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I find the current pickup market amazing. Around 15-20 years ago I tended to feel that the pickup ranges available for me to buy were either cheap shit or expensive big name brands. Maybe due to the lack of internet to spread the word on other choices or for smaller makers to promote themselves.
The range now is amazing in not only what you can get, but the value and what you can get custom made. Even cheap pickups circa £15-£25 are perfectly serviceable and far better than cheap pickups of old and then what you can get from the likes of Ash @ Oil City and Mojo pickups for £40-£50 astounds me.
This is very much a personal opinion (isn't everything gear related?) but as much as I have liked several of the Bare Knuckles I have tried I personally would not pay the step up in price between those and the aforementioned Oil City and Mojo. You could argue until you are blue in the face about which is better and why but for me it's similar to the Pete Cornish pedal thread in that I do not believe 2-3 times the price means 2-3 times better performance or quality, if even justifiably better at all, which isn't my opinion. However if it makes you feel better about your guitar, better about your playing and that bit of extra 'mojo' then go for it.
I think we are lucky to have OCP and MOJO selling direct at what are great prices for a handwound pickups.
Once you go beyond OCP/MOJO level the stratospheric price jump to a point north of 500 bucks is really for those that can tell the difference. Although that said these guys have spent forever researching minute details such as metal and magnet composition and all sort of esoteric stuff to better understand and replicate the best PAF's.
I am sure with the right rumours, talk of a year long waiting list you could 1000$ + for PAF's clones in the US. :-)
People will unfortunately pay a premium for bullshit.
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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
I find (at least to my ear) that different makers have their own sound.
I've always liked DiMarzio's, but (usually) find Duncans a bit meh (even though I have a Duncan in my Jackson)
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
I got a lol for that, but can't see a psot where someone clarifies what exactly is funny about it? Guess it must be a random click
Basically I have used a lot of different pickup makes over the years but i still find myself more than happy to hand over the cash for hand made in the UK stuff. I wouldn't be if it made no difference.
takes capacitors as an example. After doing tests i realised i didn't need to spend silly money on vintage spec PIO stuff, but i still preferred working with orange drops or similar and found them more consistant in stated value than dirt cheap ceramic discs. From my real world experience of all price points (including real NOS capacitors) I decided I was happy to pay a little extra for orange drops but didn't feel stretching any further was worthwhile.
Similarly my experience with pickups is that I don't need to pay big bucks, but I am more likely to get the sound I want, along with a better service, if I do.
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Luxury - if it doesn't purify water, cure disease, catch food, wipe your arse or provide shelter ... it's luxury, every pickup ever made is luxury, the wire is too thin for fishing or snares..
High-End doesn't just mean sound-quality, it means robustness, ease of repair, adaptation, bespoke settings, amount of care and understanding AND availabilty of the maker to answer questions and his expertise... far-eastern aftersales is "buy another one".
Boutique - means "small shop". We live in an age where apprenticeship has been eroded by CNC enabled machinery, where division of labour has reduced craftsmanship giving us affordable products, like Fender guitars, the downside is few people working on the line understand what they're making or how it interacts with the other components that make the whole. Mass Production focusses on the efficiency of the process, boutique focusses on the finished product.
Money - people seem to believe money is linked to morality, an excess of one leads to a dirth in the other, well it's not that simple, Cornford amps cost too much when exported to the states because of the exchange rate, UK made stuff costs more because the cost of living is higher, materials may be expensive - in some cases EU made pedals can't use certain components because of laws on the composition.
Money - part 2, people think that something that costs more should be proveably better than something that costs less... or else what's the point? There are loads of measures of value and everyone rates them subjectively and differently - which is great, you might think it's worth something someone else might not and you're both right, and that doesn't lessen either opinion.
Emperor's New Clothes - this phrase is a curse upon anyone who utters it. There is something supposedly novel and different but you believe that to be false, the maker to be cynically exploiting, it's fans to be sychophants too concerned with social acceptance to be authentic - pretty elaborate set of presumptions non? How will you ever find your own place if you've such a well-crafted shortcut to ignorance? How will you find friends when you see idiots?
I am now seriously weighing up whether to replace the neck pickup in my tokai es-120 or splash on a new set of pickups for my bass vi
I used Dimarzios for a while and they were generally fine, but I never really loved them till I got my hands on an original square footed set. the square feet make zero difference to the sound
I also found duncans a bit underwhelming until I tried some antiquities
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I've not tried antiquities, though, and I'm going on a small selection, in a small number of guitars. I have DiMarzio's in 3 guitars, and all have a fantastic tone which I love.
I've tried a PearlyGates set, which really underwhelmed me, and I didn't like at all (for me). I can understand that a lot of players will, and do, love that sound, it just wasn't "me".
I have a Duncan Distortion in the neck position of my Jackson, set quite far from the strings, which has an awesome sound, any closer though, and it's just a muddy mess. The Distortion is balanced with a Bulldog Extremist which has a lovely clear, punchy tone which is (IMO) perfect for riffing and high-gain leads.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
Of course it may make a difference to someone who plays for a living. Or runs a studio and provides instruments as part of their business.
And sometimes it's a way of saying I'm not going to waste time looking into something which is pretty obviously rubbish. See the superfuses thread.
I still think my post stands, mind. I'd rather have that, even if it means saving up a bit longer
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
It can be guitar-dependent though - I once took a set of DiMarzios out of a MusicMan, in which they sounded bland and ordinary, and put them in a PRS for no other reason than they were zebra coils with reverse magnetic polarity... and they sounded great.
"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
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I would love this to be true.
This would mean that every guitar would be (more?) unique, and would mean that you get to choose your special guitar. A romantic notion, but I'm a sucker for that.