New Gibson Pickup

[Guildedagain]

My goodness; people are crazy.

But who are the crazy ones?

 

[DrumBob]

My initial reaction is to say they're stupid expensive and Gibson is crazy, but I'll reserve judgement until I hear them.

Still, a thousand bucks for a pair of pickups that probably cost them $50 a pair to make is steep.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

My initial reaction is to say they're stupid expensive and Gibson is crazy, but I'll reserve judgement until I hear them.

Still, a thousand bucks for a pair of pickups that probably cost them $50 a pair to make is steep.

Although I agree that they are stupid expensive, I suspect that Gibson's judgement will be vindicated
I believe that, even at $999, they will sell. Probably doesn't even matter if they deliver on the sound. There are people who will buy them just for that "PATENT APPLIED FOR" sticker

 

[Boneman]

Just saw they are coming out with amps again too, and those are probably overpriced as well, but would be cool if they packaged a set of pickups with one of the amps as a promo bundle. Because if you think about all those guitar players who made great music not playing Gibson’s, it just goes to show these are kinda pointless, especially at that price.

 

[chazmo]

Just saw they are coming out with amps again too, and those are probably overpriced as well, but would be cool if they packaged a set of pickups with one of the amps as a promo bundle. Because if you think about all those guitar players who made great music not playing Gibson’s, it just goes to show these are kinda pointless, especially at that price.

Not sure why they're pointless, Boneman... There are a LOT of people who pay big bucks for those old Gibson components... I just wonder if these new ones sound good or not. Personally, I'd rather pay for new electronics than old stuff, but I'm not their target market by a long shot.

 

[GAD]

Not sure why they're pointless, Boneman... There are a LOT of people who pay big bucks for those old Gibson components... I just wonder if these new ones sound good or not. Personally, I'd rather pay for new electronics than old stuff, but I'm not their target market by a long shot.

Speaking generally, most new electronics suck. They’re usually designed to be disposable with no hopes of repair and they traded “quality” for “features” in an effort to boost sales since no one even thinks about repair anymore.

This has lead to an interesting phenomenon where things like vintage hi-fi systems (not even tube-based) are in demand again because they are very repairable - and they sound better. They won’t do modern things like 7.2 surround sound or Dolby Atmos, etc., and they’re enormous and heavy, but people are starting to covet receivers and such from the ‘70s again.

I find the same is true in a lot of realms like tools and even furniture. Modern stuff is mostly just disposable crap.

Edit. Sorry, went off on a bit of a rant there...

 

[Midnight Toker]

The ad copy states "limited to only 1,000 sets, each individually serialized with 1959-style numbering" but I don't see any numbers on the pickups. Based on what looks like no indication that they're marked in any way that they're special (because then they wouldn't be 100% authentic!), I bet there are people who are either going to:

Swap them with Burstbuckers that don't have the BB1 stickers on them, then resell the set while keeping the "better" pickups

or

Do that AND then sell the better pickups "missing the case" for $900.

or

Sell the pickups as originals for $8,000 each then sell the box with some Burstbuckers in it for $1000

or

Sell the pickups as originals for $8,000 then sell the box alone for $600

or

Just sell some Burstbuckers claiming they're "Collector Edition"

etc.

I look forward to the first Gibson Dependable post to that effect.

I’m gonna go ahead and guess that the ones pictured in the ad purposefully don’t have their serials stamped yet…just like the certificate w/ serial # is also blank. When you are only selling 1000, nobody wants their set to be the ones in the ad.

As for PAF’s….loads of lore to go w/ these. (Not all of them were great. (As there was no standard yet and depending on who was making them on what day, they could have various grade magnets and varying # of wire wraps…resulting in varying outputs and tonal qualities) But….the good ones are just beyond great!! There’s a reason folks buy $10,000-25,000 guitars just to pull the pickups to make a real 59 burst missing it’s PAF’s from a $55,000 guitar to a $95,000-150,000 guitar! There are countless copies, just like a Stradivarius, but like the fiddle, imitators don’t really come all that close. Warm lows, clear mids, crisp highs, and bell tones galore.

These new pups, if they do live up to their name, (low output and VERY touch sensitive) would be a very cost friendly alternative for someone looking to restore a vintage guitar that once came w/ PAF’s. back to it’s original glory.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell out in less than a week!