . The bridge reads at 13.9 sometimes 14, it’s cold at the moment, I hear that affects it right ? The neck reads at 8.75 the closest set out of the ones you listed is the Juggernauts the site says they’re 13.3 and and 8.9 .

 

[DoctorStoner]

There is no sure fire way to know, see if they have the Juggernaut sound (super midrange heavy). Unfortunately BK lets you pick what screws so they could be any model (with double screw rows) and the 14k area is where a lot of mid-hot pickups are.

 

[elkoki]

Yeah

I got a multimeter , not confident in my ability to use one but I try . The bridge reads at 13.9 sometimes 14, it’s cold at the moment, I hear that affects it right ? The neck reads at 8.75 the closest set out of the ones you listed is the Juggernauts the site says they’re 13.3 and and 8.9 .

meant to say 9.75**

 

[elkoki]

There is no sure fire way to know, see if they have the Juggernaut sound (super midrange heavy). Unfortunately BK lets you pick what screws so they could be any model (with double screw rows) and the 14k area is where a lot of mid-hot pickups are.

That sucks so I’ll never be for sure what they are lol

 

[DoctorStoner]

That sucks so I’ll never be for sure what they are lol

All that really matters is if you like them, unless you want to buy another set lol. If you don't like them, I've seen plenty on reverb that say Bare Knuckle 'I don't know'; here are the DCR.

You are probably right though, it does fit the Juggernaut values well so if they are djenty you probably have it figured out.

 

[BabUShka]

My vote goes to Juggernaut. Mainly because they were really popular in 7 string guitars a couple of years ago. The patina on the back tells me that they're probably a couple of years old

 

[elkoki]

My vote goes to Juggernaut. Mainly because they were really popular in 7 string guitars a couple of years ago. The patina on the back tells me that they're probably a couple of years old

The guitar was setup to drop G# so this likely was a Periphery fan looking to djent . So yeah I guess they’re probably Juggernauts .

 

[Frostbite]

How big is the pickup? The jugg has the alnico and ceramic magnet is the bottom is THICC

 

[elkoki]

How big is the pickup? The jugg has the alnico and ceramic magnet is the bottom is THICC

It’s not super thick , I contacted BK and they said they’re likely aftermaths . Juggernauts are usually super thick ?

 

[Lemonbaby]

It’s not super thick , I contacted BK and they said they’re likely aftermaths .

Well, congratulations then.

 

[elkoki]

Well, congratulations then.

Well they said “likely” , not a definitive answer either

 

[Edika]

The Aftermath bridge has a thick Ceramic center magnets and two thick Ceramic flankers.
The Cold Sweat had a thick Ceramic center magnet but has lower DCR. If you can move away the tape a bit you'll get an idea of the magnet type and thickness. Still not an easy task to identify them. I mean for 50 to 70% more than known pickups, you'd think adding stickers with the models would not reduce their profit margins.

 

[oversteve]

here's the example of thick vs thin magnet

also if it's black and non conductive (you can test it with the multimeter) it's ceramic, if it's silverish and conductive it's alnico

 

[Galeus708]

May be worth emailing Bareknuckle directly. Their customer service is very helpful (or, they were when I emailed them like a decade ago, but I imagine it's still the same)

 

[elkoki]

here's the example of thick vs thin magnet

also if it's black and non conductive (you can test it with the multimeter) it's ceramic, if it's silverish and conductive it's alnico

Cool , but don’t certain models have the option for alnico or ceramic ?

 

[BabUShka]

Being a huge fan of BPK and I have/had +10 sets of them installed in my guitars - it really annoys me that they even dont bother putting a cheap sticker on the back of the baseplate.

 

[oversteve]

Cool , but don’t certain models have the option for alnico or ceramic ?

It's just another method to narrow down the variety when DC reading is not enough, also some pickups are pretty unique like Juggs having alnico center and ceramic spacers on the sides and it's easy to ID them like that.
Also there's one more thing that might help ID the pup - the color of the wire that you can see through that small hole on the edge of bobbin, in case of humbuckers it is usually either brown, yellow-orange or red-orange

 

[elkoki]

It's just another method to narrow down the variety when DC reading is not enough, also some pickups are pretty unique like Juggs having alnico center and ceramic spacers on the sides and it's easy to ID them like that.
Also there's one more thing that might help ID the pup - the color of the wire that you can see through that small hole on the edge of bobbin, in case of humbuckers it is usually either brown, yellow-orange or red-orange

Something else I just noticed.. these pickups are kind of noisy.. like as a chord begins to fade you can hear a lot of back ground noise.. I was thinking it was the pots so I swapped them but it didn’t help , thoughts on this? Are bkps sometimes a bit noisy? Or possible wiring problem?