Why do some people think the cheap asian pickups sound better?

[kevinT]

They look at GFS as a stepping stone to the tone they want. When the tone sucks they still get something better but at least they didn't have to keep the stock pickups that were compleatly wrong for the sound they wanted.

I think you hit the nail on the head...I bought an Ibanez stock pickup (humbucker double slug design) from a guy on ebay a while ago just to dissect it. The guy shipped it to me in a GFS Fat PAF box. I assume that he bought the Fat PAF pickup to replace the stock Ibanez one. In this case, it probably was an upgrade because when i took the Ibanez pickup apart, it looked pretty bad. The bobbins were really flimsy and warping because of the uneven amount of wire on the ends of the flanges, brass baseplates, and other inexpensive-looking flimsy components.

As i mentioned, i think that a large part of all the raving about these pickups is because of the low price and the improvment in tone that one perceives and the overall value that the customer thinks they got from their purchase.

It's simple psychology...wouldn't you be flabergasted and ready to tell the world of your find if you got something for $20 when it usually cost $90. I still believe the majority of their customers are young with limited disposible income.

I will probably buy one or two of their models eventually, just to check out the tone and then dissect it.

I can't comment specifically on the tone of a GFS pickup because i've never heard one.

[sleis]

I played with a guy this past week who put a GFS pickup in his stock “direct from the California based manufacturer” guitar. It did sound quite a bit better than usual, but I think a lot of that was from the setup the guitar tech did when installing the pickup. Everybody loves a bargain, so having the “boutique” pickup at such a low price, you hear the ganga more than the tone. I am sure the installation and setup was more money than the pickup, but it got him out the door with a better playing guitar than he had. The boutique angle just breeds perfect hype, kind of like the $20 celestion speaker copies that get so talked about on many forums. Too bad there isn’t a tone-per-dollar scale available to people, a better pickup might have 5 times the tone for twice the price of the cheapy making it a better value for the money. Billing it as boutique sucks, but it does provide an entry point for people to trade up from.

[TD_Madden]

Except that those $20 Celestion clones aren't hype....they are EXCELLENT...I bought four of them.

[Possum]

GFS...

I've had some personal email exchanges with the owner of GFS and ya know he's a pickup maker like the rest of us. He's also a smart marketeer and ya know when all is said and done you'll sell more Big Macs to millions of people than you'll sell $20 TBone hamburgers. He serves a market that, really, needs serving, its his niche and he does well at it. Of course the pickups aren't going to be astoundingly good because they are built to a price point. Yes they are Asian made because no self repsecting american company can compete, which is why this self respecting county is going down the toilet :-) You and I all know how fucking hard it is in this country to just START a small business because american industry just does NOT want to deal with small potatoes, they are greedy and want the big orders, so meanwhile China is rolling over them like bulldozers and stealing all their business and all they do is complain they are losing business; well maybe they ought to help americans start their small businesses and deal with little guys like us instead of waiting for that million dollar order that just went to china where people are glad, helpful and happy to get your small order for the most part. I"m all for using only american made stuff for pickups but its so hard to get anyone to even give you a quote these days, its just easier to use Guitar Jones or whoever....rant rant rant....

[voodoochild]

Again I am not against Asian made products. They have their place in the market. All Asian made products are better than ever these days and they are within a reasonable price for what they are. The problem I seem to have here is the way they are marketed. Its not a way to gain respect when you try to advertise something of a lesser quality to be equivilant to that of a much higher standard of quality. Knocking others who have done nothing to invade you or your product is wrong and unethical. Calling boutique pickups overpriced and hype is absurd and should be reckoned with. Thats all for me here.

[Mark Hammer]

Here's a question for all of you.

How good does an amp have to be before differences between good, poor and mediocre pickups start to show?

If I replace the stock pickups in a $150 guitar with GFS and play through a $70 practice amp with an 8" speaker and a TDA2030 for power section, would I notice an improvement if I upgraded beyond GFS?

I ask this because even though there are plenty of pros playing high-end instruments through high-end rigs, there are one helluva lot of people who start out with $200 guitar+amp "packages", and they have opinions too. Their opinions may well be naive and underinformed overall, but they are informed by what they have directly experienced in their context.

So, uh, if I played a $300 or less solid-state amp that I purchased because it was loud, had a KILLER distortion (to my ears) and came with a bunch of DSP effects that I didn't understand, would I be able to hear the difference between boutique pickups and GFS? Again, remember, I'm not asking if one is ultimately better than the other or if the cost is justified. I'm asking if that context would allow me to hear it.

[madialex]

Again I am not against Asian made products. They have their place in the market. All Asian made products are better than ever these days and they are within a reasonable price for what they are. The problem I seem to have here is the way they are marketed. Its not a way to gain respect when you try to advertise something of a lesser quality to be equivilant to that of a much higher standard of quality. Knocking others who have done nothing to invade you or your product is wrong and unethical. Calling boutique pickups overpriced and hype is absurd and should be reckoned with. Thats all for me here.

Damn Right!!! I'll agree with that!!!!!

[GlennW]

I think if you had to choose between a good sounding amp and bad sounding pickups vs a bad sounding amp with good sounding pickups, the first option would sound better. As far as how good an amp has to be before you can tell the differences in pickups, not very good IME, but, that's not to say a bad amp will give a true indication of how good the pickup can sound in a better amp. You could probably tell a difference in pickups using a SS Bogen.

[Possum]

price and quality....

if you want to get pissed off take apart a DiMarzio pickup that costs $100. Real poor quality parts, cheap ass bobbins, cheap cheap cheap....

[mkat]

Reducing the cost of labor is of primary importance to govts and the corporations they work for. There are many political strategies in place to do it. The public health system suffers because that is the intention, wages are frozen and the cost of living increases as intended, corporate profits increase by billions because this is the primary intention. I don't think it's about flags, they're an illusion (corporations span across flags) - it's profit.

Whether a crap pickup is made or distributed by whatever country, whether it's outside or inside the US, doesn't matter. Labor costs in the US are gradually being reduced, so the situation will not get better. The advantage is, that the only great pickups made will be from the smaller businesses, but for how long?

[Zhangliqun]

Voodoo -- how old was this customer?