Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

[Lewguitar]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7387067804&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

I'll tell you, I'd like to see Joe and Seymour get together and have the Bardens made in the Duncan Factory. I think it'd be a real beneficial relationship for Joe, Seymour and all the rest of us "just players" who'd like to own a set of what many consider the finest Tele pickups ever created.

Lew

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I'll say it again: I don't care how good they are - $640 for a set of pickups is insane.

I am intrigued by your idea though.

 

[Nite_Maresz_25]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Never have, never will.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I'll say it again: I don't care how good they are - $640 for a set of pickups is insane.

I am intrigued by your idea though.

It is insane! But I can see it if you have the money. I mean, people routinely spend $20,000 or much more on a new car that's gonna end up in the landfull in 20 years or so.

Guitars (and maybe pickups) can last a lifetime...

Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

you should have seen the average auction prives from 2 or 3 years ago...a set of Tele pickups would bring close to a grand!

 

[Corbic]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Even though they probably sound fantastic and amazing...I'd never spend that much on pickups...maybe, just maybe, if I had a spare grand to throw away on new pickups, I might. But for the same price I could probably get new pickups for around 5 guitars.

 

[itbepopples]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I don't know what people see/hear in those pickups. I have a DVD (homemade) of a bunch of Danny Gatton's performances and whenever he played his Tele with the Bardens as opposed to his hollow Gibson I thought his tone was completely anemic and hi-fi sounding. Maybe people think of this as an investment?

 

[Farkus]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7387067804&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

I'll tell you, I'd like to see Joe and Seymour get together and have the Bardens made in the Duncan Factory. I think it'd be a real beneficial relationship for Joe, Seymour and all the rest of us "just players" who'd like to own a set of what many consider the finest Tele pickups ever created.

Lew

Do you have any idea why Joe quit making them in the first place? They're very sought after and if he made them again at this point, he could get away with charging a decent amount for them.

Mark

 

[aleclee]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I'll say it again: I don't care how good they are - $640 for a set of pickups is insane.

Where do you draw the line? A set of easily-obtained Custom Shop 78's will set you back $320 (160x2). Is that merely silly?

Seriously, have you seen what original PAFs go for these days?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Where do you draw the line? A set of easily-obtained Custom Shop 78's will set you back $320 (160x2). Is that merely silly?

Seriously, have you seen what original PAFs go for these days?

Well, obviously different people have different levels of what they consider to be a ridiculous amount of money. Personally, I wouldn't spend $320 US on custom shop pickups unless I was absolutely convinced that the tone I want isn't available in a production model ... and with all the pickups on the market these days, I find that highly unlikely.

If the 78's get you your tone, and you're willing to spend the $320, go for it. If the Bardens are what you desperately need, and the price doesn't make you run for the hills, buy them. I can get my tone from production models, therefore buying boutique pickups is a waste of money in my case. That's how I draw the line.

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Do you have any idea why Joe quit making them in the first place? They're very sought after and if he made them again at this point, he could get away with charging a decent amount for them.

Mark

I heard that some people working for him did some unscrupulous stuff with regards to not paying suppliers and absconding with the $$$. Don't know if that's true.

It would be darn cool if Seymour Duncan could license the design/patents of the pickups and/or bring Joe in as a consultant. As I'm very loyal to SD, but love the Bardens, I would love to see Seymour Duncan/Joe Barden pickups! It could be a huge win/win for both parties. (I hope no other pickup company reads this post and gets any ideas!) As I've said before, I have some in my Tele and they are exceptional pickups. As I've also said (many times) before, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to things like tone, and I love the Bardens.

 

[saladin]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

"A fool and his money are easily parted"

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

If the 78's get you your tone, and you're willing to spend the $320, go for it. If the Bardens are what you desperately need, and the price doesn't make you run for the hills, buy them. I can get my tone from production models, therefore buying boutique pickups is a waste of money in my case. That's how I draw the line.

Very well said !!!

I have nothing more to say about that at this time.....:dance: :dance: :dance:

 

[ES350]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Compared to PAF's, old Tele and Strat pu's, (and P90's are getting there), that's not a lot of money...new production like Holmes pu's are going for similar money. The Barden prices are just a symptom of rampant Telemania...wait five years (when everybody will want a 60's Jaguar....

 

[gripweed]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Lew,

I've heard that these Lil Killer pickups are copies of the Bardens.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/singlecoil.html

For $50 they might be worth a shot. If you don't like them, you could send them to Rev Donzo (who has apparently been rewinding quite a few Bardens) and have him work his magic on them to get the Barden sound. Just a suggestion since you seem to be jonesin' pretty bad for some

 

[heem6]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I have a Guitar Fetish FAT PAF and it's quite a clean-sounding pickup. I really couldn't tell you if it's got an "Authentic" but modded PAF sound, but I'd be very interested to hear a review if anyone tries the L'il Killers.

I've also had good luck with a pickup from these guys www.guitarheads.net They make a distortion-type pickup ( the HEX model ) that sounds great for 80's rock.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

I think this is a great example of the 80/20 theory. You spend 20% getting 80% of your tone and 80% getting the last 20% of your tone. If you follow that logic, and you really want that full 100% of your tone, it's worth it.

That's a lot of money, though.

 

[MikeS]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

This is a classic example of paying for a novelty item. IMO, no pickup can be so great that it’s worth that kind of coin. But, if $600 is nothing to you, then why not go for it? Paying for original PAFs is the same way, albeit a little more extreme in price.

Can I believe it? Yes, especially if they are good pickups (not a complete waste of money). Would I ever consider it? Not on this salary, but if I were to get a 400% raise, $600 might not phase me. It’s all about perspective.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

Do you have any idea why Joe quit making them in the first place? They're very sought after and if he made them again at this point, he could get away with charging a decent amount for them.

Mark

Joe had some health problems and when he came back, his employees had almost ran his business under. He was trying to catch up and fix what his employees had broken. I think his health is suffereing though....

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Do you believe what these two pickups are selling for???

This is a classic example of paying for a novelty item. QUOTE]

Don't want to rehash much that was on the other recent thread, but calling bardens a novelty is way, way off track- Don't mean any disrespect Mike, but it was in looking for barden replacements that I came over to SD (at least this last pass) and quite honestly, there is nothgin that SD, Dmzo, or others have to offer that's really in the ball park ( I have a little killer on oder, but potetinal problem with the rout size)-

Dont get me wrong I like SD and dmzo (cruiser and cool rails are the closest I can find to Barden S right now) and of course they have their own advantages, but bardens are a rather differnt sound and it shouldn't be that hard to figure out what is going on with them-

I also could never pay this amount for these pups, so it's not the price I am talking about- But what Lew started with is right on, I would expect it would be worth SDs time to investigate the size of the barden market and I bet it's rather large for a boutique pup- I think this would actually do a lot to round out the rails line and could start at the high end of the scale to amortize costs, and cut back over time to fill the space-

BTW as a barden nut, this definately is an 80/20 issue- I can get most of my sound out of other pups and retired my bardens to the studio to keep them safe- Other barden nuts are like me, we dont tend to care practically anything about name, how it's made etc, as most have tried evertyhing out there including the $24 lil killer.

It's just a significatly different tone that happens to work for us and there's no replacements out there right now, so it's supply and demand as opposed to novelty-