who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

natelc1979

New member
just wanting to try my first pair of boutique handwound humbuckers. i dont want to spend a ton of money so who has the best prices on them?
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Erm, am I the only person here seeing a contradiction in the concept of budget boutique pickups? Surely, paying far too much for the goods is part of the purchasing experience? (Like some makes of car!)
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Boutique handwound humbuckers on the whole DO cost a ton of money but some more than others. I love my Bare Knuckle pups but they're expensive. Around the price of Custom shop SDs. If you're in the States have a look at forum member Zhangliqun. If I was in the US I'd definitely give his pups a try.
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

I have to say I'm incredibly happy with my custom wound pickup from JS moore, he wound me a pickup spot on to what I wanted for a very reasonable $95. About a month wait.
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

And you have to differentiate between boutique and handwound too. Zhangbucker is perhaps the only one I know to do it 'by hand'. The rest have a degree of machinery involved.
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Buying a pickup just because it's hand wound isn't the best way to shop for pickups.

As for price you don't always get what you pay for in this world...example..

Jason Lollar pickups are all made on machines and are not very special sounding at all and they cost a lot...

Duncan Antiquity pickups are made with a bunch more hand work, cost less and IME sound MUCH better...
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

just wanting to try my first pair of boutique handwound humbuckers. i dont want to spend a ton of money so who has the best prices on them?

Whta kind of tone are you after? What sounds are you getting now that you'd like to change? There's plenty of knowledge on this forum. Tell us what you like/dont like about your current setup and what youd like your axe to sound like. Tell us everything you can about your axe and your amp and how you use them, and the kind of players whose sound you would use as a template for your own brand of sonic heaven.You might find you dont need hand wound at all. There might already be someting that fits the bill.
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Whta kind of tone are you after? What sounds are you getting now that you'd like to change? There's plenty of knowledge on this forum. Tell us what you like/dont like about your current setup and what youd like your axe to sound like. Tell us everything you can about your axe and your amp and how you use them, and the kind of players whose sound you would use as a template for your own brand of sonic heaven.You might find you dont need hand wound at all. There might already be someting that fits the bill.

+1
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Jason Lollar pickups are all made on machines and are not very special sounding at all and they cost a lot...

Which ones in which application? The Imperial in the bridge of a strat is about the best strat bridge bucker I've ever heard, and the firebird neck is a killer cross of single coil and humbucker tone.

This. I've tried some Smit's pickups, and they are sort of "meh"

Again, which? I've tried some of Seymour Duncan's pickups and some of Dimarzio's pickups and they were just 'meh' or downright sucked. Then again there are some that just kill. Depends on your preferences and application.
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

And you have to differentiate between boutique and handwound too. Zhangbucker is perhaps the only one I know to do it 'by hand'. The rest have a degree of machinery involved.

What I do with the PH's is probably better called "hand wrapped", which is to say a particular (and rather unusual) KIND of handwound. But machine involvement does not mean the pickup is not handwound. What makes a pickup handwound by the industry definition is whether the traverse is hand guided, ie: wire between thumb and forefinger.

One last thing I should say in defense of my competitors who do not hand wrap or hand guide is that truly great pickups can be made without handwinding. The wire just has to be laid on in a certain way; it doesn't care HOW it got laid on that way, whether strictly by hand or strictly by machine, so don't anyone automatically turn their nose up at a non-handwound pickup. Sure it might be crud but also it might actually be dynamite, especially as more of these guys climb up the learning curve on CNC machines where they can program every single turn.

The one exception I know of is the Timbucker wind which I call the crop circle of wind patterns. I don't think a machine could ever do that.
 
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Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Which ones in which application? The Imperial in the bridge of a strat is about the best strat bridge bucker I've ever heard, and the firebird neck is a killer cross of single coil and humbucker tone.



Again, which? I've tried some of Seymour Duncan's pickups and some of Dimarzio's pickups and they were just 'meh' or downright sucked. Then again there are some that just kill. Depends on your preferences and application.
The M-Tone wind and the Boosted Classic wind, with A2, A3, A4, A5, A8, and ceramic magnets. They were all right, but they were a little "plasticy" sounding for lack of a better word. I just didn't gel with them
 
Re: who has the best prices for hand wound humbuckers.

Old thread BUT Revel does make incredible pickups.

Not really sure how many are "handwound" but as far as small shop/custom ordered pickups go, not sure you can find one cheaper than Wilde Bill Lawrence.
 
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