NGD: Fender ST-57 Stratocaster, CIJ, 2004-2005, Bare Knuckle Trilogy Suite

hduns

Today I received a second hand set of Bare Knuckle's Trilogy pickups and promptly installed them in a Strat I got last week, replacing the GFS (not sure which set) that a previous owner had installed.

The GFS were OK but nothing to write home about: a generic and thin (for my tastes) 'classic' Strat sound with a rather weak bridge pickup. I prefer my single coils to have more beef and grunt.

This particular Trilogy set has the optional zinc plates on every pickup, which was something I was looking for.

I had a little trepidation regarding just how hot these pickups are specced (15.5 / 12.5 / 12.5), and worried that they might not do cleans very well, but other reviews and soundclips convinced me that they are more than capable of that as well as big, juicy overdriven tones.

I'm a lefty and part of my setup for any guitar I keep includes full copper shielding of the cavities, as well as installing proper lefty-friendly CTS reverse audio taper pots. In this particular case I'm really glad I sprang for the proper pots, as these pickups respond really nicely to rolling off the volume.

I'm obviously in the the very early honeymoon period right now, but I must say I'm loving them so far! The cleans are pristine, full and well-balanced, yet definitely retain a goodly dollop of characteristic Stratty sound. There is plenty of clarity, presence and fullness. It's a wide-range, detailed sound, but certainly not lacking in character.

I have been a Tele man for years and still have Teles too, so I wasn't too bothered about twang this time - if I want twang, I'm gonna grab a Tele.

The overdriven sounds are beefy, tight and defined, a HUGE improvement for me over the looser, thinner sound of the GFS. Very little noise in any position, despite being true single coils. I'm glad I shielded the guitar properly and grabbed a RWRP set.

I will revisit this post and add more thoughts and possibly soundclips once I've spent more time with them, but for now, I can say I'm happy and that these are definitely worth checking out if you fancy a slightly more modern-sounding Strat without sacrificing true single coil character. The clips on BK's site (HERE) are an accurate representation of the sound, but I disagree with their description of these only being for those seeking 'anything but vintage' - I'd say they are probably more than capable of tackling more traditional music too.

While I was at it, I swapped out the cream and white cosmetics for black and christened the guitar Kohaku, meaning Amber in Japanese; I give all guitars I plan to keep a name from on their country of origin, just a little bit of fun

hduns

Oops, photo link didn't work! Here we go:

bingefeller

Really nice guitar, I have often thought about the Trilogy Pickups.  Enjoy playing it!

hduns

bingefeller said:

Really nice guitar, I have often thought about the Trilogy Pickups.  Enjoy playing it!

Thanks! They seem awesome so far, definitely worth a try for a non-traditional but still identifiably Stratty sound!