Bare Knuckle True Grit Humbucker Set

August 19, 2026 darthphineas Alnico 5, Bare Knuckle, BKP, Boot Camp, Humbucker, Pickup, True Grit

INTRO

Bare Knuckle’s Boot Camp series gives players a more straightforward path into the company’s pickups. The True Grit humbucker set brings a healthy dose of late 70s through 90s rock attitude along for the ride.

With an Alnico V magnet and medium output, the True Grit isn’t chasing the vintage PAF crowd or trying to flatten the front end of an amp with nuclear output. The bridge has enough push for hard rock and old school metal. The neck keeps enough definition to handle lead work without getting all nasal and pinched.

That leaves plenty of room for blues, grunge, punk, progressive rock, and the other places where a guitar needs some muscle without becoming a completely different animal.

The Boot Camp lineup also makes the True Grit’s position pretty easy to understand. The Old School leans vintage, the Brute Force heads toward modern high output territory. The True Grit spends its time in the middle making trouble.

BACKGROUND

Bare Knuckle introduced the Boot Camp series in 2018 as a more accessible range built around the company’s core pickup designs. The idea is refreshingly simple: fewer choices, less customization, and a pickup that’s ready to get installed and played.

The True Grit uses Alnico V magnets and a medium output wind. Bare Knuckle describes the set as punchy and driven, with enough flexibility for everything from hot blues and hard rock to grunge, punk, stoner rock, old school metal, and progressive rock.

The company also builds the True Grit for six and seven string guitars, with standard and wide spacing options. Four conductor wiring comes standard, along with short leg baseplates and tri tab mounting feet. Nickel and gold covers are available, along with black and zebra bobbins.

There isn’t a laundry list of boutique options to navigate before ordering one. Pick the configuration, choose the cosmetics, and get on with making some noise.

INSTALLATION

For this evaluation, I’m using the same double cut that serves as my test platform for the Bare Knuckle Silo, Aftermath, and previous Boot Camp humbucker evaluations. It has a mahogany body, maple neck, maple 25-1/2″ inch fingerboard, and a genuine Floyd Rose double locking tremolo.

The electronics remain consistent with those previous evaluations. Bare Knuckle 550k pots with a 0.022μF capacitor for the bridge and a 0.015μF capacitor for the neck. The guitar is strung with 10-46 strings and tuned to E standard.

Keeping the guitar, electronics, strings, and tuning consistent gives the True Grit the same test environment I’ve used for the other pickups in this series. That makes the differences I hear more about the pickups themselves rather than changes to the rest of the signal chain.

EVALUATION

Bridge

The True Grit bridge has a firm attack and plenty of authority behind the note, with a healthy dose of low midrange muscle that gives riffs some real weight. Palm muted passages have a satisfying thump without the low end getting loose or bloated. There’s enough upper midrange bite to keep the attack audible when the gain starts piling up.

Chords retain their individual voices rather than turning into one large block of distortion. There’s enough compression to make a dirty amplifier feel responsive, but not so much that picking dynamics disappear. Dig into the strings and the sound gets more aggressive. Ease up and the response follows along.

There’s a familiar hot rodded quality when the amp gets pushed. Classic rock crunch comes easily, while more gain brings out the thicker side of the pickup for hard rock and old school metal. The True Grit doesn’t have the hyper focused character of some modern high output designs. It leaves the notes with some air around them.

Single note lines have enough midrange density to stay prominent through a busy gain setting. Higher up the neck, sufficient treble keeps the sound from getting overly thick, while the low end continues to give the notes some substance.

Rolling back the guitar volume produces a useful change rather than simply making everything quieter. Some saturation falls away, the attack becomes more apparent, and the pickup moves toward a crunchier rock voice while retaining its basic character.

Neck

The True Grit neck pickup has a noticeably different balance from the bridge. More emphasis on smoothness and body without losing the articulation needed for lead work. The low end has enough substance to give the notes some authority. But it doesn’t turn into the soft, woolly quality that can make some neck humbuckers difficult to use with gain.

The midrange keeps the pickup present, while the upper frequencies provide enough definition for chords and single note lines. Moving into the higher registers doesn’t produce the exaggerated nasal quality found in some hotter neck designs, so sustained notes remain full without sounding pinched.

Clean playing brings out a rounder side of the pickup, with enough clarity to keep chords separated and enough warmth to make the neck position sound like a deliberate choice rather than the automatic setting for mellow rhythm parts.

Add gain and the neck becomes thicker and more vocal. Sustained notes have some weight behind them, while faster phrases retain enough articulation to keep individual notes from disappearing into the distortion.

The output balance between the two pickups also works well in practice. Moving from bridge to neck doesn’t produce the kind of dramatic volume change that makes you reach for the amp every time you change positions.

Clean Tones

The True Grit has more personality on a clean channel than its medium output designation might suggest. The bridge has enough weight to give chords some authority. Meanwhile the neck brings additional body without becoming dark or indistinct.

There is a smoother quality to the top end than you get from many lower output humbuckers. But the response still has plenty of definition. Pick lightly and the sound stays open. Dig into the strings and the attack becomes more pronounced, with the extra energy showing up in the note rather than simply increasing the volume.

That makes the set particularly responsive to the picking hand. Small changes in attack produce noticeable changes in character, which becomes useful when moving between cleaner rhythm parts and more expressive lead playing.

The four conductor wiring also leaves room for coil splitting or parallel operation. Neither option turns the True Grit into a single coil, nor should it, but both can reduce some of the thickness and provide a leaner sound when the guitar needs it.

I particularly like the parallel option when the switching scheme allows it. The basic character remains recognizable while the response opens up and loses some of the compression associated with the full humbucker configuration.

High Gain

With a high gain amplifier, the bridge pickup develops considerably more aggression while retaining the punch that gives the riffs their shape. Palm muted notes have enough low end to hit with authority. But the response stays controlled enough for faster rhythm work.

The low mids provide much of the weight, while the upper mids keep the guitar audible when there is a lot happening elsewhere in the mix. Pick attack remains apparent without pushing the treble into the unpleasant end of the spectrum.

There’s enough saturation for hard rock and traditional metal without forcing the pickup into the ultra high output camp. Chords remain reasonably separated, and individual notes retain enough character that heavily distorted playing doesn’t become an exercise in identifying which noise belongs to which string.

The pickup also responds well to backing off the guitar volume. The amp cleans up, the attack becomes more prominent. The sound moves toward a more traditional rock crunch while retaining some of the True Grit’s thicker character.

The neck pickup takes the gain in a different direction. It becomes thick and vocal, with enough low end for sustained lines and enough upper frequency information to keep the sound from turning indistinct. It works particularly well for singing lead tones where a little extra body is welcome.

What It’s Not

The True Grit isn’t a PAF clone. Even though it retains enough dynamics and touch response to make that comparison tempting.

It isn’t a modern high output metal pickup either. The bridge has plenty of output and compression when the amp is working hard. But it doesn’t try to squeeze every last drop of saturation from the signal.

The advertised Alnico V magnet doesn’t tell the whole story, either. That specification is useful as a reference point, but it doesn’t make every pickup using the same magnet sound alike.

The winding, coil geometry, magnet charge, materials, and overall voicing all contribute to what comes out of the speaker.

The True Grit has its own personality within the Bare Knuckle catalog. There are models that move further toward vintage territory and others that push much harder into modern high gain territory. While this one has enough attitude for the heavy stuff without giving up the cleaner and lower gain sounds that make a guitar more useful.

True Grit vs. the Boot Camp Family

The Boot Camp lineup makes the True Grit’s position pretty easy to understand. The Old School takes the more vintage flavored approach, while the Brute Force pushes harder toward modern high output territory.

The True Grit has enough output to get a hard rock amp moving. But it doesn’t require a wall of gain to sound substantial. That gives it room to cover hot blues and classic rock before moving into hard rock, grunge, punk, stoner rock, and old school metal as the gain increases.

Progressive rock also fits comfortably into the picture. Because the pickup retains enough articulation for more complex chord work and lead playing.

The difference isn’t simply a matter of output. The True Grit’s response leaves enough room for the amplifier, guitar volume, picking dynamics, and playing style to shape the final sound.

That’s what makes it such a useful middle ground in the Boot Camp lineup. It has some dirt under its fingernails without requiring the rest of the rig to live there permanently.

SPECS

True Grit Humbucker Bridge
Series – 13.85 K
Inductance – 7.948 H
Split – 6.918 K
Split – 6.952 K
Parallel – 3.464 K
Magnet – Alnico 5

True Grit Humbucker Neck
Series – 9.988 K
Inductance – 4.207 H
Split – 4.97 K
Split – 5.031 K
Parallel – 2.498 K
Magnet – Alnico 5

DEMO

Bare Knuckle has an assortment of official offerings in the demo department.

Let’s start with this one from Dave Brons, who also includes some 7-string action. The True Grit humbucker is throughout this rundown, so be sure to catch it all.

Bare Knuckle True Grit Rundown with Dave Brons

Next we have a 2-minute example from Danny Beardsley. This one starts with some really cool clean tones that show off the versatility.

Danny Beardsley plays the True Grit Boot Camp humbuckers

Then there is the demo from Rabea Massaad, This details all formats of the True Grit line. I have the demo starting at about the 2:11 mark, when the humbucker section begins. Be sure to watch the entire demo if you are interested in the single coils, Tele style, or P90s.

Bare Knuckle Boot Camp “True Grit” Demo

CONCLUSION

The True Grit has enough muscle for hard rock and old school metal, enough attitude for punk and grunge, and enough touch sensitivity to spend some time on the cleaner side of the amp without sounding out of its element.

The bridge brings the punch and aggression, while the neck delivers the body and articulation needed for everything from warm rhythm work to singing leads. There’s enough range here to cover a lot of ground without making the guitar sound like it’s trying to be five different pickups at once.

That puts the True Grit right where it belongs in the Boot Camp lineup. The Old School handles the vintage end, the Brute Force brings the modern artillery, and the True Grit sits between them with its boots firmly planted in rock and metal territory.

It’s a set with plenty of grit, but there’s still plenty of guitar left underneath it.

For reference, this Bare Knuckle Pickups Boot Camp True Grit humbucker set evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impulse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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