Seymour Duncan Zephyr Pickups
- Thread starter mwbjr13
- Start date
Cagey
Mythical Status
- Messages
- 24,425
I don't think so, but pickup characteristics are largely subjective and personal. Some people equate cost with "goodness", though, so you'll always find outrageously priced but otherwise unremarkable items in fields where there's a decent population of fanatics. Audiophiles are one example, guitar players being another.
It's the best, Jerry! The BEST!
It's the best, Jerry! The BEST!
I get that price is often equated with quality. But I refuse to that they went through all that R&D just to make a really REALLY expensive pickup. It might just be a slow work day and I'm trying to keep myself occupied but there's got to be more than meets the eye.
On a side note...great picture Cagey.
On a side note...great picture Cagey.
Cagey
Mythical Status
- Messages
- 24,425
Some random bits of data...
The commodity price of silver is running right around $400/lb. right now ($27/troy ounce), and that's just raw silver. Drawing it out into wire that thin can't be cheap.
A single coil uses roughly a quarter mile of 42ga. - 43ga.wire. I don't know what that weighs.
A typical built-up single coil weighs roughly .10 lbs, but that includes pole pieces, coil form, connecting wire, etc.
The electrical resistance of copper is 16.78 nΩ (millionths of an ohm) per meter
The electrical resistance of silver is 15.87 nΩ per meter
Given the same gauge wire, it's unlikely there's any difference in labor cost to make a copper vs. silver wound coil, although silver may be easier due to higher tensile strength (less breaks)
What does all this mean? I don't know, other than I doubt they intended to make a really expensive pickup - it just ended up that way due to raw materials cost. They already have all the talent and machinery to do it, so no new investment there. They could have just contracted somebody to make some ultra-thin silver wire, then ran it through a typical pickup fab process to see what came out. Guaranteed to come out sounding at least a little different, if not a lot, so after that you just let the marketing weenies loose with a bucket full of adjectives and a thesaurus to write some ad copy, mark up the price to somewhere in the stratosphere to keep the bag ladies out, and POOF! You've got a lust-inducing product nobody else has.
For all we know, the thing sounds like shit. Not likely, but possible. And who's to dispute it? It's not like everybody on the Harmony Central forums is going to buy a set to play with. Then, if they did, do you suppose they'd say anything bad about the things? Unlikely, after dropping that kind of change on the idea.
The commodity price of silver is running right around $400/lb. right now ($27/troy ounce), and that's just raw silver. Drawing it out into wire that thin can't be cheap.
A single coil uses roughly a quarter mile of 42ga. - 43ga.wire. I don't know what that weighs.
A typical built-up single coil weighs roughly .10 lbs, but that includes pole pieces, coil form, connecting wire, etc.
The electrical resistance of copper is 16.78 nΩ (millionths of an ohm) per meter
The electrical resistance of silver is 15.87 nΩ per meter
Given the same gauge wire, it's unlikely there's any difference in labor cost to make a copper vs. silver wound coil, although silver may be easier due to higher tensile strength (less breaks)
What does all this mean? I don't know, other than I doubt they intended to make a really expensive pickup - it just ended up that way due to raw materials cost. They already have all the talent and machinery to do it, so no new investment there. They could have just contracted somebody to make some ultra-thin silver wire, then ran it through a typical pickup fab process to see what came out. Guaranteed to come out sounding at least a little different, if not a lot, so after that you just let the marketing weenies loose with a bucket full of adjectives and a thesaurus to write some ad copy, mark up the price to somewhere in the stratosphere to keep the bag ladies out, and POOF! You've got a lust-inducing product nobody else has.
For all we know, the thing sounds like shit. Not likely, but possible. And who's to dispute it? It's not like everybody on the Harmony Central forums is going to buy a set to play with. Then, if they did, do you suppose they'd say anything bad about the things? Unlikely, after dropping that kind of change on the idea.
S
swarfrat
Guest
I'm there man. After years of chasing, I've come to realize that I'm pretty dang happy with my tone when I get a chance to crank it. Not only that, I seem to be able to get it with a variety of instruments and amps. Now if I could just play... Or even just capture that sound for that matter.
Ace Flibble
Hero Member
- Messages
- 865
I don't own them, but I have heard them in person. But therein is the chief problem with talking about something like this. I've heard the pickups, but it wasn't me playing. It wasn't my guitar. I don't know what the guitars ounded like with more common pickups. It wasn't my amp and I didn't set the EQ. It wasn't my speaker cab.
So I can say that I have heard the Zephyr Silver humbucker pickups, but I can not begin to tell you what they sounded like or how they were different to an equivalent cheaper pickup, if they indeed are at all.
And the thing is, even if I got a set myself and put them in one of my own guitars and played it through my amp into my speakers, I still wouldn't be able to really tell you how they sound compared to cheaper versions. You can't play the same guitar with two different sets of pickups at the same time. Any difference you think you hear may not be so obvious if you were to compare the two directly. You could record the old pickups then record the new pickups and compare them side-by-side, but then it's very easy to write off any differences (or lack of differences) to the recording process, the equipment you're playing the clips back on, new strings or a change in action when you changed pickups, etc.
I've got experience with damn near every pickup in production from the common companies, as well as pickups from several boutique manufacturers. I gave up trying to directly compare tone and quality a long time ago. There's just no way to do it. Even guitars of the same model with pickups of the same model into amps of the same model with the same settings can still sound somewhat different.
What you need to do is simply ask yourself if you like the tone you have now. If you do then great, leave it as it is. If you don't then fine, but there's a million and one other things you should look at before you worry about premium-priced pickups. There's just so many variables that contribute to your tone that there's no point in looking at one of the most expensive parts as the key to it all. You can change your nut, bridge or pots and get just as drastic a change in tone as a pickup swap will give you. Hell, try a pick made of a different material.
So I can say that I have heard the Zephyr Silver humbucker pickups, but I can not begin to tell you what they sounded like or how they were different to an equivalent cheaper pickup, if they indeed are at all.
And the thing is, even if I got a set myself and put them in one of my own guitars and played it through my amp into my speakers, I still wouldn't be able to really tell you how they sound compared to cheaper versions. You can't play the same guitar with two different sets of pickups at the same time. Any difference you think you hear may not be so obvious if you were to compare the two directly. You could record the old pickups then record the new pickups and compare them side-by-side, but then it's very easy to write off any differences (or lack of differences) to the recording process, the equipment you're playing the clips back on, new strings or a change in action when you changed pickups, etc.
I've got experience with damn near every pickup in production from the common companies, as well as pickups from several boutique manufacturers. I gave up trying to directly compare tone and quality a long time ago. There's just no way to do it. Even guitars of the same model with pickups of the same model into amps of the same model with the same settings can still sound somewhat different.
What you need to do is simply ask yourself if you like the tone you have now. If you do then great, leave it as it is. If you don't then fine, but there's a million and one other things you should look at before you worry about premium-priced pickups. There's just so many variables that contribute to your tone that there's no point in looking at one of the most expensive parts as the key to it all. You can change your nut, bridge or pots and get just as drastic a change in tone as a pickup swap will give you. Hell, try a pick made of a different material.
Similar threads
