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Out in China they are winding huge amounts on better machines, with parts they are getting for much less, so it shouldn't be a shock they can wind good pickups at a price point
Where the small maker excels is the service, the bespoke tailoring, the likes of other BK and other big or boutique makers, well I think they're selling snake oil myself.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Absolutely correct: the more 'open and scattered the winding pattern is the more the distributed capacitance of the coil is broken down, and the more the 'skin effect' of electron movement in copper wire is minimized. Both of these effects unchecked, filter treble and harmonic overtones out of the sound. Tighter, closer windings are great on a transformer ... not necessarily on an electromagnetic transducer (pickup).
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I used to use cheap pickups for budget reasons, and I still do fit them quite often.
Just over 10 years ago I brought one BKP-91 for £70 to see what all the fuss was about. It was my first time using a "boutique" pickup brand that made standard designs. It was so good I stuck with them for most of the years after that.
I have also used bulldog, catswhisker and recently ASL. And been happy with them all. I still have bulldogs , bkp's and Asl in my personal guitars.
I have also used iron gear, tonerider, warmans and a few other budget brands I forget. Some have been good and I have been happy to fit them. But most are not for me.
I have only had one bkp set that I didn't like and that was more my mistake for choosing badly. They found a new home in a guitar they suit much better, which I still have
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I don't doubt some of it is snobbery or a case of "The Emperors new clothes", but I have to say that some of it is probably down to a "Happy Accident".
I could probably tell the difference between two pickups, I certainly can hear the difference between the three on my Strat, so I'm not that deaf, but could I tell the difference between a "quality" and a "budget" one?
Maybe, quite likely, but is my favourite going to be the "quality" one?
Once again it's probably all down to the player!
Comparing strat pickups, I have seen less of a difference (not tried my oil city set yet, but have compared bare knuckle strat pickups to Duncan ones and there wasn't a whole lot in it - vintage wind) but comparing, for example, a Duncan high output humbucker to a handwound high output humbucker is night and day - the hand wound sounds great clean, has loads of poke for drive, nice bass and a pretty even sound. Perhaps less good for some of the more extreme tones, where a more mid - harsh bright pickup is a good thing, but for most styles, much nicer.
The Duncan I have doesn't really "do" clean because of this - it just sounds quite harsh, compared to the pretty hi-fi and balanced sound of the asl custom. It's a much more versatile pickup than you'd imagine because of this, yet is more than capable of handling modern metal.
Is it because it's hand wound? Maybe, Ash has mentioned the importance of genuine scatter wiring. But it's also down to wire gauge, magnet selections etc and these are things that a hand builder can get absolutely spot on.
Plus, when they're about the same price as a mass produced machine wound Duncan or dimarzio, why not get a bit of proper hand made luxury?
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message