Boutique pickups and their prices

earwighoney

gringopig said:

 At least this guy knows how to demo pickups so a potential buyer can get a sense of how they sound.

Video doesn't work as you edited the post.  Try reposting the link.

gringopig

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mr-mac

Who knows... But devils advocate here.  Say for example you are a small company and your not happy with some off shelf parts.  Eg Slugs, backing plates.  So you order some alloy to your spec to make them yourself?  The time involved in each build would go up massively and a small company would need to charge quite a bit more to make a living if they used their own bespoke parts.  Whether you think that increase is worth it is a different mater.  Larger companies can do their own thing cheaper as they sell a lot more.

Funkfingers

hotpickups said:

I work in advertising and understand all what goes on when targeting our wants and desires.

This is a major factor.

Over at the SDUGF, one of the recurring thread questions was "How do I make my guitar - which none of the forumites answering can hear to evaluate - sound like my favourite recording artiste(s)?"

Most customers wish to purchase once and have the finished installation turn out as they fantasised that it would. 

zepp76

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

jeztone2

My Lollars were a bargain at DV247 for £200. But the day after I got them. They jacked the price up by £100. 

hotpickups

zepp76 said:

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

Precisely. As mentioned I work in the advertising business and know how much of that opening ceremony is important and gives the perception of value. At the end of the day though I'd reckon they'll sound great to the average ear like all the other boutique pickups out there. I just feel there's a ceiling and for me personally £270 would be it for me. Anything above that is just snake oil and perception etc. As mentioned to I'm not the target audience obviously

hotpickups

gringopig said:

Also sounds good to my ears Although I don't think I'd ever be able to tell the difference between different magnets etc. Alnico 4 seems to be the standard in my research

Matt_McG

I had some from Vintage Vibe a few years ago. 

http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/windows/hum_bladeWin.html



Those worked out super cheap at the time, but looking now, they are about $250 US per set. I guess inflation.

sixstringsupplies

mr-mac said:

So you order some alloy to your spec to make them yourself?  The time involved in each build would go up massively and a small company would need to charge quite a bit more to make a living if they used their own bespoke parts.  Whether you think that increase is worth it is a different mater. 

A wire/rod/bar/plate mill wouldn’t even quote a pickup maker unless they were mass mass, mass, mass produced (ie Seymour Duncan) the MOQ of most mills to even produce a requested thickness of plate or diameter of wire is 500kg, some mills start at 1000kg MOQ. That is an absolute shedload of coil wire.

I mean let’s say for an AlNiCo sheet (aluminium, nickel, cobalt alloy) to be specifically manufactured with variations of the elements (alnico 2,3,5 etc...) you have to sell and ship out an absolute bucket load to even need to send an enquiry on to an alloy manufacturer.

42awg wire - even more so. 

the mill I used to work for sold phos bronze to a major US String manufacturer. 

i know absolute bugger all regarding winding of pickups except there is a lot of skill, marketing, packaging, distribution etc...and the fact that every single UK pickup manufacturer will be buying their coil wire from a metal
stockholder at a rediculously
inflated price.

i think the price is fair. It’s like anything in any industry - if you want quality, you gotta pay for it. More often than not,  It’s worth it. 

ThorpyFX

hotpickups said:

zepp76 said:

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

Precisely. As mentioned I work in the advertising business and know how much of that opening ceremony is important and gives the perception of value. At the end of the day though I'd reckon they'll sound great to the average ear like all the other boutique pickups out there. I just feel there's a ceiling and for me personally £270 would be it for me. Anything above that is just snake oil and perception etc. As mentioned to I'm not the target audience obviously

you are at risk of being SHITEPICKUPS again!!!!

on a serious note. I have several sets of boutique pickups in guitars.... come and visit. play them - be informed.

hotpickups

ThorpyFX said:

hotpickups said:

zepp76 said:

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

Precisely. As mentioned I work in the advertising business and know how much of that opening ceremony is important and gives the perception of value. At the end of the day though I'd reckon they'll sound great to the average ear like all the other boutique pickups out there. I just feel there's a ceiling and for me personally £270 would be it for me. Anything above that is just snake oil and perception etc. As mentioned to I'm not the target audience obviously

you are at risk of being SHITEPICKUPS again!!!!

on a serious note. I have several sets of boutique pickups in guitars.... come and visit. play them - be informed.

I'm not saying they're bad Adrian I just don't get why they vary in price. If money wasn't a problem I'd probably go for the wizz or throbaks. In the meantime I would never be able to justify it to myself to buy them. I know what boutique pickups I'm going for that'll suit my pocket etc. I'm just interested to hear what others feel about paying that kind of money. I am allowed - it's a forum ?

soma1975

Some people charge what they can get away with. Some people charge because they have a lot of overheads. Some people charge to cover their considerable R&D costs. Some people simply charge what they think is a fair reflection of the time/craft/materials/labour involved in making the product. 

Very hard to say pickup A is £100 better sounding than pickup B. Still doesn't make the more expensive one overpriced or the cheaper one underpriced. 

hotpickups

soma1975 said:

Some people charge what they can get away with. Some people charge because they have a lot of overheads. Some people charge to cover their considerable R&D costs. Some people simply charge what they think is a fair reflection of the time/craft/materials/labour involved in making the product. 

Very hard to say pickup A is £100 better sounding than pickup B. Still doesn't make the more expensive one overpriced or the cheaper one underpriced. 

Yes I can agree to that @soma1975 ;

thegummy

It's crazy to me when people think companies will set their price based on an honest reflection of how much it costs to make when the only thing that actually limits the price is just whether or not enough people will pay it.

sixstringsupplies

thegummy said:

It's crazy to me when people think companies will set their price based on an honest reflection of how much it costs to make when the only thing that actually limits the price is just whether or not enough people will pay it.

It’s the time involved. Time is money

Sporky

And the business model. Without knowing that, it's all speculation. 

mr-mac

Law of diminishing returns... A hand made slug or backing plate.etc may add a tiny bit to sound but it won't add the same % of improvement as the hours and effort that went into it.  However, if you want the best paying for those small differences may be worth it if you have the money and its what you want.

thegummy

sixstringsupplies said:

thegummy said:

It's crazy to me when people think companies will set their price based on an honest reflection of how much it costs to make when the only thing that actually limits the price is just whether or not enough people will pay it.

It’s the time involved. Time is money

All I was meaning is that a company doesn't have to justify the price it sets based on anything, they can charge anything that enough people will pay

GoldenEraGuitars

zepp76 said:

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

Matts quality, attention to detail and reputation makes his pickups worth every penny. Overall, he has an amazing product.

hotpickups said:

zepp76 said:

I received a pair of Monty's mini humbuckers today that cost £255 and have to say a portion of that had to cover the extraordinarily posh packaging! It was quite the ceremony opening it up.

Precisely. As mentioned I work in the advertising business and know how much of that opening ceremony is important and gives the perception of value. At the end of the day though I'd reckon they'll sound great to the average ear like all the other boutique pickups out there. I just feel there's a ceiling and for me personally £270 would be it for me. Anything above that is just snake oil and perception etc. As mentioned to I'm not the target audience obviously

It’s not a perception of value. It sets the scene for what should be the result of a good purchase from a UK based pickup winder. 

You say “At the end of the day though I'd reckon they'll sound great to the average ear like all the other boutique pickups out there.”

So will a £300 guitar compared to a £3000. A non guitar player won’t know the difference. But why does that matter. It’s your tone journey, not theirs. 

This is a pretty futile topic tbh. You can ask “why is that (insert price)? What makes it better?” to virtually anything at all. You’ve admitted you’re not in the target market for anything over £90 a pickup because anything more is piss in the wind. 

If you work in advertising you must have had meetings with clients who want to get across the message of quality based on how good their product is? You’ll probably have had clients who know their product is based more around selling more for less profit as opposed to less with more profit. 

Any one who makes a product, on their own, in their workshop with their own two hands can set the prices that they want to charge. It’s entirely up to them. If they know they’ve got a good product then that’s half the battle. The next part is up to the potential customer to pay the price or shop elsewhere.


Cost of materials
Overheads
R and D
Packaging
VAT/Tax
Advertising
Marketing

You pay for all of that when you buy any pickup.... or anything for that matter.