Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

[leevc5]

I looked at Amazon and Guitar Center to try and get an idea of what the top selling pups are. This is not to be considered scientific data by any Rhyme or reason just a swag. Here is what I found:

No surprise JB and Jazz seem to be at the top of the heap. The rest are the rest but no sign of P-Rails.
I also will note that in my short time here I see Seths, Pearly gates, 59s, Distortion, SSL-5, Trembucker and Antiquities often recommended. Rarely if ever have I seen a P-Rail recommended except if I read one of my own posts.

-------------------Why?-------------------

It seems to me that many of the people looking for pup recommendations are looking for a pup that covers a lot of ground tonally. My experience has with Seths, Jazz, JB, 59a and P-rails has been that the P-rails have the broadest range of any of them. Listen if you please:
https://youtu.be/YPYIeHNuxzQ
They have high output through our beloved A5 magnets. I am puzzled.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I love mine and have recommended them here. I suspect they're just different enough for people to for the "safer" known option.


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[Demanic]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

Sometimes, people just aren't that smart.

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[PFDarkside]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

We are pickup nuts here. The masses, if they want to replace their pickups, go tried and true. Duncan built his company on the JB, Larry D built his on the Super Distortion. For Strats, Gilmour is the SSL-5 (and a typical desire, for a beefed up Strat bridge) and the Hot Rails transforms a Strat with no pickguard swap.

You need either an in-tune consumer or guitar tech to recommend P-Rails.

 

[chadd]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

People want versatility without complexity. Most players that want versatility want a pickup that does everything pretty well. They don't want to have to flip switches and remember configurations. P rails are great for the some folks, they just aren't for everyone. Even within the pickup swapping population, which isn't tremendously large to begin with, the folks that want 24 different settings are a much smaller subset.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

Most people want freedom from the responsibility of thinking for themselves. For these folks, P-Rails in Triple Shots are just too many good choices.

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[BriGuy1968]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I like my P-Rails with Triple Shots a lot. I play in a classic rock cover band, and I find it pretty handy to have the wide tonal variations they offer. Mine are in a semi-hollow, so that adds another tonal twist, and I'm EXTREMELY satisfied with the result. I've recommended them several times, but it does seem to fall on deaf ears kind of often. :dunno:

That being said, while the Triple Shots are pretty simple to use, if and when I get another set of P-Rails I think I may forego the Triple Shots and use some other switching system instead. Those little switches are a little hard to see and to switch on the fly. I came up with a diagram that would use a couple of blend pots for spin-a-split to either coil (series in the center) and then use minis or push/pulls for parallel... and I'm kind of itching to try it!

Bottom line: I "love" the P-Rails, but only "like" the Triple Shots... and my only thought on why they're not more popular is that they're a little "out there" concept-wise and most people are looking for something "safer." Let's face it, while a couple hundred bucks isn't a huge amount of money, it's enough that most people will choose the sound they know for fear of wasting it (and their time) on something that seems to be a little more dubious.


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[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I agree. I haven't used P-rails in any if my guitars yet so I'm not speaking from personal experience- in fact all I know is based on the opinions and reviews I've heard and read. So I'm in the same boat as all those who are considering P-rails but haven't yet decided to pull the trigger.

My impression is that they provide a ton of versatility but that their full humbucking tone is not quite on a par with traditional humbuckers, and that their blade tone is not quite on a par with traditional Fender-type singlecoils. Since traditional humbuckers and traditional Fender-type singlecoils are by far the most popular pickup formats, I don't find it very surprising that the P-rails don't sell in the same numbers as the big two. Add to that the fact that they're unconventional- not just the uncertainty at work there, but also the absence of that "popularity effect" which makes many want what others are buying lots of.

Personally I love P90s; I'm also a fan of some less orthodox pickup types like the Vox CoAxe and GFS Surf90s. And I do look forward to trying some P-rails eventually. The biggest thing that's held me back so far is that I really like the humbucker/guitar pairings I have in my arsenal now, so I'm reluctant to pull any out and replace 'em. Sooner or later I'll wind up with an axe that they'll suit perfectly. Or, I'll break down and put a set in a cheapo just to try 'em. I do have a Washburn Maverick that could use better pickups... Still, I feel P-rails deserve a tryout in a quality guitar that I'd play often.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

P-Rails are great, but they just don't "look" right.

The same with PATBs.

They'll never be best-sellers. Period.

That's the way it is, embrace it and move on.

HTH,

 

[Mincer]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I do think the looks might keep people away who have an idea of what a pickup should look like (it doesn't look like their hero's pickups). There are no big players openly bragging or endorsing them. They require some work to get the most out of them, too.
True story: I taught several people with expensive guitars that never touch the controls. When asked why, the usual answer is either 'to prevent wear and tear' and 'I don't want to break anything'.
Really. This just might be the average buying public. This makes the P-Rails ideal for us, but not them.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I'm a hard-core PU/wiring modder, and don't have any interest in P-Rails. The single coil sound has no appeal, and the combined coils is pretty hot. I like P-90's but would rather just have a real P-90.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

P-Rails are great, but they just don't "look" right.

The same with PATBs.

They'll never be best-sellers. Period.

That's the way it is, embrace it and move on.

HTH,

I have to agree

I do think the looks might keep people away who have an idea of what a pickup should look like (it doesn't look like their hero's pickups). There are no big players openly bragging or endorsing them. They require some work to get the most out of them, too.
True story: I taught several people with expensive guitars that never touch the controls. When asked why, the usual answer is either 'to prevent wear and tear' and 'I don't want to break anything'.
Really. This just might be the average buying public. This makes the P-Rails ideal for us, but not them.

That is an AWESOME story!!

As for the triple shots....for the most part I just don't find a lot of value in humbucker split tones. My EBMM was really the only exception to that, and it had the series/parallel switch so I could get more accurate representations of strat tones, but you never used one coil alone. That's saying something because the EBMM dimarzios are actually fairly hot DCR-wise, but not so much, it appeared, inductance-wise.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I really, really like P-Rails (not the "hot" version) and have them in many of my guitars. They are extremely versatile. I totally love P-90 tones and the P-Rail has a very good P-90 (a little warmer/fuller/more complex sound than Most Gibson P-90's). I also love the parallel sound of the P-Rail. The Rail coil alone can be great when mounted next to the bridge and with an A8 magnet next to it (an A5 mag next to the P-90 coil).

I also like Triple Shots. Very convenient for me to use, and especially nice if you don't want to drill extra holes in your guitars.

 

[Chad]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

Just a couple random thoughts...

--Ty Tabor was using and speaking highly of them at one time. Not sure if he still is.
--on the standard P-Rails, I really like the P90 sound. And I actually like series mode too. Nice, hot, meaty, humbucker. A buddy of mine borrowed my P-Rails equipped guitar and did 90% of the tracks on an album with that guitar with the bridge in humbucker mode (hard rock style music). Anyway, with that said, P-Rails can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. I could probably be happy with just series & P90 options via a push-pull pot.

 

[defspace]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

What year were the P-rails released? There's been more time for the more conventional pickups to have been sold.

The posts above hit the nail on the head.

 

[leevc5]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

P-Rails are great, but they just don't "look" right.

The same with PATBs.

They'll never be best-sellers. Period.

That's the way it is, embrace it and move on.

HTH,

Sorta like David Bromberg huh?

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

Simple, there's a LOT of people that simply can't get over nontraditional looks. I mean, look at what happened with the FugglyBucker and that was designed by the supposedly enlightened members of this here forum.

FWIW, I have a set in one of my favorite guitars and they rip yet next to no-one got them because of how they looked.

EDIT: I see Pepe beat me to the punch

 

[jeremy]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

I have a prs se with a pair of prails and triple shots. its a cool guitar that gets me a bunch of usable tones. I may swap magnets at some point cause I love a2 pups but for now they are doing the trick just fine. I basically put them in to get the p90 sounds in a bucker size but its nice to have the other options too.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

Listen if you please:
https://youtu.be/YPYIeHNuxzQ
They have high output through our beloved A5 magnets. I am puzzled.

I have done sales demos (for software) in the past and a demo with too much info is usually a failure, this demo has too many options the average player cannot appreciate or differentiate. This one has too many different sounds and no clear explanation on how to use them.

For example below is what I the best video on to get a ton of sounds from a single guitar, simple and straight to the point with clearly differentiated sounds and their applications. Heck, this guy made me want to get a LP and I am strat guy!

 

[dystrust]

Re: Curious why P-rails with triple shots aren't a leading seller

What year were the P-rails released? There's been more time for the more conventional pickups to have been sold.

The posts above hit the nail on the head.

If I remember correctly P-Rails were released for Winter NAMM in 2008; my bro bought one of the first sets sold in the US from a dealer who'd picked them up at the show. He had them in a BC Rich Mockingbird and I remember using only the series, P-90, and parallel modes when I borrowed the guitar. He had to sell the guitar for financial reasons in 2010, so I went several years without playing them.

I recently installed a set with Triple Shots in my SG Standard after trying several other sets of pickups. I'd had a set of Phat Cats in there, but I just can't get along with A2s in Gibson scale. In short I love them, but surprisingly I use the P-90 a lot less than I thought I would. These days I find myself using the rails a lot for clean sounds and switching pretty evenly between P-90, parallel, and series for overdriven.