DrillerKiller said:
i personaly feel that most modern pickups have the edge on vintage pickups ... and a lot of hype goes into them
theres good and bad products within batches (even more so for hand wound pickups),who`s to say you`d get a good one for your $300 !!!
and as for buying second hand,if they were so good why get rid ? ... dissapointment ?
and are they really better than a good stock pickup ?
and if they are,are they really worth the markup for which (after all) is 30 pence of materials ?
if a guitar doesnt "sing" acoustically,sustain forever without help,then all the money in the world isnt going to make it ...
strings, good setup plectrum and thats before she`s even plugged in
if you want a sound to mod and call your own get butchering your gear :lol:
my advice is buy a guitar you like the sound of !!! (you do try them first dont you?) :wink:
hi DrillerKiller,
some interesting points, im going to try and answer with as little self promotion as I can
firstly you are absolutely correct, hand wound pickups are variable, every set we make is a little different, but the tonal quality is the same, I can't speak for other winders but we test every set, about 1 in 15 or so ends up rewound. consistent quality is not just an aspiration it is a business MUST and any winder who would ignore that is in peril of loosing their reputation, you never know just who has bought the last set. So botique "should" be more consistent
Are they really better than stock pickups?
Not all botique pickups are the same, some are just hand wound kits which are no better than many stock pickups, I am not speaking for, or about the other winders mentioned by the OP but i have tried at least two sets of "botique" pickups which left a lot to be desired considering the price.
an additional 30 pence of material? ......
I wish....., the materials we use cost significantly more than those used in any stock pickups I have seen, but you are right it is not the bulk of the cost for any botique or small winder,...... that is without doubt the time involved, and with that comes heating, light, electricity, machinery, tooling, and all the things the big guys use but they can make 20 sets or 100 sets in the time it takes us to make one. not to mention the fact that we are not making these in China
Good hardware has as much to do with how a guitar sustains as the block of wood it is mounted to, we have polished a few turds that began their life as a tonally dead guitar, yes the wood is important, but not as much as many people think IMHO.....
If you can find a guitar that sings, or "talks to you" and does everything you want straight off the shelf then great, many people don't like the idea of upgrading or modding, but many do, sometimes they dont have the time or even a decent or relevant local selection of guitar shops to sample guitars until they find "the one", I certiantly didn't or when I did it was so far out of my price range that it was unattainable. .... but this debate is an ongoing one that won't end here anyway.... so horses for courses I think is the appropriate phrase.
MIJ guitars are without doubt the best bang for the buck for any guitarist, they were a revelation to me a few years ago and are probably responsible for the seeds that grew RD Pickups.
Their stock pickups are better than most, but for humbuckers, only the DRY Z's are what I would call stellar, but i havent tried them all so I am not saying there are no others.
Anyway its about time the focus changed, .... maybe we should consider doing a free guitar with every set of pickups just to prove it LOL
Declan
RD Pickups
