Need humbucker covers quick...sources???

[ken]

I have also gotten my share of headaches from trying to make a good HB pickup.

For example, I have had soft brass pickup screws that twist their heads off when you try to screw them into the same maker's bobbins, bottom plates from another maker with bobbin screw holes that don't line up quite right with the same maker's mounting holes in the bobbins (so the screws go in crooked if you don't redrill the holes), another maker's bobbins were actually pretty good... except for the color. You get the idea.

I can see why some of you are so proud of your pickups, because just finding good parts is a royal PITA. I can't see having to just order spacer bars from one maker, covers from another, and bobbins from a third. The searching for parts alone was driving me sane.

I can't really afford to order the 10,000 bobbin screws Possum mentioned below, but I would be interested a 'co-op' with others who need the same parts that I do. I can see the value... a parts maker who wouldn't bother making 1000 screws would just LOVE to make 10,000. However, IMO Stewmac isn't the way to go... if they can justify selling their own winder for $350USD and people will buy them, why should they give anyone a price break on anything else?

I am in a co-op for other things, and the whole thing is a matter of trust... trust for the 'little guys' who only buy 500 of something at a time that they won't get screwed if somebody bigger wants more than their own allotment, and trust for the 'big guys' who need the little guys' $$$ to at least partially justify a purchase in the first place.

Ken

[David Schwab]

I can't really afford to order the 10,000 bobbin screws Possum mentioned below, but I would be interested a 'co-op' with others who need the same parts that I do. I can see the value... a parts maker who wouldn't bother making 1000 screws would just LOVE to make 10,000. However, IMO Stewmac isn't the way to go... if they can justify selling their own winder for $350USD and people will buy them, why should they give anyone a price break on anything else?

Stew-Mac doesn't make that winder. It's made by Schatten Design in Canada. Stew-Mac just sells it for him.

The other thing is Stew-Mac for the most part just buys tools and stuff and resells them. Some of their stuff is custom made, either by them, or for them, or just modified... you see a lot of it in wood working catalogs for a lot less money.

I bet they buy their pickup parts from some Asian supplier like everyone else.

The thing about screws is pickup parts makers don't make screws... these are just common screws. In the case of humbucker adjustable poles, they are Fillister head machine screws. Your best bet is to order things like this through someone like McMaster-Carr.

I've been buying stuff from Stew-Mac for over 20 years now, but I know what stuff to look elsewhere for!

[WolfeMacleod]

I bet they buy their pickup parts from some Asian supplier like everyone else.

I know who they get those parts from. I'm the reason that Stew-Mac has them at all - I hooked them up.

[ken]

I knew about Schatten making the winder for StewMac, I was just making the point that anyone who could mark up a winder (or anything else) by that much and still manage to resell it would not be interested in lowering the price of anything for us at all. Some of the parts they have are cool, but the prices are absolutely nuts.

I get catalogs from all kinds of places, from wood shops to electronic salvage
catalogs to used machine tool catalogs. I get so many that my mailman asked me once when I was mowing my lawn if I ever heard of the Internet.

I know parts sellers don't make screws, I was just amazed that I never saw brass screws so soft they broke off their heads in plastic before. I tried to order 5,000 HB pole screws once from my boss's screw supplier, and he said he couldn't get filisters that small from his company. He actually suggested a Chinese supplier.

Ken

[Spence]

stew Mac isn't in business for other manufacturers to get a blinding trade price. they are there for the weekend warriors who only want what they need to complete one job. That's why you'll never get their stuff cheap.
The only way to get what you want reliably, that is parts that fit and are correct for the application, is to have them made yourself. Take a trip to China or India with correct parts and get them made there. make sure you see a real engineer not a salesman.

[jason lollar]

youd be suprised then to hear that stew mac will discount if you arrange to purchase a large order.
it has to be large enough to make it worth thier while and yours.

A couple months ago stew mac was enquiring about having pickup covers made, i told them what I could about it, I dont know if they completed the task or if thier covers are still outsourced but everyone is sick of the current supply level.
.

[soundmasterg]

And they screwed you over on that deal didn't they Wolfe?

[David Schwab]

I know who they get those parts from. I'm the reason that Stew-Mac has them at all - I hooked them up.

Oh that's right... I remember you mentioned that before.

I knew about Schatten making the winder for StewMac, I was just making the point that anyone who could mark up a winder (or anything else) by that much and still manage to resell it would not be interested in lowering the price of anything for us at all. Some of the parts they have are cool, but the prices are absolutely nuts.

Interestingly Schatten sells it for the same amount... but I guess that makes sense, because if he sold it for less, who would buy it from Stew-Mac? I see his new model has a plastic case for the "winding tower"!

I'm pretty happy with the winder, but if I were to do it over again, I would make my own. I'll be out growing this one soon.

Some stuff Stew-Mac is ridiculously over priced. I had first noticed this with their swivel jaw vice (Guitar Repair Vise). I had found the exact same vice, but in a different color at Woodcraft. At the time the Woodcraft version was much less expensive. These days it's only $4 cheaper.

Another example is Stew-mac sells 2-pole, 6-position rotary switches for $10.48, and you can buy pretty much the exact same switch in Radio Shack for $2.99. I just bought one today. The only difference I see is the Stew-Mac version has a knurled split shaft. They both look like Alpha switches.

Some stuff they sell you just can't get anywhere else, and a lot of pros use their tools and stuff. You just have to shop around for the best prices.