Question for you guys

[Dave W]

Would you buy a replacement pickup from a boutique pickup maker who slams a stock pickup as "dumb", "crappy" and "junk"?

Of course someone hand-winding replacement pickups will think his product is better and sounds better, and it's fine to say so. To my simple mind, though, building up your product by blasting the manufacturer's product is wrongheaded. I would not do business with someone who does this, whether it's a pickup or another product. Would you?

[jumbodbassman]

I wouldn't....

although some chinese reissue pickups i have played may warrant that but no old proven time tested pickup whether i particaulry like it or not.

[Dave W]

I wouldn't....

although some chinese reissue pickups i have played may warrant that but no old proven time tested pickup whether i particaulry like it or not.

No doubt some are junk. Maybe many of them are. But IMHO there's a big difference between you saying that and a pickup maker saying that about his competition. Piss-poor way to do business.

[Denis]

I probably wouldn't. I can see swapping out pickups for these reasons:
1. Your old one is weak or died
2. The replacement sounds more vintage (as in the case of newer Tbird pups being swapped out for more vintage sounding Lulls or Thunderbuckers) and yes.
3. Appearance. Sometimes stock ones are just fugly!

Slamming someone's products is unnecessary even if it's true. It makes you look bad.

[jumbodbassman]

totally agree on the professionalism.    No excuses for that.     But many pickup guys (builders or amp repairmen too) are either musicians or techo type guys,  many of which have no idea what the  corporate world is and proper.  What ever gets in the next gig money.....

That's why many go that way as they don't fit the world as we see it and have a tough go of it.   I have played with many a fine musician who is just a aweful person and aweful existence but to each his own..  Some would say i sold out and became a boring banker after the record didn't sell.....

 Same can be said for many contractors/plumbers etc.   Sometimes you just to work for yourself but professionalism is a learned item,  not sure it is inheritant in people.  

getting off the soapbox now.  heading for treatment number 20.  13 more to go boys.....  :-) 

[Nocturnal]

That type of behaviour would put me off a little bit. It's fine to attempt to make points that enhance your product over a competitors without being a child about it.

There is a local luthier that has no problem telling people if he thinks their gear is crap, but he is happy to take your money to work on it. His overall attitude has cost him customers just among people I know, so I'm sure it has cost him business throught the entire local music community. Some people just don't understand customer service and dealing with the public.

[4stringer77]

Is this a hypothetical question or is there a guy slamming stock pickups to sell his own? In some ways it's off putting but it also makes sense in that he's appealing to his prospective customers. If you're in the market for after market pickups, there's a good chance you don't think very highly of the pickups you want to replace either.

[nofi]

never. no extenuating circumstances accepted. this is really a yes-no question.

[dadagoboi]

Probably not.

Dumb, crappy and junk...are those electronic or acoustic terms?

Makes a  lot more sense to stress the positive qualities of what you're selling.  In this case I guess that would be smart, uncrappy and notjunk.

[Pilgrim]

I dislike people who feel that they need to denigrate others to promote their cause.  I probably wouldn't buy from them...I'd need an extremely compelling reason to consider it.

[ilan]

I would.

Some vintage pickups, with their weak magnets and microphonic coils, can sound very musical to us, but are junk from an engineer's point of view.

[gweimer]

No doubt some are junk. Maybe many of them are. But IMHO there's a big difference between you saying that and a pickup maker saying that about his competition. Piss-poor way to do business.

The few I've dealt with, and especially Jason Lollar, make no statements whatsoever about stock pickups on their sites.  They simply state what each pickup was going for in terms of sound.  And in the case of retro models, they're pretty much copying what used to be a stock pickup at one time.  Back in 1963, the pickup was a production piece, and not considered "special".  They probably all sat piled in a parts bin waiting for assembly.

[the mojo hobo]

The only reason someone selling something would call their competitor's product  "dumb", "crappy" and "junk" is because they cannot communicate any features and benefits that would compel you to buy their product, or to convey why their's is better than crappy junk. I tend to walk away from salespeople who degrade their competitors.

[Dave W]

Thanks for the responses, gentlemen.

It's not hypothetical, it's a guy who winds his own Fender-type replacement pickups and builds some partscasters. It would be bad enough if he put this on his website, but he's posted this on two different public forums. It just rubbed me the wrong way. He seems to generate his business from his forum postings, and it looks to me like he's tearing down a Fender product in order to promote his.

I doubt that folks like Jason Lollar think much of Squier Affinity pickups or that Tom (TV) Jones thinks much of the cheapest Electromatic pickups. But you won't see them posting on forums about how crappy the stock pickups are compared to their "real" pickups.

[jumbodbassman]

as a fender guy i think leo and the boys did just fine with the pickups they designed.  they have held up just fine.     Most things can be made in theory technologically better with new technology but it doesn't mean the original was bad just different.   and who is to say what is better anyway.  We all hear things for ourselfs  at the end of the day.  Sounds like a fool...