Gaps in the product line?

Re: Gaps in the product line?

There's almost 10 pages of reinventing the wheel, now even more rounder.

How about actually inventing something that doesn't exist? What about a single area/boundary pickup covering the area from bridge to neck that responds to where my picking hand is on the strings? Or that intensifies the effect of using bare finger over pick, or fingernail vs bare finger? Velocity sensitivity, but not synthetic or synthesized - modifies the tone stack based on how hard I pick? OR how about a pickup in a cassette that can slide out of the ring and be replaced even between songs?

This post will get flamed all to hell, because there's no innovation, invention or creativity here.

If you get flamed for this post, I'm guessing it'll be due more to your derisive condescension than to any lack of innovative thinking in all the people who already took the time to thoughtfully answer my question.

You feel me?

But that doesn't mean there aren't some good ideas in your post, because there are. Interesting stuff for sure, and I may use it as fuel for another thread.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Full harnesses for popular configurations like Ibanez (HSH), Fender Strat (SSS/HSS), Fender Tele, Gibson Les Paul/SG (HH) WITH SD Liberator (other pots being CTS) and Orange Drop caps as standard will be a good start.

There are many customer who don't buy new pickups because:
1- They have to buy soldering equipment and learn how to do it properly
2- Afraid of scrapping $50-$60 by overheating new pots/caps
3- To expensive to have guitar tech not knowing the result
4- Current available harnesses still need soldering

Having harnesses with your Liberator will help newbies to easily put whatever new pickups. It will also be a safer solution as they only have to remove current pots/switch/jack nuts and keep it so they can revert back to original config if needed.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

As far as the function of wheels go, that one doesn't do anything other wheels don't already.


Radial tires aren't an improvement on chariot wheels? If everyone had your outlook, we wouldn't have the technology we do today. What if everyone 500 years ago said: 'This is as good as it's going to get, no point in making anything better than it already is.' Everything can be improved on.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Coming soon, the all-not-so-new SD Amish?

Yeah, ok, I'll be on the naughty step... :outahere:
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Radial tires aren't an improvement on chariot wheels? If everyone had your outlook, we wouldn't have the technology we do today. What if everyone 500 years ago said: 'This is as good as it's going to get, no point in making anything better than it already is.' Everything can be improved on.

Sure. That wasn't what I was on about. Mag swaps, hotter coil winds and screw changes on existing pickups are not reinventions. They are options that can either be ordered today or done yourself. But to come up with a new product, it requires ingenuity and innovation to create something that hasn't existed before - like the Fluence thing or the P-Rail. Capabilities that didn't exist before and wouldn't have happened by one of us doing DIY at home.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

But they didn't reinvent the wheel. They invented another kind of battery charger. As far as the function of wheels go, that one doesn't do anything other wheels don't already.

Sure. That wasn't what I was on about. Mag swaps, hotter coil winds and screw changes on existing pickups are not reinventions. They are options that can either be ordered today or done yourself. But to come up with a new product, it requires ingenuity and innovation to create something that hasn't existed before - like the Fluence thing or the P-Rail. Capabilities that didn't exist before and wouldn't have happened by one of us doing DIY at home.

So creating a tire that can charge batteries, something current wheels can't do, is not re-inventing the wheel? Current tires do not charge batteries, this one would and would meet a new need–battery powered cars.

Likewise, music of today does not sound like classic rock. New technology is available and that technology has created numerous opportunities for new sounds and ideas. I think any company would be under poor management to not seek ways to improve their products/product offerings. "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." - Winston Churchill
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Starting to feel a little bit "off-topic," guys...


[emoji450]Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [emoji441]
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Sure. That wasn't what I was on about. Mag swaps, hotter coil winds and screw changes on existing pickups are not reinventions. They are options that can either be ordered today or done yourself. But to come up with a new product, it requires ingenuity and innovation to create something that hasn't existed before - like the Fluence thing or the P-Rail. Capabilities that didn't exist before and wouldn't have happened by one of us doing DIY at home.

Almost everything's built on something that preceeded it. Some steps are big, some are small, but there's always an ongoing effort to improve things. Maybe you only see or care about the big steps, but the little steps add up.

Are you expecting PU companies to regularly 'create something that hasn't existed before'? All new ideas aren't good ones, or greeted with open arms by consumers. 'New' isn't always better. Some offer little, if any advantage over what currently exists. P-Rails just combined what already existed, nothing new there, and I have no interest in them, either do most players. I don't see them as any big breakthru. They certainly haven't revolutionized the PU industry and taken it over. Fluence PU's are just able to standardize the winds of existing PU's, and as long as they require batteries, their appeal will be limited. Both of these PU's are basically rehashes of what's already been done. I don't see either as anything to get excited about at this point. Maybe some fine tuning will make them of more interest to players. varitone switches were a 'new' idea that flopped. I think most players get excited about great tones, not shiny new objects.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Almost everything's built on something that preceeded it. Some steps are big, some are small, but there's always an ongoing effort to improve things. Maybe you only see or care about the big steps, but the little steps add up.

Are you expecting PU companies to regularly 'create something that hasn't existed before'? All new ideas aren't good ones, or greeted with open arms by consumers. 'New' isn't always better. Some offer little, if any advantage over what currently exists. P-Rails just combined what already existed, nothing new there, and I have no interest in them, either do most players. I don't see them as any big breakthru. They certainly haven't revolutionized the PU industry and taken it over. Fluence PU's are just able to standardize the winds of existing PU's, and as long as they require batteries, their appeal will be limited. Both of these PU's are basically rehashes of what's already been done. I don't see either as anything to get excited about at this point. Maybe some fine tuning will make them of more interest to players. varitone switches were a 'new' idea that flopped. I think most players get excited about great tones, not shiny new objects.

Ah, the fear of batteries...

I guess some guitarists won't get excited about great tones either, if it runs on batteries.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Ah, the fear of batteries...

I guess some guitarists won't get excited about great tones either, if it runs on batteries.


Not a fear, they run down (I've see this happen to a guy on stage: dead bass) and they corrode if left in too long. No need to screw around with batteries when passives sound so great.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Ah, the fear of batteries...

I guess some guitarists won't get excited about great tones either, if it runs on batteries.

I wouldn't call it a fear, per se. I'd be more inclined to use actives if I liked the sound of them, but I don't. That, and the fact that most actives are a good $30 more than most passive pickups.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Not a fear, they run down (I've see this happen to a guy on stage: dead bass) and they corrode if left in too long. No need to screw around with batteries when passives sound so great.

Touché! :)

Although it sounds like a rookie mistake. Lol


I wouldn't call it a fear, per se. I'd be more inclined to use actives if I liked the sound of them, but I don't. That, and the fact that most actives are a good $30 more than most passive pickups.

Fair enough. That's why I wish that someone could make an active pickup, but a sensible one. Why does it need to be balls out? Just all the plusses of active design, but with normal, paf-ish output (for instance).
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Touché! :)

Although it sounds like a rookie mistake. Lol




Fair enough. That's why I wish that someone could make an active pickup, but a sensible one. Why does it need to be balls out? Just all the plusses of active design, but with normal, paf-ish output (for instance).

EMG came out with the 57/66 set a while ago. I had them in a Jim Root tele before in sold it. They were marketed as a PAF, but more modern. I actually like those pups for leads, but I couldn't get a tight rhythm to save my life. I guess that was my fault for trying them in a guitar in was using for prog metal, though.
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

EMG came out with the 57/66 set a while ago. I had them in a Jim Root tele before in sold it. They were marketed as a PAF, but more modern. I actually like those pups for leads, but I couldn't get a tight rhythm to save my life. I guess that was my fault for trying them in a guitar in was using for prog metal, though.

Really? I them in an ESP Eclipse, and I think they sound awesome. No problem with rythm whatsoever, and I play mostly metal.

But lately I have caught the low output pickup itch. I've never really played any low output pickups, and I feel like I'm missing out. :)

But if I want to try some PAF's, I have to pull the EMG's. I'm happy with how they sound, so it's a hard step to take. A direct swap would be awesome. (Yeah, I'm that selfish, haha).
 
Re: Gaps in the product line?

Not a fear, they run down (I've see this happen to a guy on stage: dead bass) and they corrode if left in too long. No need to screw around with batteries when passives sound so great.

I wouldn't call it a fear, per se. I'd be more inclined to use actives if I liked the sound of them, but I don't.

These are the reasons for me. I don't even use batteries for my pedals–have them all plugged in even on stage.

I had a Spector bass with active EMGs that I sounded really good but the batteries died during a practice and it basically turned me off to them.
 
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