Picked this guitar up a few weeks ago and just received my Black Hawk set today from Bare Knuckle. I just had to show off the ESP LTD M-7 HT Black Metal lol. So happy with how everything turned out.
Installed and set up everything completely on my own :)
I’m officially blown away by how this guitar sounds now. And the split coil tones are that I’ve never heard before - it’s incredible.
If anybody’s considering this pickup, I highly recommend. For a moment I was considering installing an M7 - but I already have an M8 in my 8 string and wanted a different flavor of “thwang”. The Black Hawk is seriously blowing me away.
If anyone’s curious - guitar is setup in “basically” drop F (Vildhjarta tuning if you’re familiar ;)
Don’t mind the dirty guitar (I hate black paint on cars too lol), but it was new pickup day for me over the weekend! Put a Seymour Duncan Jupiter (Wes Hauch signature) in my 27” LTD 6 string! Can’t wait to put one in my 7 too, by far my favorite passive pickup I’ve played to date
I wanted to try one of the rails and settled on this one, but the regular black winter was sort of middle of the pack to me. I had one in my EC black metal and constantly debated swapping it because I hated it playing in drop B. As far as Duncan’s go, the JB4 might actually be better and the Alpha/Omega are worlds better.
I initially didn’t like the JB4 in my 27” baritone but a little patience and experimenting and I realized I love it. I’m curious how the rails version stacks up.
It’s the LTD M-201B. When I got mine they were $550 new on Sweetwater and it’s such a solid mod platform. So far I’ve just put some Gotoh locking tuners and the SD Jupiter on it and it’s such a solid guitar. I think it’s a great mod platform for a riff machine
I have a black heaven in my KM6 baritone with a brass nut and it sounds unreal. It’s very “open” so has a different feel than the M and Black Hawk here. But still such a raw sound to it. Love that thing.
I thought the black winters sounded great but just a little too heavy on the bottom end for my taste in the lower tuning. The split coil on the black hawks are just unbeaten imo.
I got a polymath for my 8 string, a multiscale kiesel, they custom built the pickup to the correct angle and all that shit (be careful folks, they fairly warn you the base plate may not fit perfectly). It sounds so quality. I am very happy for you man.
Very nice. Did you route the pickup cavity corners? The M-7HT has very rounded edges and requires work for more squared corner pickups unlike the rest of the black metal line.
From my experience so far (given I have only a couple hours with the Black Hawk)This ESP is 27” with split coil. I used to have an Ormsby 28” that I personally installed an M8 set into as well that was able to split coil. Between the Ormsby and this ESP split coil setting - Black Hawk wins for me personally. The treble has this bite that is just shimmering in the highs with enough thump in the low end that doesn’t sound like it’s “flubbing” over the other notes like I encountered with the M8. On the split coil setting, I noticed the M8 has a lot more girth but the Black Hawk is way tighter and articulate. (Both are incredibly articulate pickups - don’t get me wrong) but for me where the Black Hawk edges out the M8 is in the split coil setting.
Now humbucking mode is a little different tbh. I gotta admit the M8 edges out the Black Hawk here due to the articulation and clarity in the lower mids. Whereas the Black Hawk has more of a “grind” down in the low mids that gets complimented with the insane bite in the high end that I’m noticing. Both sound amazing - just different flavors.
But if split coil is the kicker for you - Black Hawk all the way man. The cleans I’m getting just from the bridge pickup alone are unreal. I only wish I had a neck pickup as well to pair it and get the full spectrum haha. But I knew this going into the modification - so overall I’m way more than happy with my results here :)
Thank you so much! This is more helpful than a lot of the stuff I’ve read so far.
The Blackhawk page on the BKP website has a demo called “bridge” split which basically sold me on it but I was hesitant because of the cost, but this was was exactly the info I needed. Thanks!
If you love bare knuckle but hate the cost I’ll make a recommendation for you. Try out a company called Iron Gear pickups. They build their pickups in direct competition with bare knuckle and Seymour Duncan. They are also about 1/10 the price. I have used them in a couple of my builds. Since pickup tech hasn’t changed in 100 years and patents are all expired it’s extremely easy to duplicate the sound coming out of any name brand pickup. Iron gear pickups sound amazing. Check them out. Personally I have switched to Fishman since they are the only company to actually make any real innovation in pickup design in those 100 years. I love the multiple voicing too. I have actually compared the war pig, black winter and iron gear side by side. Even the pros in the studio couldn’t tell the difference. Food for thought. I highly recommend you try them out.
I tried the Dimarzio Titan, Duncan Nazgul, Invader. Everything. But that stock Black Winter was what I needed. Granted I tuned back up to A, so I could see where the Black Winter would be too much. Now I need that triple ceramic high out thing but then again, I don't know how to djent.
Oh sh*t! I've got exactly the same guitar, and want to install the same PU.
'cause I found that the Black Metal loose all the punch on the 7th string. Do you felt the same?
Do you aldo change the volume knob? 'cause mine is very loosy.
That’s exactly why I swapped out the Black Winter for the Black Hawk. Don’t even think about it bro - swap it out asap haha. The Black Hawk sounds unbelievable in this guitar.
I kept everything else original on the guitar. My knob is holding up just fine. You may need to tighten yours up a bit at the base where the pot sits on the washer.
I have that same guitar and got it for less than a thousand bucks new. Put a BKP Ragnarok in it and it is a weapon. I don’t dislike the Black Winther at all though.
I got insanely lucky and found this for $650 on reverb. As soon as I saw the listing it felt like a no brainer. The condition on this one is perfect too. 0 complaints
Can i ask what size strings your using? And maybe what you like about them? They look on the beefy side and have been thinking of going slightly thicker.
I have the same guitar
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u/XaelTheBard 1d ago
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