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Post subject: Duncan Designed pickups
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:24 pm
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I noticed the other day on Squier's web-site that the Duncan Designed pickups are no longer offered on the VM Jazz basses. Does anybody know what's up with that?


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Post subject: Re: Duncan Designed pickups
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:42 pm
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Location: Albemarle, NC
Guessing they are no longer paying the licensing rights to use Mr. Duncan's name. In truth they along with most Duncan pickups actually are Leo Fender designed pickups in the first place. The DESIGNED part denotes they are Asian made by a contracting manufacturer and not made in the USA by Seymour Duncan. The way things work in the Asian way of doing guitar business everything is contracted out. Only a few brands like Cort (Cortek) actually make their own stuff and even Cortek will contract out parts to various OEM suppliers.

Oddly enough Duncan bass pickup specs are not that different from Fender specs except for a few models such as the SPB-3 Quarter-Pounder. So you get about the same pickups, if not the very same ones but they just don't have the Duncan Designed marking. That saves a few bucks.

When you come right down to it, Duncan's best pickups are outright carbon copies of Leo Fender designed and Fender built vintage era pickups right down to the waxed cloth covered lead wires. These could be stamped "Fender Designed." LOL. I really like Duncan pickups a lot and they make good pickups but so does Fender. To me the Duncan Designed stamping was pretty much meaningless and more marketing snake oil than anything else. Not to worry, the pickups will be no worse than before and likely will be made in the same plant by the same people to Fender specs which are so close to Duncan specs you won't be able to tell one from the other by playing in a blindfold test.


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Post subject: Re: Duncan Designed pickups
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 7:32 pm
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Thanks for the info. I really like my VM Jazz, I'm hoping the new PU's sound as good as mine. I had my bass in the studio a few months ago and was really pleased with the sound of it. The engineer was shocked at how good it sounded, absolutely no noise at all. He said "I wish every bass that came through here sounded as good as that one".


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Post subject: Re: Duncan Designed pickups
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:02 pm
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I stopped at the local GC today and I got to play the new Modified Vintage Jazz. Holy cow, what a bass. The pick-ups sounded great!!! The neck finish has changed too. It has the tinted gloss finish like the Classic Vibe's. It's still made in Indonesia like mine. Great bass!
I hope Fender doesn't discover their not charging enough for this bass, $279.00 what a bargin!


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