Getting caught up in the hype

[SFW]

This past year I went to a pretty expensive pickup search. After watching YouTube demos and reading gushing reviews, I handed over a lot of hard earned money to some of the various boutique pickup makers. In the end, I wound up frustrated and unsatisfied. I've been a Seymour Duncan user for years. How could these boutique pickups not only not sound as good as my old Duncans, but in some cases sound worse. While I practice at my house all the time, I'm primarily a live band player. What I found with most of these boutique pickups is that while they sound great at home by myself, in a band setting they lacked the ability to cut through the mix. I found myself fighting to be heard in the mix. After each unsuccessful attempt, I would load my Custom or JB back in to the guitars and be right back in the mix.

So my lesson from 2013... Just because it's twice as expensive doesn't make it any better than the industry standards. There is a reason that Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio hold the lion's share of the pickup market. Their products just work. Some of you guys may have had great luck with WCR, Fralin or Suhr pickups. I'm glad that they have worked for you. For me... Some times a beer is just as good as champaign.

 

[Devilinside]

This past year I went to a pretty expensive pickup search. After watching YouTube demos and reading gushing reviews, I handed over a lot of hard earned money to some of the various boutique pickup makers. In the end, I wound up frustrated and unsatisfied. I've been a Seymour Duncan user for years. How could these boutique pickups not only not sound as good as my old Duncans, but in some cases sound worse. While I practice at my house all the time, I'm primarily a live band player. What I found with most of these boutique pickups is that while they sound great at home by myself, in a band setting they lacked the ability to cut through the mix. I found myself fighting to be heard in the mix. After each unsuccessful attempt, I would load my Custom or JB back in to the guitars and be right back in the mix.

So my lesson from 2013... Just because it's twice as expensive doesn't make it any better than the industry standards. There is a reason that Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio hold the lion's share of the pickup market. Their products just work. Some of you guys may have had great luck with WCR, Fralin or Suhr pickups. I'm glad that they have worked for you. For me... Some times a beer is just as good as champaign.

Well put!

 

[ejecta]

So my lesson from 2013... Just because it's twice as expensive doesn't make it any better than the industry standards.

Yep. I've been saying this a lot over the last few years. I't's understandable though because we as consumers tend to do this thing called perceived value where we think the better product must cost more. That's not always true. Add to that the tendency we have to justify our gear purchases and the money we spend....... IMHO that all can lead to a lot of hype.

 

[BYTOR]

Some times a beer is just as good as champaign.

It's "Champagne"........you have been corrected by the spelling police!!!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

At the end of the day, you have to cut through the mix.. a lot of us home players play at lower volumes which means more fizz and more accentuated high end from the amp and pups because the power section can't be brought into the equation. That said, I still like a pup not to have too much cut but agree that I can find something i like in the Dimarzio or Duncan lines to suit me fine. I really like the dimarzio Super Distortion for example. Just does the trick and controls the top end just enough. JB is a classic. Can get a little trebly at times but overall, another staple.

 

[syncrodude007]

Thoughts on the Suhr Aldrich pups...

 

[TrueTone500]

This past year I went to a pretty expensive pickup search. After watching YouTube demos and reading gushing reviews, I handed over a lot of hard earned money to some of the various boutique pickup makers. In the end, I wound up frustrated and unsatisfied. I've been a Seymour Duncan user for years. How could these boutique pickups not only not sound as good as my old Duncans, but in some cases sound worse. While I practice at my house all the time, I'm primarily a live band player. What I found with most of these boutique pickups is that while they sound great at home by myself, in a band setting they lacked the ability to cut through the mix. I found myself fighting to be heard in the mix. After each unsuccessful attempt, I would load my Custom or JB back in to the guitars and be right back in the mix.

So my lesson from 2013... Just because it's twice as expensive doesn't make it any better than the industry standards. There is a reason that Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio hold the lion's share of the pickup market. Their products just work. Some of you guys may have had great luck with WCR, Fralin or Suhr pickups. I'm glad that they have worked for you. For me... Some times a beer is just as good as champaign.

Thanks for the cancer...

 

[Shiny_Surface]

"Getting caught up in the hype"

This applies to all gear talked about on forums imo not just pickups.

It's easy to be lured sometimes into hyped up posts when someone is typing up a storm on gear they bought saying it's superior/best/whatever with an air of finality.

Especially when they end up flipping it and you can't believe you took their opinion seriously in the first place.

I pretty much take all opinions with a large grain of salt these days, a lot of gear hype is planted or fleeting in nature imo.

There are a few individuals who's opinion I trust a bit more...but even then until you try it yourself you won't know if you like it or not...

 

[just42dave]

30,000 later... yup

 

[Classic]

I've been there and about to sell a number of boutique pickups that just don't hit the mark. May be its personal preference but £££ (or $$$) doesn't always equate to quality.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I feel the same about a lot of the expensive amps some seem to gush about all the time here.

 

[Heritage Softail]

The MKV was the only thing I ever bought on marketing hype. And regretted it... Took my loss and sold it. Like to let 6 months go by, and let Steve K try it too. At least you get an honest review.

 

[billboogie]

None of my influences had any of this stuff available and they all had tone to kill........I don't need the stuff either.......

Bill

 

[Mr. Willy]

I think we get used to whatever we've been playing through for a long time. If you dig Duncans and have been using them for years your rig and hears are going to be tuned to that pickup in your guitar. Just because a particular boutique pickup didn't live up to your expectations doesn't necessarily mean that it's junk or not well made. It probably just means that you're used to hearing a certain pickup and anything else but that pickup is going to fall short.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

None of the Duncan's I put up against my boutiques even compare IMO. If they did I would use them.

I have however found some boutique and even chinese winders charging duncan prices or less that sound just as good as the high dollar pickups. So I do agree the cost does not equate to tone.



IMO, it all comes down to a few simple factors.


The pickups need to be made out of the right quality parts. Nickel silver not brass baseplates, etc.

The pickups need to be scatterwound. Not handwound but scatterwound. I've used a machine scatter wound pickup as good as the hand scatter wound.

You need to understand pickups science, the attributes of the guitar and what your starting point should be to reach the desired goal. Randomly choosing pickups based on specs and opinions is completely hit or miss.

There is no such thing as a bad sounding pickup as long as these factors are correct. There is only such thing as a pickup being wrong for the system it is currently part of.

In the end the pickup is merely a filter in a much larger system.

 

[espquade]

I went through the whole boutique pickup thing a while back with WCR, Bare Knuckle, and a few others and found that I wasn't really blown away with any of them really, but I do use Suhr pickups mainly the Aldrich set and the SSH+ and while some may call them boutique the price is not boutique at all considering you can get a Aldrich for around 90 bucks or so .

I personally wouldn't classify Suhr pickups as overpriced at all . They are a great value just my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

Never bought into boutique pickups either
Some of those are ridiculously overpriced
You can have boutique pedals, with higher grade components and more complicated circuits
A pickup is just a coil and a magnet
I mostly play Dimarzios, got a couple of Suhrs which I bought used, and some Fenders for more vintage stuff.

 

[jabps]

I agree with a lot of what the OP says...I came to that conclusion years ago. Then again, it's all subjective...I own boutique gear and I own run of the mill everyday stuff. Most of us probably do.

Pickups though...you can quickly spend a small fortune finding what doesn't work as opposed to what does. One thing I did, I'm sure a lot of us have done...through trial and error and a lot of dough is finally figuring out just what the wood brings to the equation. My shred guitars back in the day...all Alder or Poplar with Hard Rock Maple necks...ebony boards...sounded fantastic with JB's i.e. I'm an Alnico fanboy. Get a Les Paul, automatically throw in the JB because it's my sound, and it sounds like crap...to me. Low and behold I love ceramic pups in Les Pauls. From that point on I really try to figure out what works both with the wood and to my ear. I've managed to save some bucks with sticking to my parameters. Long story short...most of guitars have different pups in them. My Les Pauls have 500T's, my PRS Tremontis have a Motor City Torques, my lone shred guitar has a JB lol.

 

[Jer]

Everything stated is true. Trying gear and evaluating for yourself is the only real way to quantify personal value which is the real goal; finding what you like.

 

[rocknrolla]

Finding cheap, mass produced products that just gel with what I do is wayyyy more rewarding than altering my style in order to make use of an overpriced, "boutique" product any day of the week.