Today the mission is to remove a well worn cover from a Bareknuckle Warpig humbucker and change the cable. The latter is only 10cm long, so I’m going to replace it with a 4-conductor cable, more suitable for this type of very powerful pickup. The split allows you to recover a little smoothness in this raw pickup.
We remove the cover... not so easy
Removing a cover from a Bareknuckle is not that easy. Indeed, it is not enough to unsolder the two points that assemble the fixing plate to the cover, contrary to what one might think. The pickups of the British manufacturer are waxed cover fitted as most of us do. But closed cover are more difficult to remove. Which means you have to heat the pickup to melt the paraffin and peel off the cover. BKP also offers a “pickup cover removal” service, because removing the cover yourself voids the manufacturer’s warranty. We can see why: the operation is not within everyone’s reach and involves some risk if not done correctly. First of all, you have to equip yourself with a good torch … sorry, a wax heater and paraffin to heat the pickup safely in a paraffin bath.
Mission accomplished, we will be able to work
Once this operation has been carried out we can remove the well damaged cover of this Warpig and access the coils.
The rest of the operation is to separate the coils from the fixing plate to access the connection between the two coils. Sorry for this horror vision, it’s a bit trashy, a microphone guts in the air.
Replacement of the vintage braided cable by a 4 conductors cable
I remove the 2-conductor cable and replace it with the 4-conductor. The wires are then welded according to the Bareknuckle code so as not to be lost:
- – Black: south coil outlet
- – White: south coil outlet
- – Red: north coil start
- – Green: north coil output.
On this pickup we have two rows of screws, so difficult to know which is the south and which is the north, once mounted. FYI, the south is on the side where the cable enters the nickel mounting plate.
I test and I retest and I retest x 4
The rather important thing is that the pickup works at the end, so we test. We test the two separate coils, OK we go back. It is then tested during reassembly at each welding step of a coil. We reassemble, we test, we protect the coils, we test, we make ourselves a coffee, we test … etc until the boxing. Here, still all dirty, it is 22 kOhms. Note that the resistance varies depending on the ambient temperature. If it’s 40 ° C in the shade, your pickup will easily take 1 point. Out of the paraffin bath it is 23.5 / 24 kOhms.
Change of tailor
Once the threads are well arranged, between the two spools and a little below, we tape the whole with fabric. I then chose to put an open Nickel / Raw Silver cover which gives it a very rock-like appearance that I solder, without waxing again, so that the cover can be removed without difficulty.
Câblage 4 câbles des humbuckers Bareknuckle
Voici donc le schéma de câble des Humbuckers du constructeur britannique. Comme expliqué précédemment, les couleurs utilisées sont les suivantes.
Bobine des vis (sud) : noire départ / blanc sortie
Bobine des slugs (nord) : rouge départ / vert sortie
Si vous ne voulez pas faire de split vous soudez ensemble le blanc et le vert. Vous mettez ensuite le noir à la masse et le rouge c’est le point chaud, et voili. Retrouvez tous leurs schéma de câblage de leur micro sur leur site.
