Here's my take on it: when it comes to choice of materials, build quality, and the experience of the craftsmen who are actually doing the work, the regular Seymour Duncan product is second to none. Period. You can compare SD Production Floor pickups to [fill in the blank with the cork-sniffiest boutique pickup builder] and SDs will be at least as good and in most cases better. Did I just say "better?" I did. And here's why.
When it comes to the materials that go into most boutique pickups, they are rarely tooled by the builder or their local machine shop. I'm talking about bobbins, covers, bottom plates, metal spacers, etc. So where do they get them from? The big parts houses. Where do the big parts houses get them from? The same folks who supply the big Asian pickup builders.
Now just because the components come from Asia, doesn't mean they're bad. Hell, I'd put Duncan Designed pickups up against a lot of USA-made (non-SD) pickups and they'll come out on top. But I guarantee that whatever draftsman drew the spec drawings for those mass-produced bobbins and covers and whatnot did not have the guitar-specific experience of Seymour and Kevin Beller. And you can see it. Check out an old PAF and compare it to the boutique versions. Often times you'll see little differences in things like a corner radius, or a tooling mark, or a surface finish, or a substrate, or a plating material, or a material choice, or a dimension. And often times you'll see those same components used on several different boutique brands--because they're buying their components from the same parts supply companies.
Seymour Duncan tools their own bobbins, covers, bottom plates, spacers, etc. etc. In most cases, for their vintage pickups, they'll use the exact same materials as the originals. Or sometimes they'll make compromises for modern production, like using polycarbonate bobbins on the '59 so it can be wax potted. But if you want butyrate bobbins, there are three PAF models that offer that.
And a note about plain enamel wire. There is magnet wire that's passed off as plain enamel by some of the big wire manufacturers. And it's not. It's easy to tell if it's real plain enamel. If a hot soldering iron melts off the insulation, it's not plain enamel, even if it has the characteristic chocolately brown color. If you need to scrape off the insulation so you can solder to the wire, then it's likely the real deal. If you ever see any photos or videos of the Leesona in action (whether they're shot by SD staffers or factory visitors), notice that the winder always scrapes off the insulation.
Now before you go off on me for dissing [fill in the blank with the boutique pickup builder who you just shelled out major coin to], keep in mind that I'm not calling out any specific companies or pickup builders here. There are a lot of fine vintage pickups built by winders who have the same appreciation for vintage that Kevin and Seymour have. Well, maybe not a lot. But there are some. I'm pretty sure.
The reason for this diatribe is really to draw attention to the components that go into pickups. Remember, each part of the pickup is part of the tone chain. And some guitar players are paying their hard earned money to pickup builders who are purchasing their components from the big parts houses. That's all.
