Stew mac / pickuprings.com wood rings

[RU36]

Has anyone in here had direct experience with the stew mac wooden pick up rings, or ones from pickuprings.com?
The stew mac ones are made by pickuprings.com so they are the same thing.
Anyone tried the curly maple ones? Thats the ones I am about to pull the trigger on.

I just spent $60 on a pair of curly maple rings from another site and they pretty much suck.
For one there is NO figure at all.
One of them has a chip near the screw hole.
The route on the inside is two small for a humbucker with a cover on it so I had to sand and file it for days just to get pick up in it.

I don't want to bother finishing them to go on this killer warmoth unique choice quilted maple top I just got.
They look like plain maple and my plan was to dye them to match the top of the guitar, but with no figure on them there is no point.
Before I spend another $40+ on the stew mac ones I would like to get a second opinion.

 

[Cagey]

I can't tell you what Stewart-Mac might ship you, but if you do decide to throw good money after bad, be aware that on pieces as small as pickup rings the curly figuring isn't going to be as obvious as it is on larger, flat pieces like guitar tops. Also, unfinished figured wood doesn't show its figure very well. It needs to be sanded down smooth, then wet down with alcohol to see what the figure is going to look like finished.

 

[bbl4ck]

I just spent $60 on a pair of curly maple rings from another site and they pretty much suck.
For one there is NO figure at all.
One of them has a chip near the screw hole.
The route on the inside is two small for a humbucker with a cover on it so I had to sand and file it for days just to get pick up in it.

Hey RU36,

Man, I am feeling bad because the cat at Reed James Custom Pickups, the vendor you purchased your rings from, is someone that I mentioned on the forum.
Although I had not received my pickup rings from him at the time I mentioned his services, I still feel bad that his quality is unacceptable.
When my rings did arrive at the home of my finish man, they too apparently were in very rough condition and required some work before being usable.
When shucking out this kind of $$$ for a little piece of wood, it should be ready to roll out of the gate.

While my rings from pickuprings.com did take 6 to 7 months to receive after I paid for them, they were of top quality.
If they are in stock at Stewmac, I would feel comfortable with the quality aspect.  

I emailed Jim at Reed James Custom PIckups after your previous mention that your rings were rough and chipped.
Since mine also had quality issues, I felt it necessary to let him know of the concerns of his customers regarding product quality.
I made it clear that I had not mentioned any negativity of his services on the forum, yet at least two of his customers were not happy with his product.

This was his response cut and paste directly from his email:

"Yes please do not contact me for any business in the future,  all you had
to do is send them back  i back my work up 100% but instead you run your
mouth like a little girl  and post your comments on a gossip page not cool"


My response was this:

Well James, your words speak loudly about how you run your business.  You
obviously did not visit the page that I linked you too where I recommended
your services.  I posted not one word of negativity about you or your
products.  What I told you in this previous email is what other people
said about your product.  I wrote you to tell you this in good faith.  Again,
if  you read what I sent you, it is clear that I did not say one negative word
about your product.  I only said kind words about you.  Your response is
most unprofessional.  You are the one that is not cool...


He responded with the following:

"any one at any time can contact me if thy are unhappy  and sorry but i
do not like back bitters. i offer a service  hear and i am very busy i
don't have time to play internet.  you did not note the fact i back my
work 100% i have replace rings for free when some one has broken them so
what ever complaining and back biting is spoken on you  form is stupid.
as thy could of had the problem solved by contacting me , if you don;t
like the way i do business then take it down the road i have many happy
and faithful customer. i run my business Man to Man"

As you can clearly see, the man is not only a master of the English language, but is also a customer service mastermind.
I am not in charge of letting everyone know that he stands by his product.

My advise to you RU36 would be to call him on his claim of standing by his product 100%.
He clearly states all you have to do is ask!!!
Your refund would pay for a new set of rings from someone who cares about quality.

Good luck &  :rock-on:

 

[JaySwear]

wow, can't get a whole lot more unprofessional than that. he can complain all he wants that people are talking about his products on different sites. but the fact is if you advertise on the internet, chances are thats where most will be said about your products.

the guy at pickuprings.com may have taken forever with the product, andmay have had huge delays between emails, but he was a pleasure to deal with in terms of the quality. he did make a couple promises that didn't happen, but i got what i originally ordered (forgot i wanted 3 knobs instead of just 2, he said he could throw the 3rd in for free since my order was taking very long. i only got 2, but the way i see it is that's on me).

 

[Cagey]

All I can say is: wow. Incredible. I don't think he appreciates how big a bridge he just burned.

 

[bbl4ck]

All I can say is: wow. Incredible. I don't think he appreciates how big a bridge he just burned.

Hey, some folks like to burn bridges; others prefer to use nuclear weapons.
I am not here to judge!  You have to make up your own mind...
:rock-on:

 

[RU36]

I just spent $60 on a pair of curly maple rings from another site and they pretty much suck.
For one there is NO figure at all.
One of them has a chip near the screw hole.
The route on the inside is two small for a humbucker with a cover on it so I had to sand and file it for days just to get pick up in it.

Hey RU36,

Man, I am feeling bad because the cat at Reed James Custom Pickups, the vendor you purchased your rings from, is someone that I mentioned on the forum.
Although I had not received my pickup rings from him at the time I mentioned his services, I still feel bad that his quality is unacceptable.
When my rings did arrive at the home of my finish man, they too apparently were in very rough condition and required some work before being usable.
When shucking out this kind of $$$ for a little piece of wood, it should be ready to roll out of the gate.

While my rings from pickuprings.com did take 6 to 7 months to receive after I paid for them, they were of top quality.
If they are in stock at Stewmac, I would feel comfortable with the quality aspect.  

I emailed Jim at Reed James Custom PIckups after your previous mention that your rings were rough and chipped.
Since mine also had quality issues, I felt it necessary to let him know of the concerns of his customers regarding product quality.
I made it clear that I had not mentioned any negativity of his services on the forum, yet at least two of his customers were not happy with his product.

This was his response cut and paste directly from his email:

"Yes please do not contact me for any business in the future,  all you had
to do is send them back  i back my work up 100% but instead you run your
mouth like a little girl  and post your comments on a gossip page not cool"


My response was this:

Well James, your words speak loudly about how you run your business.  You
obviously did not visit the page that I linked you too where I recommended
your services.  I posted not one word of negativity about you or your
products.  What I told you in this previous email is what other people
said about your product.  I wrote you to tell you this in good faith.  Again,
if  you read what I sent you, it is clear that I did not say one negative word
about your product.  I only said kind words about you.  Your response is
most unprofessional.  You are the one that is not cool...


He responded with the following:

"any one at any time can contact me if thy are unhappy  and sorry but i
do not like back bitters. i offer a service  hear and i am very busy i
don't have time to play internet.  you did not note the fact i back my
work 100% i have replace rings for free when some one has broken them so
what ever complaining and back biting is spoken on you  form is stupid.
as thy could of had the problem solved by contacting me , if you don;t
like the way i do business then take it down the road i have many happy
and faithful customer. i run my business Man to Man"

As you can clearly see, the man is not only a master of the English language, but is also a customer service mastermind.
I am not in charge of letting everyone know that he stands by his product.

My advise to you RU36 would be to call him on his claim of standing by his product 100%.
He clearly states all you have to do is ask!!!
Your refund would pay for a new set of rings from someone who cares about quality.

Good luck &  :rock-on:

Don't feel bad for the reference he looked like a solid choice.
On the bright side at least everyone knows not to deal with the guy.

And we discovered that stew mac gets their stock of wood pick up rings from pickuprings.com and you can get them with out the wait.

I would send in an Email and ask for a refund but it's not worth the trouble.
That would require me to communicate with the retard, and based on your experience I think I will pass.

 

[Patrick]

i would talk to him if it saved me $60  :dontknow:

 

[OzziePete]

Sounds like a very unprofessional response from one manufacturer, so I guess those of us looking at wooden pickup rings know to go elsewhere...

Strange that Stew-mac can have a stock of 'em but going direct with one manufacturer (who supplies them) and you have a wait. They must have to supply Stew-Mac as a priority.

 

[Cagey]

Sounds like a very unprofessional response from one manufacturer, so I guess those of us looking at wooden pickup rings know to go elsewhere...

Strange that Stew-mac can have a stock of 'em but going direct with one manufacturer (who supplies them) and you have a wait. They must have to supply Stew-Mac as a priority.

It's not unusual for manufacturers to either not sell their product direct, or only sell it at MSRP. Otherwise, they compete with their distributors and the distributors stop pushing the product. Sales go down, and that's not good for anybody. What is unusual is for a manufacturer to not support their product, or otherwise treat customers like enemies. You know, like Microsoft or the RIAA <grin>