Bare Knuckle Pickups
Bare Knuckle Pickups winds by hand in Falmouth, Cornwall, and has built a following among heavier players in particular — the Nailbomb, the Aftermath and the Juggernaut sets are frequently specified on guitars aimed at modern metal. The company also makes convincing vintage-flavoured single coils and PAF-style humbuckers. In our archive it appears both on new signature instruments and in its own right, including the seasonal runs like the Orange Pumpkinheads.
Guitar Pickups: The Definitive Guide for Beginners
Learn everything about guitar pickups, from single coils to humbuckers, active vs. passive, magnets, wiring, and more.
- Electric guitar pickups
- Bass pickups
- Nailbomb
- Aftermath
- Mule
- Black Hawk
- The Mule
Bare Knuckle Pickups news
All Bare Knuckle Pickups articles →
Keep up with Bare Knuckle Pickups.
Leaks, deals and reviews in your inbox, once a week. No spam, just gear.
Bare Knuckle Pickups FAQ4 questions
What are Bare Knuckle Pickups?
Hand-wound electric guitar pickups made in the south west of England. The company was founded in 2003 by Tim Mills, who had previously worked with Elkie Brooks and Iced Earth, and it remains privately owned and small — around 18 employees.
Why are Bare Knuckle pickups expensive?
They are individually hand-wound rather than machine-wound in batches, in England, by a company of fewer than twenty people. That is the whole cost argument; whether the result justifies it against a good production pickup is a genuinely contested question among players.
Which Bare Knuckle pickup should I choose?
The catalogue is organised by output and character rather than by genre — the Mule at the vintage end, the Nailbomb and Aftermath at the high-output end, with a long list in between. Bare Knuckle publishes output and magnet details for each, and matching those to your amp matters more than the model name.
Are Bare Knuckle pickups only for metal?
No, though the high-output models are the best known. The range covers vintage-output humbuckers, single coils, P-90s and bass pickups, and the company's blues and classic-rock sets are as central to the catalogue as the Nailbomb is.