How much $ to make a pickup?
- Thread starter Doughboy
- Start date
With the big boys you are paying for lots of ads, the packaging, the website, Yngwie's endorsement deal, and overhead. Add to that the middleman needs to make about $20 per just to stay alive. I'd venture a guess that Guitard Center and Musician's Fiend are only paying 40 bucks for the standard fodder. I sell my custom winds for about $60 - $65, but I'm the one standing there doing the winding, which is more time consuming than what the big boys do, where they whip out hundreds a day.
Once you cobble together a winder, get the required parts, get past the learning curve of breaking wire and tensioning and get you a decent wax potting setup, you'll have spent well more than the $120 to $200 a good set will cost. I know it chafes to spend it when you don't know what you are getting or how it will sound with your rig, but it is really a fair price for the principal tone and sound generating device in the guitar.
I know a guy that make bang on PAF repros on original gibson winders and charges $400 a pair. Each part is individually built to vintage spec and he has special wire built specifically for him. He's back logged with demand.
Peace
Shannon
Once you cobble together a winder, get the required parts, get past the learning curve of breaking wire and tensioning and get you a decent wax potting setup, you'll have spent well more than the $120 to $200 a good set will cost. I know it chafes to spend it when you don't know what you are getting or how it will sound with your rig, but it is really a fair price for the principal tone and sound generating device in the guitar.
I know a guy that make bang on PAF repros on original gibson winders and charges $400 a pair. Each part is individually built to vintage spec and he has special wire built specifically for him. He's back logged with demand.
Peace
Shannon
Keyser Soze
Senior Member
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Depends on what the parts are. Basic wire and stuff, sure that's cheap, but pickup covers or other items that require special tooling can get pretty spendy - at least when you consider they are up front costs with little guarantee of a return should the product line be a flop. Then there is the time and money spent in development, followed by pre-production, and then full scale production. Little of what Dimarzio makes is technically simple, most of it is quite complex. If someone could make an identical product for less they would.
But rather than looking at the big manufacturers like Dimarzio, or Seymour Duncan and the like just look at Joe Barden's pickups. They are pretty straightforward from a 'parts' standpoint, but just try to build a set yourself. The devil is in the details.
FWIW, I'm a big fan of Dimarzio, especially the Virtual PAFs, and have owned many other of their pickups, but i also like the GFS stuff too (their lipsticks, and the Mean 90 are just plain good pickups) but they are very basic designs mass produced and therefore priced accordingly. If GFS tried to charge more then rest assured someone else would come along and sell something similar for cheaper.
Edit: Try not to think of someone 'overcharging' as any sort of crime, instead think of it as an opportunity for someone else (maybe you.)
But rather than looking at the big manufacturers like Dimarzio, or Seymour Duncan and the like just look at Joe Barden's pickups. They are pretty straightforward from a 'parts' standpoint, but just try to build a set yourself. The devil is in the details.
FWIW, I'm a big fan of Dimarzio, especially the Virtual PAFs, and have owned many other of their pickups, but i also like the GFS stuff too (their lipsticks, and the Mean 90 are just plain good pickups) but they are very basic designs mass produced and therefore priced accordingly. If GFS tried to charge more then rest assured someone else would come along and sell something similar for cheaper.
Edit: Try not to think of someone 'overcharging' as any sort of crime, instead think of it as an opportunity for someone else (maybe you.)
Black Dog said:
Indeed, and also Dave Stevens. I would love to hear either set live. Dave has more and better clips, as he avoids the whole youtube compression issues in the main (he has a couple of videos). Unfortunately, I'm not going to pony up for either set to put in my Epiphione.....
DesmoDog said:
well with products that are cast or forged even if the design is final the first one will need molds and all the other equipment that goes along with that and thats expensive. i know an old tool and die maker who is retired. he still does odd jobs as long as the customer is paying over $100/hr. if that gives you an idea of the money he is used to charging when making dies and molds.
