Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Desmond_G_Baggins

Desmond_G_Baggins

New member
Hey guy's i was windering if anyone had experince making "homeade pickups" or something similar. I wanna get in to guitar building and pickup building because people are always wanting "Boutique" guitars and pickups these day to where they shell out ridiculous money. I was wanting some help and Reccomendations on where to buy things like the magnets (bar and pole piece), copper wire, bobbins (or how to make them), and how to wire them. And also the what gear would I need. I probably should buy one of those pickup winders from stewmac but what else also what wax do you use to pot them.

Thank you
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Skip it, is my advice. Everyone and their dog is building guitars and winding pickups. The market is flooded. Find a niche that hasn't been exploited.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Maybe so but I haven't realy noticed my idea was being done and that was boutiqe replicas of famous guitars / basses like the only one i ever saw was I think it was Knaggs made a version of Duane Allmans Les Paul but with their single cut shape and those weird one piece bridges. The ones like a tune o matic but there is a metal bars connecting the tail piece and bridge.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

You need to look harder. The stuff you are talking about is everywhere.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

ICTGoober is right, as usual. I really recommend walking away from these kinds of ideas. Gibson has released a TON of replica's, you can get guitars to your specs from a billion builders from all across the world. Just look on instagram. It's extremely hard to come up with something new. Building guitar(parts) is just a dead end commercially. Just do something you enjoy doing, on the side. Don't quite your daytime job.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Agreed. I started to get into pickup building, then realized how impenetrable the market is. I've seen lots of "good" ideas and talented builders get squashed because they didn't originate from the big names. Too many people doing vintage designs and not enough buyers. The only room left in the market is for new technology. That's why ZexCoil, Kinman, Fluence, etc have been able to create a name for themselves. Unless your design is a true game-changer or you're bored and need a hobby, there's no money in pickup making.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

+1

Desmond, it's definitely worth digging in to build stuff for yourself to learn how it works. And if along the way you have an original idea, as others have said, you might find something that you could make your own.

Otherwise the market is flooded with high quality instruments...

The way we make money, is finding people who have already found a guitar that they love but need it to do something else. Most of the time we are thickening long scale, single coil designs or thinning short scale humbuckers.

depending on your geographic location, mods can be a good market...However note that there's not a tremendous amount of demand so you have to be at the top of your game.

Again don't want to discourage you. Start with some warmarth parts, modify existing pickups, and learn the ins-and-outs of modifications and then you'll be in a place to look at the market for yourself.

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Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

I know thats how Seymour started he just rewound pickups to be more clear and stuff. Do those stewmac pickup winders work any well for doing that. And just buy random warmoths and start with making parts casters basically?
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Well, the world of aftermarket parts was mostly non-existent when Seymour started- he essentially started a whole industry!
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Desmond_G_Baggins said:
I know thats how Seymour started he just rewound pickups to be more clear and stuff. Do those stewmac pickup winders work any well for doing that. And just buy random warmoths and start with making parts casters basically?
Click to expand...
Start with what you or your market needs.

We've done a number of long scale mahogany body builds to get the combination of long scale snap and mahogany warmth. Definitely useful in our market but there may be no demand in yours.

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Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

If you'd got into the game about 6-8 years back, you would have tapped right into the new cottage industry of PAF and other vintage replica pickups that was just starting to expand.

Of course you really would have needed about 4-5 years worth of experience before just winding to get the mechanics of the process down pat........plus extensive prior knowledge of the intricacies of vintage pickups from years having opened them up and looked at detail at precisely how they are made with the attention to detail of a brain surgeon.

Otherwise you are in the 'generic pickup' area, and you cannot even buy the materials you need for the pickup cheaper than a set of GFS shipped......and without a name that is who you are competing against.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

Man, this thread is rife with harsh reality...but it's pretty much all true!

I think one untapped avenue are "collaborations". Such a strategy has worked to bolster small-time breweries, music, etc. The problem is applying that approach to pickup making.

Otherwise, you gotta come up with something others haven't to really stand out.
 
Re: Reccomendations On Pickup Building

I'd suggest that learning any new skill is not a waste. Transferring it into a lucrative career is difficult in any industry. But you didn't say you wanted it to be a career, you just want to learn to do it. Get some parts, and start building! Make pickups for you and your friends, and learn a lot in the mean time.
 
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