YouTube Demo of the Week.
22nd September 2026
Mike Stringer Halcyon Deep Dive
Hello and welcome back to our weekly blog, where we rummage in the archive of our YouTube channel for hidden gems you may have missed, or highlight new videos to our channel that are fresh off the press. Our YouTube channel is a brilliant place to listen to the many tones of Bare Knuckle, a "try before you buy", if you will. But it is also a fantastic tool for the budding gutarist, as well as the professional. Pick up (sorry, pun not intended!) loads of tricks and tips, as well as ideas for licks and new ways to tune your guitar. We are very proud of our roster of incredibly talented demo artists, who we are currently highlighting on our blog as well. We have interviewed them, and here you can read our interview with Danny Dela Cruz. Keep an eye out for more being published in the coming weeks!
This week looks a little different, as we are exploring the birth of a signature set rather than checking out a straight demo. We have chosen a video of Mike Stringer of Spiritbox, as he offers an inside look at how his Bare Knuckle signature set of Halcyon humbuckers came to life. In this deep dive, Mike breaks down the process behind the pickups, the tonal goals he wanted to achieve, and how they fit into his playing style with Spiritbox.
Thinking outside the box: Halcyon
Halcyon humbuckers were born out of an intense R&D session with Mike Stringer, Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and Tim Mills during a stopover in the UK on Mike’s intense Spiritbox touring schedule. The brief was to create a humbucker set designed primarily for 7 string guitars tuned down to F# and to embrace not only Mike’s massive driven tone, but also his unique approach to using bridge and neck pickups together for his clean tones.
The die was cast and Mike went back on tour for some heavy beta testing. By the end of the run all of Mike’s live guitars featured the new Halcyon pickups.
Halcyons are built on a twin blade pole design which allows for even string to string balance, no matter the string gauge or tuning, whilst being extremely practical for multi-scale fitment too.
The bridge is powered by a trio of custom size ceramic magnets which help to control the bottom end response, working in conjunction with the hot wind to deliver an incredibly dialled in mid-range and high end attack.
Utilising a more moderate wind, the neck pickup is powered by an isotropic Alnico V magnet to increase dynamic headroom and combine with the bridge for Mike’s ambient clean tones. Both pickups are designed to have exceptional coil split tones and work equally well wired in parallel.
Currently in our Limited Edition range we have this fantastic set of spooky pumpkin Halcyons, just in time for Hallowe'en!
