Gaps in the product line?

Re: Gaps in the product line?

GilmourD said:
Anybody else have any pickups they want that Duncan doesn't currently make?
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  • Tele Custom pickup with SSL6 specs
  • Jaguar/Jazzmaster Custom
  • Humbucker sized P90 Custom and Hot
  • Tele bridge pickup built like a P90
  • Tele bridge pickup with JB Jr specs
  • Tele bridge pickup with Little Screamin Demon specs
 
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Re: Gaps in the product line?

Maybe not exactly what you're asking, but I've noticed on the Dimarzio site that they give an actual millivolt output number for their pickups. Since everyone always says you can't really rely on the DC Resistance number as the output of a pickup it would be nice to see how many Mv it actually produces so we can compare and match pickups.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Cdwillis said:
Maybe not exactly what you're asking, but I've noticed on the Dimarzio site that they give an actual millivolt output number for their pickups. Since everyone always says you can't really rely on the DC Resistance number as the output of a pickup it would be nice to see how many Mv it actually produces so we can compare and match pickups.
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Those numbers do exist. Scott Olsen posted them a while back. However they haven't made their way into wide circulation.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

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Re: Gaps in the product line?

idsnowdog said:
  • Tele Custom pickup with SSL6 specs
  • Jaguar/Jazzmaster Custom
  • Humbucker sized P90 Custom and Hot
  • Tele bridge pickup built like a P90
  • Tele bridge pickup with JB Jr specs
  • Tele bridge pickup with Little Screamin Demon specs
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Out of those I'd imagine that the Lil' humbuckers would be the easiest to do, although I've never compared the bobbin dimensions between the Lil' Tele 'buckers and the Lil' Strat 'buckers. Might it be as simple as transplanting one onto the baseplate of another?
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

How about a coil tapped P90 along similar lines to the Custom Shop '53 Tapped Tele Lead? i.e. Three conductors. Dual output levels. One traditional to please blueman335, one 15 to 20% hotter for overdrive fiends.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

I guess I'll go ahead and chime in here. I read about a third of the responses (this topic is pretty long after all) and I thought it might be good for SD to get an opinion from a guy who ISN'T intimately familiar with all that many pickups... so here goes.

When I was doing my Westone project (see my avatar) earlier this year, I wasn't even sure where to begin, but I knew I needed to replace my pickups (this guitar had gone through a fire and they were literally fried... just ask if you're interested in it's story). Anyway, I did a lot of online research, read a lot of opinions, and saw a lot of adjectives pertaining to pickups and sound that were difficult to quantify. It became clear very quickly that I just needed to be able to hear these pickups for myself. Limited funds, though, made the idea of trial and error rather unsavory. I really liked the sound samples that Seymour Duncan had on the website, and spent many hours listening and comparing before coming up with my decisions for my purchase (SH-4 Bridge, STK-S2 Center, SH-2 Neck). Knowing that the samples were using the same guitar and rig setup gave me confidence that I could listen to two different pickups and be able to hear the difference between them.

My point is that there were several pickups I saw on the site that did not have a corresponding sound sample... so I have no idea whether there are gaps because I simply did not get a chance to hear them all. As someone who is most definitely NOT well-versed in all the pickups out there and the variations in sound, but who is a purchaser nonetheless, I really appreciated the ability to hear the differences before making my selection and would have gladly spent a few more hours doing it had there been a more complete offering of samples.

Obviously SD (like any other manufacturer of anything) is asking about gaps because they want more market share... which is a great strategy. Making it easier for those of us who are not experts to make an informed decision seems like another great way to do that, regardless of the gaps. In fact, taking it a step further and adding samples of series vs split vs parallel would have been FANTASTIC!

Don't want to sound like I'm complaining, though... I am a VERY satisfied customer!
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

uOpt said:
That is actually a good idea, but there is one problem. While this would give an excellent neck pickup for many applications a set with screamin' demon in both neck and bridge would be imbalanced. You can't really market it like that because people who believe in "calibrated sets" could walk away disappointed, especially with the weak sounding bridge demon.

The whole thing is misnamed anyway. There isn't anything either screaming nor demon about the screamin' demon. It is a very low output, high control pickup for large sound forming rigs. Not to mention long scale hardtail guitars when in the bridge position.

Some product naming sortout would also improve the Duncan product line.
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What I meant by my first post wasn't a "set", merely tweaking a Demon so that the screws are in the "traditional" neck pickup arrangement with the fillister screw bobbin closer to the neck (possibly replacing the hex screws with slugs), and then renaming it something not associated with the Demon, and marketing it as a medium output neck pickup. I agree that a Demon in both the bridge and neck probably wouldn't balance well. Basically make a neck pickup with the same specs as the Screamin Demon

P.S. I've run Demons in 2 SG's and an LP in the bridge, with an SH-2 neck, and love the way they sound in Gibson scale guitars. But to each, their own
 
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Re: Gaps in the product line?

GilmourD said:
Out of those I'd imagine that the Lil' humbuckers would be the easiest to do, although I've never compared the bobbin dimensions between the Lil' Tele 'buckers and the Lil' Strat 'buckers. Might it be as simple as transplanting one onto the baseplate of another?
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The only pickups that would require new materials to my knowledge would be the P90 style Tele bridge and the humbucker sized P90's. Otherwise the bobbins and baseplates for all the other pickups exist and it's just a question of winding them to specs.

For instance:

  • Tele Custom pickup with SSL6 specs - could be wound on any Tele bobbin and baseplate.
  • Jaguar/Jazzmaster Custom - could be wound on any Jaguar/Jazzmaster bobbin.
  • Tele bridge pickup with JB Jr specs - could be wound on the Little 59 for tele bobbin and baseplate.
  • Tele bridge pickup with Little Screamin Demon specs - could be wound on the Little 59 for tele bobbin and baseplate.
 
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Re: Gaps in the product line?

Ptolemaeus said:
Eh, while we're at it: The Hot Stack. It was surprisingly not all that hot.
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"Hot Rails" is also only correct for the bridge version. The Hot Rails neck and middle are pretty much PAF class...

... as opposed to vintage strat class like the vintage rails. But since they are all hummelbuckers the buyer might be confused and pick the VR when desiring a "vintage humbucker" aka PAF sound.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Oh yeez.

I didn't realize that Helmut Lemme's book featured so prominently. I have been the one who made the poster buy the book. I thought it would improve the situation. Poor Helmut can't catch a break.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

RE:All the guys asking about another Duncan Performer or Designed series (ie. Import versions).

Knowing that the MIA question will be coming up again soon you better be careful what you wish for, I can see SD citing that as a reason to send all production overseas except the CS.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Luke Duke said:
RE:All the guys asking about another Duncan Performer or Designed series (ie. Import versions).

Knowing that the MIA question will be coming up again soon you better be careful what you wish for, I can see SD citing that as a reason to send all production overseas except the CS.
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I think the pickup market is a little different than that. Yes, people will always want the cheapest available and will buy imports when they want to save money, but the price difference between a retail Duncan Designed ($30) and retail Duncan USA ($72) is a fair amount right now. If someone wants a USA Duncan, they'll buy it, pretty sure they'd do the same even if there was a Designed model that was based on that same one. (Look at all the people that think they can hear the difference between an HB102 set and a JB/Jazz set and a new set of strings....) Yes, percentage-wise you're looking at a fair amount of savings per pickup *but* dollar-wise it's not the same as saving a few hundred on some other piece of electronics, unless you're like me and outfitting half a dozen guitars at a time. :D

Expanding the Designed line a little bit will attract people that are patronizing GFS and other Artec manufacturers though. In fact, there are a lot of Artec based manufacturers that plug the gaps in Duncan's line as it stands.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Luke Duke said:
RE:All the guys asking about another Duncan Performer or Designed series (ie. Import versions).

Knowing that the MIA question will be coming up again soon you better be careful what you wish for, I can see SD citing that as a reason to send all production overseas except the CS.
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Possible? Well... Yes.

Probable? Highly unlikely. Opening a factory in a foreign land is a huge step, logistically and economically speaking. It'll require an enormous investment in machinery, creating new processes to stably feed the production line, and specially local workforce that'll be able to operate those machines and follow through the production line.

Call me optimistic if you will, but no, I don't see it happening anytime soon, if ever. :cool2:
 
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Re: Gaps in the product line?

Technically, I can have pickups made in China that are as well sounding as US made pickups right now. I even know factories in there due to other business munchings.

Technically?

Can I make a business out of it? No. The problem is that the materials required, the effort to not have the factory divert the good materials and use junk in 6 months, shipping the materials there and then all the QA work, presumably in the US, drive the price up.

Doing all that would not drive up the chinese-made US-quality pickups to the US-made US-quality pickups, but it would be in between, let's say 50% between junk and US pickups. People would not buy such a product. The country of manufacture is such a bad mark they they would not pay this premium even if they sound the same. They would go all the way to buy US made. On top of that you can be sure that there *will* be hickups with the far east factories.
 
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