Pickup Pricing

[Richard]

I'm on the consumer end and my opinions are mine aloneń compared to the guys here that have seen many pickup purchases.

How many pickups do you want to make and how much money do you want to make? Divide money by number of pickups and that's your price per unit.

Sometimes I read it good review of a pickup and want to use one in a guitar. Sometimes I look for a replacement. I can safely say I won't be buying the Seymour Duncan Zephyr pickups any time soon but if I was looking to replace the bridge pickup in an Esquire I would have a bigger budget per pickup than for a Stratocaster.

Do you have a website with GOOD soundclips? Seymour Duncan used to have a bunch but their current website does not. Eminence and Jensen have excellent soundclips. If you have that your chances of selling me a pickup is no longer zero.

I buy DiMarzio a lot because you can compare the sounds of the pickups and I know what they sound like. I also like their wire color code.

If you make something that most people don't, if I need that makes me buying your pickups a possibility.

[Mick Bailey]

Quality alone. And I'm lucky to be in this position.

The word 'quality' is often misunderstood. From a manufacturing perspective it simply means that the product meets a set of acceptance criteria or standards. Within the public realm it's used as a term of excellence. However, quality is related to function and a perceived higher quality item may not necessarily perform as well as a lower quality one. I'll use the Arion chorus pedal as an example; in my mind this was always a really good pedal from day one - it sounded good, is well constructed and does an excellent job. But it was always seen as a cheap pedal - people saw the plastic case as a sign of low quality (it isn't - it's superbly designed and durable). Every provincial music store had these sitting in the window along with the dead flies and bleached-out packaging. But more recently a few celebrity guitarists have started to use them and the original models are ridiculously expensive. So now the cheap pedal is a 'quality' one.

So, if you're selling on quality alone, what does that mean to a customer? Regardless of construction, if that pickup meets that individual's acceptance criteria for a 'quality' product, then surely that's a successful outcome. In a row of 10 sets of pickups from different makers, what would make yours stand out enough to be selected? If you're saying it's the quality alone, then exactly how are your pickups superior?

[Jim Darr]

If you sell based on a low, or a very competitive price point, you are at the mercy of the next guy with a lower price. If you have a truly GREAT sounding pickup you should be positioning yourself as the source for THAT sound...that way price point is much less of an issue. The problem is that there are few "great sounding" pickups being made...yes, there are many good sounding pickups, but do they really stand out as GREAT???

Another question related to pricing is consistency...you have to be consistent in your build process in order to get that reputation of being a top "shelf builder".

Also, I'd rather be GREAT at a few pickup types than "GOOD" with many!!!

Frankly, I see some of the prices being charged and cannot figure out how these guys are profitable or still in business. It seems like many winders are just close to trading dollars and you can't sustain that very long.

Anyway, my two cents...

[eschertron]

...primarily trying to compete with Duncan, in that they are very well known, very well liked, discussed ad infinitum online...

You bring up some good points here. known, liked, discussed all orbit around the central core of marketing: getting the product out to where potential customers can be - and are - made aware of the product. There seem to be a lot of 'magic bullets' out there. Social media, email marketing services, business card and other printing services are all available to give the polished professional edge to any startup venture. The good news is that I don't have to buy full-page ads in Guitar Player to get exposure, flip side is there's a lot of time and savvy needed to make effective use of the modern tools, if I'm not going to spend a lot of money for someone else to do it for me.

Conversationally, then, what are some personal strong points that you rely on get the exposure you want?

[jrdamien]

You bring up some good points here. known, liked, discussed all orbit around the central core of marketing: getting the product out to where potential customers can be - and are - made aware of the product. There seem to be a lot of 'magic bullets' out there. Social media, email marketing services, business card and other printing services are all available to give the polished professional edge to any startup venture. The good news is that I don't have to buy full-page ads in Guitar Player to get exposure, flip side is there's a lot of time and savvy needed to make effective use of the modern tools, if I'm not going to spend a lot of money for someone else to do it for me.

Conversationally, then, what are some personal strong points that you rely on get the exposure you want?

I would say that 75% of my business is purely word of mouth. There's likely nothing better. And 25% is people just randomly searching in which case I rely upon appearance of the website and reviews online.

My primary concern with even beginning a dedicated marketing campaign is fear of becoming too busy. I have a "day job," perform quite a bit, am otherwise busy, etc. I wouldn't have enough time to commit to a sudden onslaught of orders if only because I understand those orders will wax and wane and the income will be unreliable.

But it would be nice to make that transition some day. And this line of thinking is towards that.

[copperheadroads]

Pricing is demand ,plus if you have put everything into your product you will be rewarded =tone over every thing else .
I see winders that have only wound a handful of pickups that are asking outrageous prices with the aid of advertising everywhere .

[jrdamien]

Pricing is demand ,plus if you have put everything into your product you will be rewarded =tone over every thing else .
I see winders that have only wound a handful of pickups that are asking outrageous prices with the aid of advertising everywhere .

As do I. Lots of them.

[copperheadroads]

My philosophy that I incorporate from my Family's business is .I'm not trying to sell you A set of pickups .I'm trying to sell you ALL the pickups you need till the END .
Keep in mind I repaired hundreds of vintage pickups for free to gain this confidence .. not snake oil . not advertising .......only facts

[Mick Bailey]

One of the uncomfortable aspects of manufacture is that mainly the producer gets the least profit out of the value chain in a regular supply model. Most manufacturers (of anything) sell to a distributor. If this distributor is non-domestic then there can be considerable shipping/export costs. The distributor sometimes sells to a wholesaler, then sells to a retailer, then to the consumer. In retail it's not uncommon to see 40%-60% final markup.

For the likes of SD I imagine the cost of producing a pickup - the 'factory gate price' - to be just a few dollars, but they make thousands and sell them worldwide. A small producer selling directly to a limited market is able to subsidise (relatively) inefficient production rates and costs by cutting out the supply chain. Pitching the correct price can be quite difficult, but it doesn't always influence the sale - one of the rules of sales is to remove price as a barrier and focus on the hidden need.

If you were to consider the reasons for buying any pickups, maybe the following selection criteria (in no particular order) could apply;

Sound good
Easy to fit
Look good
Price
Someone I know uses them
An artist I like uses them
Quality
Well-known supplier
Good warranty
Technical specification

Now, The OP mentions quality as a key selling point, and we're discussing price. But personally I don't think either of those are at the top of my list of selection criteria.

[jrdamien]

So, if you're selling on quality alone, what does that mean to a customer? Regardless of construction, if that pickup meets that individual's acceptance criteria for a 'quality' product, then surely that's a successful outcome. In a row of 10 sets of pickups from different makers, what would make yours stand out enough to be selected? If you're saying it's the quality alone, then exactly how are your pickups superior?

The only honest answer to this question is that my pickups are not 'superior' to most well made pickups. They're just my pickups. Knowing what we know about the human mind and marketing, what first and foremost makes any one thing stand out in a line of 10 things is the name on that thing.

If you have 10 wines the one you expect to be superior is the one with the name recognition. If you taste all 10 and afterward are told that the one you most liked happens to be the $8 bottle, guess what? You still buy the name brand 9 times out of ten.

[jrdamien]

One of the uncomfortable aspects of manufacture is that mainly the producer gets the least profit out of the value chain in a regular supply model. Most manufacturers (of anything) sell to a distributor. If this distributor is non-domestic then there can be considerable shipping/export costs. The distributor sometimes sells to a wholesaler, then sells to a retailer, then to the consumer. In retail it's not uncommon to see 40%-60% final markup.

For the likes of SD I imagine the cost of producing a pickup - the 'factory gate price' - to be just a few dollars, but they make thousands and sell them worldwide. A small producer selling directly to a limited market is able to subsidise (relatively) inefficient production rates and costs by cutting out the supply chain. Pitching the correct price can be quite difficult, but it doesn't always influence the sale - one of the rules of sales is to remove price as a barrier and focus on the hidden need.

If you were to consider the reasons for buying any pickups, maybe the following selection criteria (in no particular order) could apply;

Sound good
Easy to fit
Look good
Price
Someone I know uses them
An artist I like uses them
Quality
Well-known supplier
Good warranty
Technical specification

Now, The OP mentions quality as a key selling point, and we're discussing price. But personally I don't think either of those are at the top of my list of selection criteria.

You could have added an additional sentence as to what's at the top of your selection criteria...

[Mick Bailey]

Ah, yes.

For me, they have to sound good above any other consideration.

[big_teee]

Tone above everything else.
You'll notice I go by ToneOholic!
If a pickup doesn't sound good to me I won't offer it!
I've turned down biz, cause I know what the customer wants, won't sound right.
But, then again. I'm retired and I don't need the money, or the aggravation!
T

[jrdamien]

Ah, yes.

For me, they have to sound good above any other consideration.

Well...yeah.

[Mick Bailey]

For some, artist endorsement sits there right at the top. It doesn't do it for me, though. For others, tone doesn't matter but originality does - the pickup has to be identical to the original regardless of how it could be improved.

Then there's the fact that for some pickups there is little choice - you have a very limited fitment (some Parkers, for example).