Authentic?

[Sgc123]

Hello,
A little backstory, about a year ago my teenage son and I build him a Les Paul style guitar. He's a big Slash and GnR fan so it was built to look like Slash's guitar. It came out pretty well, didn't spend a lot on the electronics. He actually uses it a lot, so we were thinking about making some upgrades this year. His ultimate upgrade being the Slash pick ups. The street price on the pick ups seems to be $209. I found a retailer on Reverb.com called Ultimate Music Direct in CA selling several sets, brand new, free shipping for $145. That's just enough of a discount to make me suspicious. I've seen some pretty good fake Gibson/Fender guitars, are they faking Seymour Duncan pick ups? Just concerned it's too good to be true. Thanks

 

[jeremy]

Re: Authentic?

welcome to the forum!

sadly, they fake almost anything these days including duncan pickups. always best to buy from an authorized dealer

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: Authentic?

How's the store's feedback? That's about 30% off, not so far out of line I'd be really worried about it, velocity of sales sometimes is more important that getting top dollar.

You could probably do better here keeping an eye on the classifieds for a used set though.

 

[Sgc123]

Re: Authentic?

The store seems to have good feedback on Reverb and Ebay but I've never heard of them before, I was about to consider 15% off at Musicians Friend a victory.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Authentic?

They have a good track record, sell many other items from Duncan and are a Fender authorized dealer. I don't see anything to worry about. I'd jump on 'em at that price

 

[Sgc123]

Re: Authentic?

So I pulled the trigger, keeping in mind that Seymour Duncan Slash Alnico II zebra pick ups were both pictured and described when I clicked add to cart. It wasn't until after check out that it showed I has purchased a completely different set of pick ups. I immediately protested and my money was refunded. I guess my first instinct was accurate. :dunno:

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Authentic?

Not sure how anyone could do a "bait n switch" through Reverb. Also, that seller is an authorized SD distributor with thousands of positive feedback on their eBay account!

I'm thinking it might have been a site glitch or "user error" of some kind.

Either way, here's another Reverb seller with a set reasonably priced: https://reverb.com/item/7103314-seymour-duncan-slash-alnico-ii-zebra

You might also try reaching out to Ultimate Music Direct directly and see if they'll honor the price you saw...

 

[Sgc123]

Re: Authentic?

The seller suspects it was a glitch on Reverb.com, they don't even sell the Slash pick ups in question. Most importantly, they quickly refunded my money.