Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

[Ascension]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

That's the problem: it's being sent allright but noone is doing anything with it. That site has been live for 4 years now and zero ideas have been implemented. No wonder few folks are ridiculizing the SDRL.

I tried in putting up the Hybrid match in a neck Hybrid on that site . However only a handful here supported it and me on it. If we want the hybrid neck then get over and support what I posted as an idea. Several would rather rail on how that system doesn't work and no one is listening than simply support the system by in mass backing an idea many of us here want to see become a reality.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

I get what you're saying, Mincer, but I think your statements also serve to reinforce the concerns from the others. After all, out here in the real world, we only know about what gets put out, not what is "waiting to come out".

There's really no communication about upcoming ideas or those under consideration any longer. When company reps were more prominent on the forum, we had a window into these things and most of us felt like ideas could make it to the people that cared. That's how forum pickups were made possible.

Of course there's the "Custom Shop", but that shouldn't necessarily be the default answer to everything. I like the website for submitting new ideas in concept, but there's no sense of interaction...no reassurance that anything is happening on the back end with those ideas. The R&D group should have their own "Builder's Blog" or something

To SD's credit, they HAVE come out with a LOT of great stuff over the past couple of years. I'm not dissatisfied at all, aside from the really weak marketing and complete lack of follow-up for most products, especially here on the forum, where the promotion is essentially free to the company and a little interaction could go a long way...

Agree with you 100% on every bit of this!!

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

I’d buy a Brobucker the second they made it into standard production. I wasn’t around for its inception.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

I’d buy a Brobucker the second they made it into standard production. I wasn’t around for its inception.

I think the Custom Shop can still build it. I understand everyone wants input and actual designers to be on the forum. I doubt that will happen. I don't know a whole lot more that you guys what's cooking, so we have that in common. But when people suggest 'why don't they make a Five Two in a humbucker shape! I want it!' the correct answer is the Custom Shop. So they can actually make it. It seems like what people don't want is the upcharge and the wait times. I get that too, but it takes time (and cost) to do a one-of-a-kind pickup.

 

[Big Mike Blues]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

I think the Custom Shop can still build it. I understand everyone wants input and actual designers to be on the forum. I doubt that will happen. I don't know a whole lot more that you guys what's cooking, so we have that in common. But when people suggest 'why don't they make a Five Two in a humbucker shape! I want it!' the correct answer is the Custom Shop. So they can actually make it. It seems like what people don't want is the upcharge and the wait times. I get that too, but it takes time (and cost) to do a one-of-a-kind pickup.

Yep. The hand wringing seems to be about wanting it regular production so as not to have the wait and cost.
I get it..but if there was a huge call for it,I'm sure it would get made.

@Ascencion I also submitted when you did that thread.Hoping to see one, but I suppose a Jazz or Full Shred would match up relatively well, though not unbalanced coils.

 

[Discharged]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

Most companies don't even allow that level of engagement.

This is completely true.

However, the fact that in the past the Co. listened so closely to their users, with a level of engagement actually unheard of in any music-related industry, set it apart from the rest, helping to create the biggest, almost "cult-like" following not other p'up brand will ever achieve.

Having said that, with the departure of key employees and the Sitegate debacle in 2015 (which the Co. never recovered from it, if you ask me), everything suddenly changed. I'd imagine that the Board made a business decision, then the resulting new (draconian?) Corporate policy of cutting the direct line to the customer for being either too expensive and/or not particulary benefitial, appointing specific people with the specific task of keeping the optics of "nothing had change", with I'd say a big success, short of a few loudmouth, pesky old-timers like myself that would pop up from time to time and timidly stir the pot a tiny little bit, with no measurable influence in the big scheme of things.

Not that I'm complaining of being the exception that confirms the rule...

My thought is that since the SDRL site was implemented, there has been employee turnover

I'm sure that's been the case since 2015.

and they have a ton of products waiting to come out.

Unless is some sponsorized-by-someone-famous product, if it's p'up related, I seriously doubt this being the case. I'm positive the oldest p'up models are the biggest revenue source to this day, so making a lot of new ones make no economic sense, unless being sponsorized by some name. And following the newest models from the last five years, the numbers are consistent with my statement.

But if you want something built, it can still be built.

That's the way it always has been. No big surprise here, Dave.

Man, I'm ooooooooold....!!!! Kids, get off my lawn!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

I tried in putting up the Hybrid match in a neck Hybrid on that site . However only a handful here supported it and me on it. If we want the hybrid neck then get over and support what I posted as an idea. Several would rather rail on how that system doesn't work and no one is listening than simply support the system by in mass backing an idea many of us here want to see become a reality.

The '59/Custom was made from two existing coils, and a hybrid neck is just as simple. I make neck hybrids by combining coils from a bridge & neck PAF, like '59B/'59N, A2PB/'59N, etc. There's enough of a coil mismatch to get a nice crisp clear tone, even with a warm magnet like an A2 or UOA5.

For a neck to pair with the '59/Custom, a '59N makes sense, kind of complete's the circle. Paired with a JazzB coil that would be nice. Quick painless way to get a new PU in the market. Duncan has so many HB's now, there's little need to come up with new windings for every new PU. There's a need in the lineup for a bright neck HB that's not prone to bassiness like the '59N, and that has a little more character than a Jazz.

 

[Big Mike Blues]

Re: Is it time for a new UGF pickup?

The '59/Custom was made from two existing coils, and a hybrid neck is just as simple. I make neck hybrids by combining coils from a bridge & neck PAF, like '59B/'59N, A2PB/'59N, etc. There's enough of a coil mismatch to get a nice crisp clear tone, even with a warm magnet like an A2 or UOA5.

For a neck to pair with the '59/Custom, a '59N makes sense, kind of complete's the circle. Paired with a JazzB coil that would be nice. Quick painless way to get a new PU in the market. Duncan has so many HB's now, there's little need to come up with new windings for every new PU. There's a need in the lineup for a bright neck HB that's not prone to bassiness like the '59N, and that has a little more character than a Jazz.

So full shred or sentient?

 

[Lazarus1140]

On a similar yet totally unrelated topic. The last (only?) SDUGF inspired pickup I purchased is a StraBro 90 wound by MJ 1-30-09. I've never installed it, so I can't attest to the value of the inspiration by committee build. It wasn't really something I wanted, but that's the direction voting took the project. I only purchased it to support SD's generosity and tolerance for allowing us to engage in such a process.

 

[Chistopher]

A forum pickup could work pretty well right now given the average pickup knowledge on this forum seems to be at a high right now. There are plenty of holes in the lineup too.

 

[jeremy]

design by committee can be tough, and the more people think they know, the harder it can be. the brobucker was created with a specific goal in mind, 10k overwound paf. i bought four, still have two. the stratbro90 and fugly were different, i like the stratbro90 and still own a set, never tried the fugly.

what holes in the line up do people see that could sell a good number of pups?

 

[Mincer]

I don't know if the current group of people posting frequently here would be able to agree on anything. But it would be a boring place if we could.

 

[Artie]

It would be nice to see the BroBucker moved over to standard production.

And Jeremy . . . can you talk about that Stra-Bro-90 a bit? I love the concept. How does it sound?

 

[Chistopher]

I think it would be cool to do a competitor to the EMG Retroactive line, but I don't think that would be a popular effort

 

[Seashore]

I don't know if the current group of people posting frequently here would be able to agree on anything. But it would be a boring place if we could.

Well, I've got a place for another asymmetrically hand-scatter-wound 20+k 45AWG double screw ceramic 7 string soapbar... who's with me?

 

[misterwhizzy]

Well, I've got a place for another asymmetrically hand-scatter-wound 20+k 45AWG double screw ceramic 7 string soapbar... who's with me?

Feel free to plant your flag on that hill all for yourself.

 

[ErikH]

I want a PAF, wound to 9.69K with the hair strands of a mermaid, an Unobtanium magnet, mounted on a solid gold baseplate. Oh, and double-creme bobbins. LOL

 

[misterwhizzy]

I want a PAF, wound to 9.69K with the hair strands of a mermaid, an Unobtanium magnet, mounted on a solid gold baseplate. Oh, and double-creme bobbins. LOL

You forgot to ask for it as a regular-production model.

Oh, and me too.

 

[beaubrummels]

what holes in the line up do people see that could sell a good number of pups?

I don't think the holes would sell a good number, but I've been interested in:

StagMag neck
"FlatMag" set
---Mag sets with different poles, like A3, etc.
59/Custom hybrid neck (which would most likely need to be a 59/Jazz neck?)
A lower output P-Rail, so you could use the neck as a bridge and the lower power one as the neck
Cream and other color Parallel Axis
Cream and other color Rails

A Duncan version of the Page post-'72 Madison Square Garden set would be very cool, a quintessential LP sound not exactly covered by the line up, though you can get in the ball park mixing, matching and modding stuff in the line up. (I believe WLH are patterned after the Norlin red set Seymour made; they don't sound like TSRTS set.)

 

[Aceman]

I agree with Dave - the regulars here anymore know what they want, and don't want what they don't want.

Could a focus group be convened that could work together? Yeah...but it would be half a dozen people or so.

I'm not seeing this forum produce the sort of agreement needed anymore. Times have changed, people moved on, product lines expanded, blah blah blah...