Why can you never find guitar pickups in guitar shops in the UK?? I live near Birmingham and have been to every major store in Brum and Worcester and Cov, and none of them sell any pickups at all, which strikes me as very odd, because surely they are one of the first things you'd change on a guitar?? I've seen one shop which can get seymour duncans (refuse) or emg (no chance) and find it near impossible to get dimarzios. I have noticed also on ebay that a number of international sellers are not able to ship dimarzios outside of the US. Why is this?

I think that part of the problem here is that there are literally thousands of different pickup models manufactured, and a store just can't stock them all, so they perhaps just have a few in stock.
Also, some US manufacturers restrict the sale of new product to US only.

Best bet is to buy on-line, from either UK based stores like Axesrus, or Chandlers, or alternatively go to Guitar Parts Resource, or Acme in the US, and I've dealt with both and had good experiences.

Or you can sometimes buy from the manufacturers direct, as well, and I've bought pickups (very good pickups) from Don Mare directly, in the past.

Good luck!

Samurai

Hotrox in Nottingham has a bit of a selection of fender, seymour and bare knuckles pickups. Bit of a drive for you and the traffic system in nottingham is utterly rubbish. Nowhere near as easy as brum or cov. He's priced it all up nicely too. The bare knuckles sets are a bit cheaper than anywhere else.

What are you after?

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What do you think of the Bare Knuckles? The ones I have used seemtoe be nice sounding. Hard to find on this side of the pond though.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

[quote="Butterscotch"]I think that part of the problem here is that there are literally thousands of different pickup models manufactured, and a store just can't stock them all, so they perhaps just have a few in stock.
quote]

Valid point , but if that's the case, why are there NO pickups at all? not even 'popular models' like a JB or EMG81 or Distortion... I cannot find a shop that physically carries ANY pickups.

Thanks Nikininja for the post but don't drive and not going all the way to Nottingham for the sake of a pickup. It's dimarzio I'm after.

the reason why I want to buy one in person is because I want to avoid wating weeks in the xmas post if I can...

Theres that guy on the left as you go up Far Gosford street in cov. Its the shop on the 2nd music shop on the left. The bloke before him is a rip off merchant and the shop at the top of the street is geared up for beginners. The shop that used to be Musical Exchanges in cov was pretty rubbish last time I was there.

The guy in that 2nd shop is sound though. One of only 2 people in the country I'll use for repairs. Dunno if he stocks dimarzio's or any pickups for that matter. Dont PMT on Lawley Middleway stock pickups? Theres that bloke above Reverb, ne musical exchanges on snow hill.

Theres some fella in Warwick/Stratford area too.

As far as I know theres only a couple of stockists of dimarzio in the uk.

CV
I've never tried Bare Knuckles pickups. They seem far too expensive for a bit of wire wrapped round a magnet. I've pretty much given up on buying aftermarket pickups. The markets too flooded and everything sounds the same. Everyone is going after the fabled (insert year) tone. Its all just bloody annoying. If someone produced a pickup and said, "heres a good pickup. Versatile, generic and functional". No one would know what to do with it. You'd get a multitude of people saying oh you cant get a (blah blah blah) tone out of it. It absolutely sickens me. People act like the pickups are the key component in the guitar, when in my experience its not the case.

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Yeah cov is pretty crap really and in a very rough part. Metalworks is the guy you're thinking of i think. He's alrite and done some work for me a few years back. Went to PMT saturday and not a single pickup either in the store or online, despite the massive size of the shop (the reason my post here in suprise and the lack of availability in the midlands). I've heard of the guy by reverb, but never seen his shop open so not ever had a chance to go in and see what he has. Heard he does repairs and the like ...

Yeah Paul at Metalworks. Got them big iron bars outside the front of the shop.

I know just what you mean. Theres not enough support for pickups. Why doesnt anyone else do the snap in connectors like EMG either?

Sorry mate.

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Time for you to DIY and eventually become the UK pickup king!

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

I do not how the shipping would be handled, I live in Ohio, but I have been very happy with the pickups I have purchased from this web site. I think they ship to the U.K.

www.guitarfetish.com

I live in Romania and I bought a set of lipstick pups for Strat from GFS.
So, delivery in the UK should not be a problem at all (including customs taxes and VAT ).

the whole point is i know i can get it on any number of online places. the problem is that i find it odd that you cannot physically go into a guitar shop, view, purchase, and walk out of the door with a pickup...

Whats with seymour duncan and emg?

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Rated "M" for meaty.

duncans i find to flabby and beefy, emgs to tight asnd too high gain for what i want. i find dimarzios a lot smoother and rounder

Thats pretty much my take on them Seymours are lifeless and bland I had a Jackson with a JB and a Jazz in em. That did me for life. After hearing two humbuckers that get such acclaim, sound so bad. I couldnt justify risking money on singlecoils. Emg's are sterile, not just the 81/85/89's. The SA' range repulses me too.

Samurai.
What were suffering is essentially the side effect of online shopping. You just cant shop the way you used to. Now you have to pay, wait and then put up with a VAT and customs bill. I dunno about you but I just plain refuse to shop online. I will not move with the times, I will not join the sofa society. Unless I can go to the shop, handle whatever it is I plan to take home. Pay cash and walk out the shop with it, I dont want to know.

Internet shopping is designed to be utterly ethereal and thereby encourage you to buy more. You log on, select what you want, pay by card or whatever. Its not like your parting with cash and struggling out of Argos with a load of boxes.
Its the work of the devil.

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