I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

W

WyrmCracker

New member
And why is this you might ask??

I am currently shredding it up with a Duncan Full shred, and really like it. I want to try a Demon, but. . .

Duncan pickups cost more!

So back when I was in school, $10-20 was a big deal. And now that Ive tried most of the Dimarzios, I feel Im part of the family.

I think Duncan should lower their prices to be competitive. They are the same thing. Hand wound in USA. They are no better, no worse. Just more expensive.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

I just buy my pickups used and let the people with the money buy them new;)
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Petrovsk Mizinski said:
I just buy my pickups used and let the people with the money buy them new;)
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the way to do it. There's and abundance of peeps out there who a constantly swapping out pups to reach their Holy Grail. Take advantage of the used ones, they have expierience.:approve:

Peace,

Darrin
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Um... am I the only one that isn't missing this? THEY ARE BOTH AROUND THE SAME PRICE, AND A LOT OF DIMARZIOS ARE PRICIER! Is the OP on new medication or something? And by the way, SD is competitive with EMG.

In fact, delete this thread and restart in the opposite direction. Dimarzio needs to drop their prices back down to this "10-20 dollars less" that the OP is talking about to be more competitive [and less profitable].
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

WyrmCracker said:
And why is this you might ask??

I am currently shredding it up with a Duncan Full shred, and really like it. I want to try a Demon, but. . .

Duncan pickups cost more!

So back when I was in school, $10-20 was a big deal. And now that Ive tried most of the Dimarzios, I feel Im part of the family.

I think Duncan should lower their prices to be competitive. They are the same thing. Hand wound in USA. They are no better, no worse. Just more expensive.
Click to expand...

Not exactly - dimarzio uses a machine to wind each pickup to make sure that their products are perfectly consistent - this doesn't mean that their pickups are all wound the same, just that the wind is programmed into a machine to make sure each pickup sounds exactly the same as the next one.

Incidentally, this also saves on cost when compared with having to pay (and train, I presume) people to guide the wire onto a bobbin while it's turned by a machine.

Duncan also spends more money to ensure authenticity - i.e. getting the original leesona from gibson, using different wire for different pickups (single coils back in the day were wound with a different wire than was used on humbuckers I think), and manufacturing a lot of the parts in house, whereas many of those same parts are outsourced when you're talking about other manufacturers. Seymour even has the original notes from Seth Lover about the ratio of materials in the Butyrate he used on the original humbucker.

I have nothing against dimarzios, I just prefer duncans because there's more 'air' to the sound. It's more open to my ears, and I also like knowing that SD goes the extra mile to make sure their products are top notch. The only dimarzio I really liked was the VHPAF, which they discontinued to introduce the 36th anniversary, which has way too much low mids for a vintage pickup IMO.

I know it would be nice to have duncan lower their prices, but if you look in the right places, there's virtually no difference in used prices between the two.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

1. What Thurisarz said
2. I´d MUCH rather spend 50$ more on a pickup built by a company with substance, ideas and tradition than 50$ less on one from a company specializing in knockoffs or (as is the case here) prefers despicable business practices to a good product ;)
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

WyrmCracker said:
And why is this you might ask??

I am currently shredding it up with a Duncan Full shred, and really like it. I want to try a Demon, but. . .

Duncan pickups cost more!

So back when I was in school, $10-20 was a big deal. And now that Ive tried most of the Dimarzios, I feel Im part of the family.

I think Duncan should lower their prices to be competitive. They are the same thing. Hand wound in USA. They are no better, no worse. Just more expensive.
Click to expand...

What do we expect from a 'Cracker'... lol
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

+1 on buying pre-owned. Besides, it is the only way to obtain some pickups. e.g. My beloved Seymour Duncan Active EQ bass pickups. The ones with the DIP switches.

Amongst my instruments, I've got (in alphabetical order) Bartolini, Basslines, DiMarzio, Duncan Designed, EMG, Fender, Gibson, PRS, Seymour Duncan and Squier pickups. I don't give a flying "bleep" what brand a pickup is, so long as it sounds right for the guitar in which it is fitted.

If you think that American electric guitar pickups are expensive in Dollars, be grateful that you do not have the Dollars-for-Pounds pricing policies of their UK distributors. :grumble:
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Zerberus said:
2. I´d MUCH rather spend 50$ more on a pickup built by a company with substance, ideas and tradition than 50$ less on one from a company specializing in knockoffs or (as is the case here) prefers despicable business practices to a good product ;)
Click to expand...

Who's specializing in knockoffs? Duncan? Danged pronouns!
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

WyrmCracker said:
And why is this you might ask??
I am currently shredding it up with a Duncan Full shred, and really like it. I want to try a Demon, but. . .
Duncan pickups cost more!
Click to expand...

That Demon DOES cost a bit more than even regular Duncans.
I just got one and paired it with a Full Shred neck.......
Man, it's totally worth it.
You can get hair band tones from hot, baked, farty sounding Dimarzios (sorry DMZ fans, just my opinion)
Or ear grating, hissy, artificial sounding, shrill, noisy-assed battery eating volcanic lava tone via EMGs (apologies again to EMG fans, just my take)

Or you can put $25 extra bucks down and get USA Duncans, which are, IMO, the true sound of Rock And Roll Music.
Pick up an extra shift at work and get the Demon. You'll be glad you did.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

bagouser said:
Or you can put $25 extra bucks down and get USA Duncans, which are, IMO, the true sound of Rock And Roll Music.
Pick up an extra shift at work and get the Demon. You'll be glad you did.
Click to expand...

I used to put Screamin' Demons in everything - SG, Strat, Jackson Fusion. I thought I liked it.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Grandturk said:
I used to put Screamin' Demons in everything - SG, Strat, Jackson Fusion. I thought I liked it.
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Funny that I did a thread a couple months ago asking about the Demon and if I should try it in my guitar and YOU GUYS convinced me to try it.
I'm glad that I took your advice, and now here I am singing it's praises to others......It's a great, uniquely voiced humbucker that is "just right" in the lows and output department.........and to think I almost skipped out on it because I don't like Lynch style hair rock.......for those brave enough to ignore George's name and even the retarded name of the pickup itself and try the Demon are usually satisfied.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Both are excellent products. There is not too much difference in price. EMG-HZs cost more.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

You can rotate used bought and sold pickups at pretty much the shipping cost - which is the same for both brands.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Generally DiMarzio humbuckers are $60 - 65 new. Duncans tend to be $70 - 90 new. I think the DiMarzio single coils tends to be a little more pricey than equivalent Duncans.

BUT - as stated before... you can get almost any pup you want used for $30 - 55 shipped so it really isn't an issue. Why people buy brand new is beyond me.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Living out of the USA, the opposite is true. Dimarzios cost the equivalent of $115US in the shops here and I can't import them directly. SDs are the equivalent of $130-150US, but I can get SDs direct from many sources (I use wymoreguitars) and save some dollars.

The market for second hand pups here is really small, and a lot of people on ebay dont want to ship internationally.

I actually paid a forum bro that I bought a pickup from a small handling fee to buy a new dimarzio and include it in his shipment to me.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

The Dali said:
Generally DiMarzio humbuckers are $60 - 65 new. Duncans tend to be $70 - 90 new. I think the DiMarzio single coils tends to be a little more pricey than equivalent Duncans.

BUT - as stated before... you can get almost any pup you want used for $30 - 55 shipped so it really isn't an issue. Why people buy brand new is beyond me.
Click to expand...

Well, if people didn't buy new, there wouldn't be a used market, now would there?

I think it depends on the pickup. There are some that I am willing to buy new because I know they're going to be the last pickups I put in a certain guitar. This was the case with the PGn that I got for my les paul - it was so well reviewed that I knew it would be a winner. I got the PGb used because that's a love-it-or-hate-it pickup, so if I didn't like it, I could sell it for the same price I got it for.

Likewise with the P-rails I got for my jazzmaster project - I knew I wanted p-90, strat, and humbucker sounds from it, so it was the logical choice. If I didn't like them, I would have tweaked them a bit (magnets and gauss) but I don't think anything else could have realistically gone in that guitar.

Actually, you don't see very many p-rails come up used I've noticed - but then again maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Eh, DiMarzio's are not generally 60-65... they are about 70-90 just like Duncans. They aren't cheaper, at least not the ones I wouldn't mind trying. And also, I don't think Seymour Duncan requires you to toss guitars into a swamp and call em stolen for an endorsement. Just saying.
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

Interestingly, the OP hasn't bothered to respond...
 
Re: I have Tried almost Every Dimarzio, Only a Handful of Duncans...

I wouldn't respond either if I was the OP.
 
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