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Pickups, which is best in terms of results vs cost?

Ok so, I don't know too much about pickups, I used simple piezos in my first 20 builds and since then I've used rod piezos which have been mostly great. My current build is going to have a single coil pickup so I'm working on that.

Are there better (fairly cheap) pickups out there that I don't know about? I've seen Chickenbone John talk about passive piezos in his videos, are they different/better than a normal one? Excuse my ignorance. I want to get the best bang for my buck without breaking the bank! Am I best to stick with the rod style?

I tried a search but am not really getting the answers I need. Thanks folks :D

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on August 2, 2013 at 8:36am

Rod style, best bang for the buck, followed by cheap Chinese single coils.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on August 2, 2013 at 9:25am

The original flat pickup by Elmar.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on August 2, 2013 at 9:34am

I was gonna suggest the flat pup, except he sounded like he was looking to keep the cost down. The flat pup ends up being almost 50 bucks by the time it is shipped from Austria.

A great pickup though...I got a few of them.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on August 2, 2013 at 10:35am

So worth the money that I can't help but mention. Not the cheapest option for sure.

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Permalink Reply by neanderpaul on August 2, 2013 at 3:34pm

Flat pup by Elmar aka Klangbox is flippin' delicious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2wL-Ym4bc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_wuZdKCMwE

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on August 2, 2013 at 10:09pm

once tasted never wasted! (-; £25 - £30 posted

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Permalink Reply by jeff weins on August 2, 2013 at 9:31am

Try the clearance section at guitarfetish, i've used a bunch of these no complaints

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Non-GFS-OEM-Pickups_c_313.html

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Permalink Reply by Clarky on August 2, 2013 at 10:32am

Cool looks like I'm on the right path. Yeah I want to be as cheap as possible without losing too much quality.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on August 2, 2013 at 10:46am

*imho there is no definitive answer. Lot of guys will tell you that buzzer discs are just awesome. Some guys have a big valve amplifier, others a wee battery powered opamp circuit squeezed into a cigar box. They've put a lot of work into it, of course it sounds absolutely fabulous. (TO THEM) some guys have real guitars and amps and can play them. This (hopefully) sets a benchmark for their own builds. Other guys around here are here because they can't play a regular guitar, tried before but it's too hard, so now they make three stringers. They don't necessarily compare to a fender guitar or whatever, they're operating in a vacuum. So they say 'oh product x here works awesome'... Well I'm real happy for em...

I think piezo discs suck. I think piezo rods suck quite a bit less than them, but they still suck. I think little op amp powered guitar amplifiers are worthless. These opinions are of course utterly worthless to you.

The best and only thing you can do is roll up your sleeves, start at the beginning, try EVERYTHING, and form your own informed opinions. Then of course bring your dogma back here and force it on others :D

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on August 2, 2013 at 1:59pm

In uncharacteristic fashion, I will keep this short.

Jef is telling you to take your dogma for a walk.

>:-E

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Permalink Reply by jabes on August 4, 2013 at 7:01am

may his karma run over his dogma....;)

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Permalink Reply by Ted Crocker on August 2, 2013 at 5:54pm

<--- maybe I'm biased...

Gitty carries Ted Crocker mag pups for a good price. Stonehenge and DownUnder power thousands of instruments almost 10 years running, Search YouTube for Ted Crocker pickup or ask me for vids.

https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/ted-crocker-handmade-pickups.html