It’s been done to death, but...really?

HarrySeven · February 2018

Firstly...no disrespect intended to any sellers in the Classifieds section, but...

While I know it’s been discussed at enormous length here and elsewhere, I can’t help sighing inwardly every time I see “Abby” (or whoever) pickups for sale at prices high enough to make a brave man weep.

Is there no end to our forensic and microscopic trawling through the past in order to capture that ever-elusive “mojo”?

Sometimes it seems absurd, sometimes it doesn’t...but applied to other objects, it does seem so - maybe classic car fans should be celebrating Dave Smith of West Bromwich for his superlative mating of SU carb and A-series inlet manifold (destined for an Allegro 1300) on the production line at Longbridge in March 1978?

I’ll get me coat...

Strangefan · February 2018

I started making pickups a few years ago, and it didn't take me too long to make a decent single coil, i had a custom shop strat at the time and did a tone comparison between mine and the abbis, guess what........ Minimal difference, im not lying,and Im not some pickup guru, however there is no magic mojo, it's copper wound around magnets, with a lil bit of learning anyone can make a great sounding single coil.

poopot · February 2018

Smithy?... I have two “smithy” cam shafts just sat here... may have to list them on eBay!.

although one is from his apprentice era... and the other is after Doreen left him so it’s not great. Both could do with a reprofile.

digitalscream · February 2018

I must admit, I roll my eyes at a lot of the vintage-obsessed, because there often seems to be an assumption that old = good. The "old and rare" thing really amuses me, because if only a few of these mass-produced things exist now, it's usually because they were chucked out on account of being shit at the time.

Quality in just about all things has been on a steady upwards trajectory (Gibson excepted, of course

), and guitar design has moved on a long way since the days of things which are now considered "vintage". I'd rather have something modern, thanks.

Sassafras · February 2018

It's the ludicrously high prices expected for things like vintage pickup or scratchplate screws that makes me despair of humanity.
They're friggin' screws for chrissake! They're not gonna affect anything, you dick.

HarrySeven · February 2018

Sassafras said:

It's the ludicrously high prices expected for things like vintage pickup or scratchplate screws that makes me despair of humanity.
They're friggin' screws for chrissake! They're not gonna affect anything, you dick.

Well, excuse me, Sir...may I draw your attention to this recent post (elsewhere on the forum, copied for your perusal below) regarding a certain dodgy seller’s recently-expired grandparent...we should obviously now be considering the emotional state of sellers, previous owners and 1950’s factory workers in our Tone Quest.

2003amxl said:
axisus said:
I don't get why anyone needs a back story to list a guitar for sale??? Does he think it improves the value?
It affects tone. Deceased grandad means more midrange in my experience.

skaguitar · February 2018

I don't blame people for making sure potential buyers know that their guitar they're selling has Abby hand wound pick ups because for some reason it is a selling point and people will buy that guitar over others because of it. It is a minefield because apparently if the pick ups are only initialled it means she only oversaw the winding of that pick up...if it says Abby on them then she wound them. For the record I also can't see how she can wind a pick up any better than someone else trained to do it but the kudos must have come from somewhere.?
How did it come about that her pick ups became so sought after..?... and now her apprentice Josefina is building the same reputation..? Do they wind pick ups better than someone else trained to do the same job..are they doing something to make the pick ups sound better that other winders aren't..?
I also had a CS tele that had an Abby handwound in the bridge...did I put that in the advert when I sold it...course I did..!! Did it sound better than other tele's I've had...actually it did but I don't put that down to the pick up..it had a twisted tele in the neck that sounded fantastic...I think it was the sum of it's parts that made that guitar sound so good.

Three-ColourSunburst · February 2018

It's even funnier when reproduction stuff is sold at ludicrous prices because it supposedly captures the 'mojo' of some vintage part.

Saw some 'Paul Kossoff' pickups on here which apparently derive their mojo from been wound to have the same resistance as the coils on a sunburst Les Paul he had. Thing is, Kossoff played quite a few Les Pauls and some of the best known, such as his 'stripped burst' had pickups with a different resistance value. He still sounded like Paul Kossoff though.

To be fair these were been sold as giving the 'All right now' tone. Can't wait until the bring out the 'Isle of Wight tone' model!

Sassafras · February 2018

My mistake.
Sorry @HarrySeven ;

Neil · February 2018

Sassafras said:

It's the ludicrously high prices expected for things like vintage pickup or scratchplate screws that makes me despair of humanity.
They're friggin' screws for chrissake! They're not gonna affect anything, you dick.

No of course not.

But being serious for a moment if you are short of vintage pickup screws etc on your '50's Strat the difference in price could be a lot of money, hence the cost of old original parts.

impmann · February 2018

Harry,

Everyone knows Dave Smith was Rodney Tanner's apprentice and was a lazy so-and-so, and used to get his mates to clock in for him on Monday mornings after a weekend on the lash. Therefore an awful lot of work accredited to him was done by regular blokes on the line in his name - and to be fair, he learned it all from Rod. Stuff he did on Tuesdays was OK but by Friday, his mind was wandering about what he was going to do at the weekend and so it can be a bit 'changeable'.
Therefore I don't go along with this notion of his stuff being any better than any of the other guys on that line.

maltingsaudio · February 2018

Three-ColourSunburst said:

It's even funnier when reproduction stuff is sold at ludicrous prices because it supposedly captures the 'mojo' of some vintage part.

Saw some 'Paul Kossoff' pickups on here which apparently derive their mojo from been wound to have the same resistance as the coils on a sunburst Les Paul he had. Thing is, Kossoff played quite a few Les Pauls and some of the best known, such as his 'stripped burst' had pickups with a different resistance value. He still sounded like Paul Kossoff though.

To be fair these were been sold as giving the 'All right now' tone. Can't wait until the bring out the 'Isle of Wight tone' model!

Wasn’t Alright Now done on a Strat anyway?

HarrySeven · February 2018

impmann said:

Harry,

Everyone knows Dave Smith was Rodney Tanner's apprentice and was a lazy so-and-so, and used to get his mates to clock in for him on Monday mornings after a weekend on the lash. Therefore an awful lot of work accredited to him was done by regular blokes on the line in his name - and to be fair, he learned it all from Rod. Stuff he did on Tuesdays was OK but by Friday, his mind was wandering about what he was going to do at the weekend and so it can be a bit 'changeable'.
Therefore I don't go along with this notion of his stuff being any better than any of the other guys on that line.

Tim, I bow to your infinite wisdom and intimate knowledge of ‘70’s BL production!

Bucket · February 2018

Sassafras said:

It's the ludicrously high prices expected for things like vintage pickup or scratchplate screws that makes me despair of humanity.
They're friggin' screws for chrissake! They're not gonna affect anything, you dick.

Excuse me. Screws are a big thing, second only to the type of plastic your Strat's pickup covers are made from. My Strat had normal modern screws and while it sounded fine, something was missing. I changed them out for vintage-spec aged nickel screws and the difference in mojo has been remarkable.

I've had lots of admiring comments about my screws. And the ones on my scratchplate as well.

darthed1981 · February 2018

impmann said:

Harry,

Everyone knows Dave Smith was Rodney Tanner's apprentice and was a lazy so-and-so, and used to get his mates to clock in for him on Monday mornings after a weekend on the lash. Therefore an awful lot of work accredited to him was done by regular blokes on the line in his name - and to be fair, he learned it all from Rod. Stuff he did on Tuesdays was OK but by Friday, his mind was wandering about what he was going to do at the weekend and so it can be a bit 'changeable'.
Therefore I don't go along with this notion of his stuff being any better than any of the other guys on that line.

I'm just amazed any of them were working at all.

impmann · February 2018

HarrySeven said:

impmann said:

Harry,

Everyone knows Dave Smith was Rodney Tanner's apprentice and was a lazy so-and-so, and used to get his mates to clock in for him on Monday mornings after a weekend on the lash. Therefore an awful lot of work accredited to him was done by regular blokes on the line in his name - and to be fair, he learned it all from Rod. Stuff he did on Tuesdays was OK but by Friday, his mind was wandering about what he was going to do at the weekend and so it can be a bit 'changeable'.
Therefore I don't go along with this notion of his stuff being any better than any of the other guys on that line.

Tim, I bow to your infinite wisdom and intimate knowledge of ‘70’s BL production!

;-) I am an amazing revisionist historian.

HarrySeven · February 2018

Sassafras said:

My mistake.
Sorry @HarrySeven ;

I'll let you off.

In future though, please be sure to look for optimum production-line emotional signifiers, which I believe has now been narrowed down to specific days and calendarised for efficient cross-reference.

Strat54 · February 2018

Had the pleasure of meeting Abigail Ybarra on a Custom Shop tour years ago, she was a lovely lady of course but a little bemused by the whole Abby Wound thing. She was under no illusion herself that what she did was any different to any other trained and experienced winder. All I could deduce was that it was just a nice nostalgic thing to have pickups wound by one of the originals but it was in no way an indication of a superior pickup. I'm not sure she understood the whole science of pickup making either nor got the feeling that she wanted to. So yes, its just a very clever marketing trick that many fell and indeed continue to fall for now with her understudy Josephino.
I must thank her though for making me enough money to buy a 'free; custom shop Tele from the profitable proceeds of selling those four signed and numbered boxed sets of pickups. A fool and his money.....thanks Mrs Ybarra !

Strat54 · February 2018

Lets not forget Alice, she's still winding alternators like she did on those MK1 Escorts.....

http://www.rjweng.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Electric-vehicle-motor-manufacture-and-repair-470x376.jpg

english_bob · February 2018

Strat54 said:

Had the pleasure of meeting Abigail Ybarra on a Custom Shop tour years ago, she was a lovely lady of course but a little bemused by the whole Abby Wound thing. She was under no illusion herself that what she did was any different to any other trained and experienced winder. All I could deduce was that it was just a nice nostalgic thing to have pickups wound by one of the originals but it was in no way an indication of a superior pickup. I'm not sure she understood the whole science of pickup making either nor got the feeling that she wanted to. So yes, its just a very clever marketing trick that many fell and indeed continue to fall for now with her understudy Josephino.
I must thank her though for making me enough money to buy a 'free; custom shop Tele from the profitable proceeds of selling those four signed and numbered boxed sets of pickups. A fool and his money.....thanks Mrs Ybarra !

This is why I don't understand it. It's not like you're paying for the work of someone who actually designed the pickup, and who knows what they did to make it good/better/different.

Someone from Fender marketing probably asked HR who'd been working for the company the longest, then worked his way down the list until he found someone who did something they could sell.

poopot · February 2018

And here she is in action...

https://youtu.be/8M2a1yUmvEQ

Hand wound my arse... she’s using some sort of automated spinning thing ffs!!!!

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It’s been done to death, but...really?

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