What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

[OlinMusic]

You read it right - what SINGLE pup wuld you pay through the nose for? I ask only because I cannot justify some of the high prices I see - so I want to hear from someone who would justify it.

Lay it on me - BRAND, MODEL, WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL, HOW IT COMPARES TO A KNOWN MODEL LIKE AN SD, GUITAR YOU HAVE IT IN, AMP YOU RUN IT THRU

AND

IS IT WORTH ALL THAT DOUGH?

 

[Al Heeley]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

Err, nonoe, I'm really happy paying $30 for 4-conductor GFS PAF-type pups, I do't reckon 5X the price is worth maybe 0.2X the tonal improvement and it doesn't help me play any better!

 

[Kev]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

i'll pay someone 120$ to sort my strat problem haha.

I do love the JB :arms:

 

[schecterplayer]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

Um...... a Toyota. I can't think of a guitar pickup worth that much cash when there are some awesome pickups for way less in almost every style imaginable.

but then again im young and broke

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I paid nearly that each for my Custom Shop Duncan Strat pickups in my number one Strat and I also paid neearly that for me Custom Shop Duncans in my Telecaster paid right at that for the Antiquity buckers in my Les Paul and I also recently picked up a Joe Barden Tele bridge pickup that set me back more than $120...and it was used!

I personally don't see $120 as too much money for a pickup, thats not to say that you can't get a great pickup for less (I have loads and loads of other pickups that cost less that I really like as well). Truth is I could have been nearly just as happy with some off the shelf Duncans. As for the Barden, nothing sounds like a Barden except another Barden but thats a whole nother thread...the deal is this, In my opinion ALL this stuff is overpriced...you have bolt neck guitars with no fancy woor, plain solid colour paint and crappy stock pickups selling for $2500 or more the average cost of a "good" amp seems to be well over $2500 these days...I mean good God, I've seen 10 foot guitar cables that cost over a hundred bucks!

I look at it like this...I hear a one in my head that I really want, I have a $2500 guitar plugged into a $2500 amp and Im gonna cry about a pickup that costs $150...thats crazy. Im mean if you can find the tone you are looking for with a $75 dollar pickup then by all means do it but if the sound you want comes from a $150 pickup then get it.

All that said, I would NEVER buy a set of real PAF's the last set I saw sold on Ebay for close to $4000 for a set from 1960...that is too much. You have to draw a line somewhere but IMO $120 is not too much for a good pickup and in my cases I called MJ and told here exactally what I wanted and I got just that...and getting the tone you want can be priceless!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I still think that we are a spoiled group.
Imagines how much it would cost to play piano or some woodwind instrument, or
any bowed instrument.

 

[revolution]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

Aero Instrument Level 2 AL-V + 160.00...worth every penny.

 

[Osensei]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I shop the web! $70 for a single pickup is pretty standard it seems. You must be shopping at the brick and mortor places. Forget that! I don't wanna pay for thier overhead! Visit some e-commerce sites dude!

 

[Zerberus]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

Already did for the Brobucker, and still would for any other pickup that I feel can offer me something no other pickup can.

If you compromise on tone, you compromise on your own and the audience´s enjoyment of your playing... That´s not a compromise I´m willing to make, especially not to save what are essentially peanuts in the grand scheme of gear

 

[Curly]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

one thing great about today is that there are so many choices. If expensive custom pickups are out of your budget, then you just get something off the shelf. No big deal. When you see how SD's PAF style humbuckers are made, even though they are "production" models, they are pretty much hand made on that old Leesona winder from Gibson's old Kalamazoo factory.

The fact that SD sells them for a fair price shouldn't prevent anyone from thinking that they're some of the best deals out there.
The same goes for the SSL-1s, the Broadcaster, and several others.

I've considered using my Broadcaster and Vintage Rhythm in my next tele, but I have a Custom Shop set that's not being used, and I've grown to like the difference that pickups like the Antiquites make.

there are also those who get boutique pickups only to find they aren't really satisfied. I think a lot of times, it's not only how much you spend, but finding the right pickup for the application and the tone you're looking for.

 

[JeffB]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

Hmm...

I've yet to hear any pickups over 100 smackers that float my boat except WolfeTone and Bare Knuckles.

That said, I just cannot justify the cost. I'm perfectly fine with production Gibsons, DiMarzios and Duncans.

My tone is based heavily on mid to late 70s/early 80s. I use what they did back then..it works.

I think that alot of people have an "idealized" sound in their mind of what things sound like as opposed to what they actually DO/DID sound like. In the past everytime I went with some "new/improved vintage" piece of gear to get tone I was after, I was disappointed...eventually I just started using the "old barebones" stuff...and guess what...I got the sound I was after.

 

[Davey]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

a Bareknuckle VHII ... why? because it is the NWOBHM sound in a pickup.

 

[JeffB]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

a Bareknuckle VHII ... why? because it is the NWOBHM sound in a pickup.

psssttt....they din' have any BK pups back then

This is exactly what I'm talking about..."idealized" sound.


Those guys back then used Gibson and DiMarzios.

Not that it isn't an awesome pup, cos it is...But I suspect if you played John Sykles old LPC or Adrian and Daves guits, or Fast Eddie Clarks Paula and Strat and compared them to a VHII, you'd be quite surprised....

 

[ES350]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I just paid a little less than that for an mid 60's T-top for my 335 bridge slot---sounds killer. I had tried about six other pu's in it, but this one gets it, no contest. Got any more?

 

[DeanSweden]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

The Holdsworth prototype Jake E Lee had

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

The Gibson Tony Iommi Sinature pickup sounds great to my ears. Don't believe the hype, this pickup is not the high output pickup Gibson claims it is. It does have a unique ceramic/alnico II magnet combo, but I have yet to see web photos of one of these torn apart. They are completely encased in epoxy resin. I hear there blades inside, rather than polepieces.

I have paid $97/$120 for them.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I'd pay that for some of the more complex Bartolinis for sure. He has some quad coil bass pickups that are hum cancelling as "singles" or humbuckers. When it comes to that kind of stuff you're kind of getting two pickups in one housing. So you're getting 3-4 totally usable sounds out of each one, not to mention the combination sounds.

But I've never heard a "standard" pickup (boutique or otherwise) that I felt was worth $120. And yet when I wind one for myself I can't imagine doing it for less than $150. Does that make sense? So it's not that a hand wound isn't worth $120, I just can't bring myself to pay for that.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

BTW, if I had the cash I´d buy a few original PAFs... so I can make others pay out the nose in a few years :laugh2:

 

[cheezemaster]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

I don't know - maybe something that really nails the tone you want or something vintage..

This is somewhat unrelated, but some guy on Ebay is trying to sell a 1968 P-90 COVER for $200.

This is a piece of plastic that will look and sound exactly like the piece of plastic Gibson will sell you new for $20, which probably cost 5 cents to manufacture..

 

[Zerberus]

Re: What pickup would you pay over $120 each or MORE for?

... but will make 500$ difference if you have a 68 LP or similar guitar woth P-90s in it that you want to sell ... vintage gear isn´t about tone, it´s about collectability and people wanting to own what they dreamed of as a kid or what their Idols used