Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Bare Knuckle Pickups Releases the Ragnarok

The pickups were designed by Tim Mills, with Misha Mansoor of Periphery and Adam “Nolly” Getgood.

Falmouth, UK (October 5, 2017) -- Bare Knuckle Pickups is once again proud to announce the release of a second Misha Mansoor signature model: The Ragnarok. The Ragnarok was designed by Tim Mills, with Misha Mansoor of Periphery and Adam “Nolly” Getgood, formerly of Periphery, and now a respected sound engineer and music producer in his own right.

“[The Ragnarok] blends the best attributes of what contemporary passive and active pick-ups offer in a convenient package”.

Misha Mansoor, Periphery and BKP signature artist

Misha Mansoor is the founder of Periphery, and his guitar playing has been synonymous with progressive guitar tone, which is where Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle Pickups and Misha placed his first signature humbucker set, the Juggernaut. With the Ragnarok, Adam and Misha were primarily focused on one aspect: aggression In doing so, the creation of the Ragnarok has fulfilled a role that is often requested at Bare Knuckle. Misha says: “The Ragnarok is aggressive. In a way, it is a response to the very balanced nature of the Juggernaut.”

“The Ragnarok fulfils a seemingly impossible remit - a chunky, fat sounding pickup that’s also devastatingly tight and aggressive; a hot ceramic pickup with a smooth top end and incredible clarity. Even the cleans and low gain tones have a fantastic voice. I didn’t think this could be done!”

Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood

The Ragnarok is a very high output humbucker, a lot more aggressive in tone and hugely focused in its application. The Juggernaut, Misha’s other signature humbucker, is an extremely versatile pickup, and the two couldn’t be more different from each other. The output range of the Ragnarok far surpasses what the Juggernaut was built to produce. The overdriven tone of the Ragnarok is its prime strength, however we were thrilled to realise that the Ragnarok has a great range of clean tones, which wasn’t the initial remit when designing this humbucker set.

“The prime use of the Ragnarok is for overdriven tones. And that’s what we’ve created”.

Tim Mills, MD and Founder Bare Knuckle Pickups

Misha brought Adam “Nolly” Getgood back into the creative process after his work on the Juggernaut:

“I wanted once again to work with both Tim and Nolly to create a pickup that I felt hadn't been made yet, this time aiming for the more angry and compressed side of the spectrum. The Ragnarok has a full tone and is in-your-face with any picking dynamic. The eq is balanced to the point where you won't lose the low mids in favour of the top end. In a way, it blends the best attributes of what contemporary passive and active pickups offer in a convenient package”.

Misha Mansoor

‘Working with Misha and Adam is always intense and demanding but above all else creative, and a lot of fun. Moving to the next stage in the evolution of Misha’s signature pickup range was always going to be a challenge...one we’ve risen to and exceeded”.

Tim Mills

Watch the company's video demo:

For more information:
Bare Knuckle Pickups

- YouTube

Join PG contributor Tom Butwin as he explores all-new versions of the Framus Hootenanny 12-string and 6-string acoustics—made famous by John Lennon and now available with modern upgrades. From vintage-inspired tone to unique features, these guitars are built to spark creativity.

Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.

Read MoreShow less

This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchin’ rides around the U.S.

This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouac’s adventurous, thumbing spirit.

The other day, I saw something I hadn’t noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, “hitchers” seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didn’t seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncle’s cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvania—home of Zippo lighters—and riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasn’t a big concern for kids back in the day.

Read MoreShow less

There's a lot of musical gold inside the scales.

Intermediate

Intermediate

• Develop a deeper improvisational vocabulary.

• Combine pentatonic scales to create new colors.

• Understand the beauty of diatonic harmony.
{'file_original_url': 'https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/11372/OneChordVamp-Jul21.pdf', 'id': 11372, 'media': '[rebelmouse-document-pdf 11372 site_id=20368559 original_filename="OneChordVamp-Jul21.pdf"]', 'media_html': 'OneChordVamp-Jul21.pdf', 'type': 'pdf'}

Improvising over one chord for long stretches of time can be a musician's best friend or worst nightmare. With no harmonic variation, we are left to generate interest through our lines, phrasing, and creativity. When I started learning to improvise, a minor 7 chord and a Dorian mode were the only sounds that I wanted to hear at the time. I found it tremendously helpful to have the harmony stay in one spot while I mined for new ideas to play. Playing over a static chord was crucial in developing my sense of time and phrasing.

Read MoreShow less