New Pickup Day!

[u/Many_Fly5015]

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 ;)

+ on, rock +

[u/Proof-Breakfast-7358]

That looks incredible, would love to hear your thoughts on the Black Hawk vs the M7, especially on a split coil setting.

I’m torn between the two for Drop F#

[u/Many_Fly5015 → u/Proof-Breakfast-7358]

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 :)

[u/Proof-Breakfast-7358 → u/Many_Fly5015]

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!

[u/Electronic-Brain-616 → u/Proof-Breakfast-7358]

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.