What? How Much?! Boutique 'Money No Object' Humbuckers

Today we look at some after-market #humbucker #pickups from the #boutique end of the market
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[Instramark]

Hi John and John fans.
I live within walking distance of worldwide known pickup manufacturer, Lindy Frailin.
He is very approachable, or at least was. The absolute best I ever played in my decades long musical career was with some of Frailin's Tele pickups. Surely other circumstances involved but they were really cooking that night. Retail about $100.00 each. Lindy sold them to me for $50.00 each, cash. Installed them for a cheap nominal fee. The bridge pickup had to come back to the shop for wax potting.
Of interest, Lindy swears the alnico thing is a myth and that ceramic magnets are all you need. At that time, all his pickups were thusly ceramic.
Yes, he does have a number of employees, has a nice facility and surely has done his when you see the pickups in pieces to be assembled, it's clear to see only a couple of bucks are involved.

Second best performance I ever had was with a Frankenstein strat with, albeit, stock 1966 pickups, but just standard cheap stock of the day Fender pups, and a Peavey Solid State Special 130 amp, of all things. I currently own almost every Marshall there is and about 50 guitars with all those pick ups of interest.
Conclusion?
Am getting my particulars together to sell all of my gear down to what is necessary which will all fit in a small closet.
What is necessary? A guitar that stays in tune, plays and feels well and pickups that don't squeal.
Amp? A couple of tube amps and few solid state. A few pedals. All the cheap pedals seem to out perform. Took me 50 years and who knows how much money to figure this out. It was fun but not so much theses days. What is important is the music, not the gear. Too bad there is no more music scene. Talk about epic fun back in the day!
In am 65 years old, been playing since 1963. is all hype.
Save your money, take lessons, practice harder. Study.
Good tone comes from you and just plain volume. Moving air and the harmonics from moving air.
So much new gear has had all the mojo funk engineered right out of it.
Love your channel John, great lessons and love beer Friday.
Cheers!

[sergioghiotto]

Iron Gear and Tonerider are equals to DiMarzio end Seymour Duncan but they costs a tenth of them... but there are people who keep thinking only of the brand to show off on the guitar.

[dasschaf]

I experimented with a home-made alumitone style pickup a few months back. Neodymium bar magnet, aluminium plate to form the single loop around the magnet, and a small current-sense transformer to get some voltage amplification. Fitted it into a standard humbucker rout. The parts cost me about six quid. Super "hi-fi" sound, loads of treble, not a silver wire in sight 😁 It would make a great bass pickup, but it was a bit soul-less on a guitar in my opinion. If you're after a hifi sound go for Lace Alumitones instead of the SD Zephyrs for a cheaper experience! Or make your own for coppers ...

[bluesdude]

I've only used Iron Gear replacement pups in 2 guitars and I must say they sound awesome, especially the dirty torque and blues engine that the guitar tech I use fitted in my Harley Benton CS24. They made it come alive and have coil split to boot.

[peterbradshaw]

I use the same Vanson pickups in my Squier Bullet Mustang, after watching one of John's videos where he replaced the pickups in a Harley Benton CS-24 with them. I agree that they are excellent pickups. I recently acquired another Bullet Mustang because I wanted to have one with P90 pickups. After looking around for ages, on a whim, I bought some from China for the massive sum of £19.18 including shipping. I waited for a few weeks for them to arrive all the time kicking myself for wasting money on something that was bound to sound dreadful. Not a bit of it, they are absolutely wonderful! There is no need to spend a fortune on guitars and gear as John so rightly maintains.

[gregorwalton]

I have two sets of Vanson Alnico II PAFs, one in a PRS copy and one in a Tele copy. The sound suits me just fine. I also have a pair of Vanson Alnico V Humbucker-sized P90s in a Les Paul copy which are great, they just kick my clean amp enough for a bit of grit.
I've used Iron Gear Alnico IV "Blues Engines" in another Les Paul copy. They are great as well.

[jimmyjames]

Just one neck Seymour Duncan P-Rail cost me $150 Canadian, which is pricey, but on any coil it's a vast improvement over the stock PRS SE HB from 2008. Plus I avoided buying a second dedicated single coil guitar I have no budget or room for in my seniors flat. So I'm not a "Money No Object" customer. But when I see all the youtubers walled "Gardens of Guitars" I wonder when it comes to acquisition, guitarists will simply buy what they "need" anyway, and find the budget to do so. Sometimes boutique pups is what we "need" sometimes 10 guitars is what we "need" whether they're PRS Dragons or Squier Bullets. Right now I "need" the Fender Lead III, or the 2021 Squier Strat Contemporary Special in Sky Burst.

[mwcarde]

Check out the Virgil Arlo 1959 P.A.F. Humbucker set. You can find them on eBay. Or save several thousand dollars and get Vanson.

Outrageous. No more than a tenner's worth of parts in any of these, but fair play for having the balls to charge an arm and a leg.

[bessiebraveheart]

Hello John, I have some house of tone 45s humbucker, bare knuckle stormy Monday, Jason Lollar etc. The best sounding buckers for me are a set of generic no brand that I have in a stratalike guitar. They sound fantastic. I think I paid £20, if that for the pair.

[ajaxman]

Having a quick look at Amazon, that 30 quid even includes the pickup rings, springs and screws, and free delivery lol

[PaulCooksStuff]

Reasonably entertaining: Passed with distinction 👍

[SidBonkers]

Ive bought "boutique" pickups and pickups at the cheapo end of the market and TBH I cant tell where the money goes, yes they sound different but so does every boutique pickup. What i do know is that there are very few things that a man in a shed can do better than a computer operated machine. I know many people will disagree with me here but I put two Vanson pups in my Epiphone Dot to replace the two Gibson Burstbuckers that had been put in it before I bought it and TBH I found the Burstbuckers to harsh for my taste, the Vanson pups sing.

[__Anton__]

Great video. How about a much video’ about pedals. Plenty of awesome clones around where there’s no real difference in sound.

[robpurchase]

I'll stick to me Iron Gear & EMG for humbuckers & Lace Sensors for me single coil strat!

[Blodtann]

You should ask Vanson to sponsor you, I got two sets based on your recommendation. One set of Alnico2 for my Epiphone Les Paul and a set of Alnico5 for my Harley Benton SG copy.
They both sound clearer and "better" to my untrained ears than the originals did.

[OzzyMandias]

Back in the day the guitarist who established the iconic sounds were mostly skint, they used what they could get and now these days 'Boutique' builders are charging the earth to recreate these sounds...plus the tone was mainly in their fingers anyway.

[philipcarson]

I built my own for about £35. They are at least as good as a SD set which will therefore go on eBay. Snake oil

[iannicholls]

I’ve no objection to the prices some manufacturers are charging. I suspect that there is a lot more to running a small to medium size pickup business than buying a few bobs worth of wire, magnets and bobbins as some here are suggesting. You pays your money and takes your choice. However pursuit of tone to that extent is a rabbit hole you never get out of . On the other hand I do believe in the physiological effect of good gear. The listener may not hear the superior tone but if you are in a good place mentally because of the pickups you have then I do think you will play better. So who knows?

[ste]

Hi John interesting vid, Is there a massive sound difference with p 90, s