Pickup Prices

Today, having been let out of work early, I went checked out a local guitar shop just to see how much it would cost to get guitar pickups locally... I chatted to the guy and sneakily memorised the prices of a couple of pickups (Duncan Distortion and Duncan P-Rails) for later comparison with online prices.

I was expecting a bit of a mark up.

I wasn't expecting them to cost 35% more than they cost online.

So much for buying local!

Swift Les Paul Copy - More Thoughts

The more I think about it the more I realise that I probably won't try to sell this guitar on.

This isn't because I think it's so awesome that I must must must keep it, but because I seriously doubt I'd be able to make back what I spent on the instrument and will spend on the new parts. I took a gamble on a cheap instrument made by a company I'd never heard of and really I lost, I know I can make this into a decent instrument but the flaws I cannot do anything about will always be apparent. I'll keep it as a backup instrument for the time being and maybe one day when I can get a decent Les Paul copy for my own use and am no longer concerned with making my money back on this one I'll stick it on eBay or something.

Swift Les Paul Copy - Slight Change of Plan

Decided I'm not going to do a full refinish at this stage. Firstly it's not worth using decent nitro lacquer on this thing and I'm not forking out for a professional paint gun thing at this stage just because I cannot find polyurethane in spray cans.

This means I get to not only lower my budget by quite a substantial amount, but means I can spend more of said budget on getting the parts I want rather than the ones that are just cheapest.

Thoughts: Rickenfakers

I find it amusing and a little sad how worked up people get over "Rickenfakers" (copies of Rickenbacker guitars, particularly the basses).

There seems to be this notion that Rickenbackers are somehow sacred and "fake"* instruments which, to most people (including me), look perfectly fine are described as hideous and 'sacreligious'. Hell, I even saw one thread on a forum where someone described seeing what appeared to be a Rickenbacker in a shop only to find out it was a "fake" as an "emotional rollercoaster". I think someone needs to get out more. You never hear people going on about "hideous fake" Les Pauls. Nobody gets their knickers in a twist when they see a Stratocaster that turns out to be made by someone other than Fender.

Rickenbacker don't seem to have worked out that the reason why these "fakes" continue to exist is that their instruments look really cool but are far too expensive for most people to afford. I'd be prepared to bet folding money that if Rickenbacker introduced mass-produced budget versions of their instruments they'd make an absolute killing on them. I'd certainly buy one.
Hell, the Japanese companies that made the first Rickenfakers did so as a compliment! In Japan copying the work of another is seen as a mark of respect, not an attempt to rip off the original. If only the capitalist West realised that a bit more.



*This is one of the biggest issues I have with all this. To me it's only "fake" if it is being sold as genuine when it's not. These instruments aren't, most of them are quite unashamed of their non-genuineness.