Zephyr Silver

Re: Zephyr Silver

Evan Skopp said:
Where are your overhead costs?
Click to expand...

Exactly. A lot of self-styled savvy consumers going through this exercise, tend to forget about overhead. Because, really, you didn't have electricity to your facility that month just to build their pickup, so it's not fair to include any portion of the electric bill in the overhead costs associated with it. Because you would have had electricity anyway, even it you weren't building their pickup. You should just absorb that as a cost of doing business. Make customers who bought Quarter-Pounders for Tele pay for it, or something.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

I just returned from Sweetwater. We did some training and spent some time in one of their studios. Throughout the day their reps came down to listen to (and play) two identical Strats, one with Zephyrs and one with "non-zephyrs". Most of these people are experienced recording engineers and guitar players. Plenty of them came in as skeptics saying "alright let me hear what $1200 pickups sound like". Without exception, all left amazed. Their comments echoed Peter Stroud's, and what we've written in the new brochure recently printed. But...they hadn't read the brochure.

The guitarists all played and felt the difference. We say a big part of the difference is the feel, but the non guitarist engineers were all equally impressed by what they heard. Mitch shot a video with the two guitars. Hopefully it makes it to the web soon. I'm going to ask for the straight audio file as well, so people can download it uncompressed. It will be interesting to see how the differences survive YouTube.

The cynicism, while expected, is unwarranted. Guys you KNOW us. You know this is legitimate or we wouldn't have done it. As head of product I wouldn't have supported it if it wasn't everything we expected. If you're predisposed to skepticism, you need more players review them, or to play them yourself, it doesn't change the reality of way they sound or the validity of the features. Some people reject things that are expensive on principle. One of our in-house guys was questioning them even right up until a big listening test a few weeks ago. It's human nature.

Regarding the economics, this company has, and has always had a stellar reputation for treating everyone we do business with fairly. Zephyrs are no exception. They are priced fairly. In due time this will be an accepted price point for these materials and manufacturing techniques. These materials and techniques are not for everyone, but there are plenty of studios that can afford to have Zephyr equipped guitars for tracking, and plenty of guitarists with multiple guitars and the resources.

Oh yeah, and where the heck is Jeremy? He played them.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

The three most important words hiding in the middle of Frank's post are …

PLAY THEM YOURSELF

I have just installed a TV Jones Classic (Filter'Tron replica) into my PRS SE One. The guitar was good with a SD Antiquity P90 but the sound and dynamic "feel" from the TVJ are somethin' else. Specifically, they are pure Malcolm Young.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

UberMetalDood said:
You've already proven to be obtuse in your thinking so I'm not surprised that you have to inject little comments like this.
Click to expand...

I didn't need more than one word to say what I wanted to say. :naughty:

UberMetalDood said:
It just shows your lack of knowledge of manufacturing and marketing.
Click to expand...

That's a quote from Donal Romsfeld:

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns;
that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns –
- the ones we don't know we don't know - "

Without taking into account the arrogance and condescendence of lecturing the Duncan Company in how to make money making p'ups, conveniently forgetting that they've been in business for over thirty-five years; just by analysing the content of your post I think the last sentence it's the most suitable to express my opinion 'bout it.

HTH,
 
Last edited:
Re: Zephyr Silver

Needless to say, only a person who makes a living in studios is really going to benefit from these things. I would need a really well-made guitar, a really well-made amp, the best cables and components and be under the "pin-drop" scrutiny of the studio environment before I would justify the purchase... for me. I'm sure they are AMAZING given the right quality ingredients combined together and they are a NICHE product, not a "gimmick". I'm sure folks thought the Super Distortion was a "Gimmick". "Oh sure... that'll only last a year and folks will go back to Gibson PAF's and T-tops". Etc, etc. However, you have to have the right amp and guitar to make it work. A Super D into a crappy practice amp... still sounds like a crappy practice amp... same with a set of Zephyrs.

You have the "best of the best" and that is the point of the this product. Kudos to the SD team for taking a step forward.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

You gotta keep moving forward. I think most of the people hating on the Zephyrs do so because they know they will never have a chance to enjoy them. I'll never drive a Bugatti Veyron, but I certainly don't think Volkswagen is out of bounds for building them.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

IanBallard said:
Needless to say, only a person who makes a living in studios is really going to benefit from these things.
Click to expand...

This is what i was trying to say. If players feel they are too expensive or are just a gimic or whatever then dont bother with the zephyrs and just move on. I dont think duncan as a company expects every one of their users to own a set of these. these are what i would call "specialty pickups"
If i were a high paid studio guitarist would i want a set of these? damn right i would!:naughty: they would go right into my $4000 custom shop charvels :bling:
 
Last edited:
Re: Zephyr Silver

These pups sound interesting. first I've heard of them.

Seems to me these pickups are not for US..meaning 99% of the members here on this forum *****ing for pages upon pages about whether EVH used a Super70, Super D, or MM copy, or it was an old overwound re-wound PAF from a 335. Or that an A2 mag turns the JB into the pup we all have heard on classic albums, or whether the Custom should be shipped with A2/A5/A8 and ceramic magnets.

These zephyrs sound like they are for people who are really good at making a living in music...not us bunch of hacks :D
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

Given specialized bobbins with glass cores (glass? as in breakable glass?) and specialized nickel cored steel poles and slugs, on top of that the silver wire? (Keeping in mind that you're not just buying a few ounces of silver in the shape of a coin or cube -- it's been extruded to be as thin as your hair and then insulated) I don't think the MSRP is all that out of wack.

As to whether it's worth it or not, only one way to find out and that's to play them yourself. It's not as if there's a bunch of Zephyr-loaded guitars laying around every store so it will be a while before most of us get a shot at it without buying a Zephyr but I am intrigued. Enough that when some more dough comes in I may try some silver wire experiments myself. Such specialized screws and bobbins may be out of reach for me but smaller spools of silver wire maybe not...
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

JeffB said:
These pups sound interesting. first I've heard of them.

Seems to me these pickups are not for US..meaning 99% of the members here on this forum *****ing for pages upon pages about whether EVH used a Super70, Super D, or MM copy, or it was an old overwound re-wound PAF from a 335. Or that an A2 mag turns the JB into the pup we all have heard on classic albums, or whether the Custom should be shipped with A2/A5/A8 and ceramic magnets.

These zephyrs sound like they are for people who are really good at making a living in music...not us bunch of hacks :D
Click to expand...

Everybody knows it was a duncan custom that he used!:D LOL!
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

blindedbysilence said:
I'll never drive a Bugatti Veyron, but I certainly don't think Volkswagen is out of bounds for building them.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. (Plus, VW loses about 3.5 mil on every one they sell.) Its an engineering exercise.

I think its silly to talk about the marketing, or profitability of something like this. Its just cool that a company sticks their neck out and builds something cutting -edge in their craft. Its fun to know its there.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

IanBallard said:
Needless to say, only a person who makes a living in studios is really going to benefit from these things.
Click to expand...

I think it would be hard to say without trying them. You could argue that I can't "benefit" from owning a JEM, since I don't record or play professionally. But I beg to differ every time I feel my fret hand flying around the neck on that thing. It's kind of like saying I couldn't hear the difference between a TSL100 and a Bogner Ecstasy because I'm not going to make money professionally by purchasing the amp.

I guess I'm having trouble understanding the economic theory that some use in determining whether a product is worth the price to them. Here's what I'm gathering:

If you don't play professionally, it doesn't pay to invest in anything expensive, because you're not looking to make money back from it. But in this case you are by definition not concerned with return on investment, because you don't play professionally. You buy things because you enjoy owning and using them on your own terms. It's called a hobby. It's a situation that basically frees you from worrying about getting ROI out of a purchase, at least in economic terms.
 
Re: Zephyr Silver

isnt R & D much of the cost associated with any new product ?
As far as Zephyrs, I hope to own a set one day. I'm sold.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top