Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

[Powdered Toast Man]

We all know the story: Stock pickups from several of the Asian made cheaper line guitars aren't that great. Epiphone comes to mind. Same with some of the Squier and other off-brand stuff. So why do those cheap import pickups sound different than their higher-end counterparts? The construction of a pickup is a pretty simple piece of engineering, so what gives?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

The quality of the materials used. The consistency of the materials and more importantly the accepted tolerance not just in materials but in production.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Perhaps because they cut corners, they also feel the need to fill EVERY last space with wax.....I mean they look like bars of soap underneath covers.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Also the sound. Cheaper pickups tend to sound either thin, flat, or muddy depending on the design. Not very responsive to pick.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

The biggest difference is that "cheap" pups sound cheap and "good" pups sound good.

 

[freefrog]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

We all know the story: Stock pickups from several of the Asian made cheaper line guitars aren't that great. Epiphone comes to mind. Same with some of the Squier and other off-brand stuff. So why do those cheap import pickups sound different than their higher-end counterparts? The construction of a pickup is a pretty simple piece of engineering, so what gives?

Here we go:



Epiphone parts on the left, Gibson and Duncan parts on the right side.

-Epi : fake screws (slotted slugs) made of whatever alloy... Not sure their plating is magnetically transparent. Real screws made of a proper alloy for the expensive PU.

-Epi coil: roughly molded plastic bobbin, which maintains the magnetic poles far from the cheap poly wire. Right side: more delicate butyrate bobbin with PE wire.

-Keeper bar: absent in the Epi PU. Hence the thick fake screws (to compensate the lack of metallic mass).

-Baseplates: nickel silver on the right. The Epi includes a brass baseplate which creates Eddy currents.

-Maple spacer: only on the right.

-Slugs: molded alloy with precisely defined carbon content on the right side only.

-Magnets: thick ceramic bar on the left, alnico 5 on the other side.

Sum up: several missing parts in the Epi PU. Its design is not wrong by itself : brass baseplates or ceramic magnets can be seen in expensive PU's, as well as the absence of keeper bar. That said, the coarse Epi coil is not likely to be found in any expensive PU...

Each of the mentioned parts impacts the tone, of course.

FWIW.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

The quality of the materials used. The consistency of the materials and more importantly the accepted tolerance not just in materials but in production.

+1. Along with winding patterns and tensions; this is what makes it an art, and cheaper PU's typically are wound without any consideration for that. Because of numerous factors, they lack the clarity, depth, and definition that a good PU has. There's a big difference between a PU that's manufactured to be 'functional' and one that's made with tone quality as the top priority. Both generate an electrical signal, but some players want to go beyond that. The better the amp and the less effects, the more you hear the difference with a quality PU.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

+1. Along with winding patterns and tensions; this is what makes it an art, and cheaper PU's typically are wound without any consideration for that.

Aye tis true. Not just whats wound but how its wound. It all adds up.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

There may be none. At the end of the day, if it sounds good it is good. You never know when the 24.99 bucker is THE perfect pup for a specific guitar until you hear it, play it, set it up. CHeap and good are NOT mutually exclusive. Don't worry about the construction. Focus on the sound. A 68 Bordeaux in jug is still a 68 Bordeaux.

Except for Epiphone. All Epiphone stock pups suck. I think we all pretty much agree on that. Not saying they COULDN'T be good. Just aren't usually, with usually being like 99.998% of the time.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

That breakdown is exactly the same for singles too, the cheap import Strats come with (came with?) pickups that look like Strat pickups, but use a ceramic bar on the bottom with vaguely ferrous pole pieces and questionable wire. "Real" Strat pickups have individual magnet pole pieces and specific wire. While they are both pickups, this I like saying a Yugo and a Corvette are both cars. Now, some may prefer the import type, but most associate "good" tone with the classic tones made by classic pickups on classic albums.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

While they are both pickups, this I like saying a Yugo and a Corvette are both cars.

When I was in high school this kid had a Yugo... He kept telling us how one day it would be a collectors item since they were rare and they didnt make them anymore.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

The quality of materials, quality of manufacturing and consistency of product. As for price differences I believe that has a lot to do with material costs, manufacturing costs, marketing and product margins. I believe that companies like Mighty Mite, GFS and BL USA produce great products with considerably smaller margins.

As for the boutique manufactures I believe their true talent lies in study of manufacturing methods and materials selection. However I don't believe that a boutique pickup should cost three times as much as an off the shelf pickup due to materials selection. Their marketing stresses materials because that is a tangible product. Because it's hard to prove you have mastered the process of producing a period correct replica.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

As for the boutique manufactures I believe their true talent lies in study of manufacturing methods and materials selection. However I don't believe that a boutique pickup should cost three times as much as an off the shelf pickup due to materials selection. Their marketing stresses materials because that is a tangible product. Because it's hard to prove you have mastered the process of producing a period correct replica.

There is also the economics of scale to consider. Anyone making a lot of pickups -- an OEM, Duncan, DiMarzio -- buys materials and manufactures in much larger quantities than I imagine most boutique companies do. This means the boutique company would probably be paying more for the same materials (and still more for the premium materials they use), and they have fewer units over which to spread their overhead.

When they explain why their pickups are so much more expensive, I doubt many will come out and say, "Well, we're really small compared to the bigger, more mainstream companies, so we pay more for a lot of things than they do. And we kinda need you to cover a comparatively bigger portion of the cost of this machine that we just bought. So, yeah…"

It's no secret; it's just business. Problem is, it just doesn't sit well with the average consumer, who's often conditioned to value only what's in the box they get after handing over the money, in the most absolute and literal sense possible.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Agreed. Most consumers don't understand the concept of buying in bulk leading to a lower production cost per item. Of those few who do understand it, they incorrectly assume that Joe's Basement Pickups has the buying power of Seymour Duncan Incorporated, and thus are only spending $0.02 on a 5-mile spool of copper wire, 3 tons of bobbins, and millions of bits of hardware. Not to mention that they're using migrant workers so worker pay is a sammich and a beer.
Inversely, they believe that Joe just wants to lay out of a real job piddling in his basement, so he has to charge twice as much to pay his light bill.

Playing Devil's Advocate, many people also associate (rightly or wrongly) higher cost with higher quality, so they follow that line of delusional thinking and spend as much money as they can on one item, convinced it's the best available.


Then, of course, you have a situation where, for example, SD makes USA-made pickups and also has Duncan Designed models made overseas.
You CANNOT afford to have those import models match the quality of tone, materials, or construction of your domestic product, otherwise you become your own worst competitor. Jackson found this out in the early 90s when the 1990-1994 Japan-made Professional Series models were outselling their USA-made models because the quality of workmanship and materials were dead even. They wound up competing with themselves for market share, and almost lost the entire company.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Great post, Freefrog. Thanks!

 

[freefrog]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Great post, Freefrog. Thanks!

You're welcome.

At least those dead PU's that I've dissected will have done something for music(ians) a last time. )


To be fair, I'll just precise a couple of things:

-I agree with the answers above, especially those mentioning the importance of winding patterns, tension, and so on.

-Aceman is right IMHO: cheap pickups don't necessarily sound cheap. I've even been surprised by the good tone of a few low priced models...

-although I usually dislike Epi PU's, I've found the recent Alnico Classic HB's more than acceptable sounding. YMMV.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

They wound up competing with themselves for market share…

Well, did they get any of it?

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

We all know the story: Stock pickups from several of the Asian made cheaper line guitars aren't that great. Epiphone comes to mind. Same with some of the Squier and other off-brand stuff. So why do those cheap import pickups sound different than their higher-end counterparts? The construction of a pickup is a pretty simple piece of engineering, so what gives?

Like others have said, it comes down to materials and attention to detail. The simple part is making it actually function. Cheap pickups function. It's the quality of that function that differs.

Some cheap Asian pickups aren't actually terrible. Some cut corners in the materials that don't make THAT much of a difference (maple vs plastic spacer, etc.).

I think the biggest difference comes down to the attention to detail, honestly. For instance... Look at the dissection pic that freefrog posted. The actual wire coil on the Epi pickup is taller and seems a bit narrower. That's going to affect the magnetic field and thus the tone. Also, a quality pickup (regardless of place of manufacture) is going to be more tightly wound, which will not only, again, affect coil geometry but end up having more space to soak up more wax.

Then, of course, the material differences that matter, like the alloys used for the baseplate, screws (and their shapes), slugs, magnet wire (and its insulation).

Honestly, it probably wouldn't cost all that much more to make a quality pickup in Asia at their procurement costs... It's really a matter of them saying "What? It works. What more do you want?" but not understanding the differences.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Here's bits from the pups that came with my 2002 Epi Les Paul.
Clearly there is a keeper bar and real screws. There are two different pole piece types between the two pups.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Please explain the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups

Cheap humbuckers can be really bad, thud pick attack, fuzzy sounding, slow tracking yet boxy, lacking presence, etc.

Cheap single coils don't usually bother me that much, the ceramic squiers don't sound like strat pickups, but to me they don't sound bad either (except in the bridge position).