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Post subject: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:18 pm
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I know Abby yabarra retired, but is the price really worth it. Is it about tone or just a finacial investment?


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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:28 pm
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I'd say so...Seymour Duncan looks up to her. She's responsible for so much great tone.


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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:45 pm
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It's wire wrapped around a magnet. Her pickups are as hit and miss as any other hand wound pickup makers wares.

Just that no body having paid that much will admit they got duds. So... NO.

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:51 pm
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PlayerPat wrote:
I know Abby yabarra retired, but is the price really worth it. Is it about tone or just a finacial investment?

Vibe, man: vibe.

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:55 pm
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why have you double posted this thread?


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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:47 pm
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Coming from a classical guitar background,
I´ve only recently begun to become interested in pickups.

So, wound by hand or automated, is there any real consistency
on serial runs of pickups, or should I base my search assuming
that they are like treasure finds?

Watching with interest here, knowing there are very savvy members around...
Let the Wise and Eldarion come forth! 8)

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:45 pm
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The additional premium that FMIC charges for AY pickups isn't worth the cost for the ink used to create her signature on the bobbin IMO.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 4:33 pm
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PlayerPat wrote:
I know Abby yabarra retired, but is the price really worth it. Is it about tone or just a finacial investment?

Welcome to the Forum Pat! Pro guitarists from all over the planet hold Abby's pickups in high regard. Niki tells the truth when he said pay your money and take your chance. The added knowledge from a pro member of this Forum 'shredd 6' who consistantly takes low level pickups and makes them sound like monster machines is proof that it is as much you as them. So, if you are a backyard bar-b-que player, with Abby's pickups you will sound better than all of the guitarists at the bar-b-que. If you are good enough to be a regular at the lets say House of Blues well try them and let us know what you think about them then. My favs are the ones that come with the Jimmy Vaughan Strat, don't know if Abby wound them but they work all of the time.

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:11 am
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Ceri wrote:
PlayerPat wrote:
I know Abby yabarra retired, but is the price really worth it. Is it about tone or just a finacial investment?

Vibe, man: vibe.

Cheers - C


Ceri get a set of Bare Knuckle Mother's Milk thats Vibe!!!! 8)

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:45 am
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I guess they are no different than Seymour Duncan Custom Shop.. Or any other boutique pickup manufacturer. In fact- I bet they have pickups that sound the same as hers. Better still, you can have pickups custom wound to your OWN specs.

I think the 'vibe' that her signed & wound pickups have, is a result of clever marketing on Fenders behalf. The same could be said for 'Big Dippers', when in fact they are an underwound vintage spec pickups (ala AVRI 57/62's), to put it as simple as I possibly can. All due respect and not to discredit however- she is/was good at what she did.

But just because Fender make them in limited numbers by a certain person, or produce them only for a certain guitar, doesn't mean that you won't get the same spec from a different manufacturer. However if you dont want her pickups and you dont fall into the hype of it all, you will pay just the same for a set of custom wounds that you can spec yourself to yours or a particular artists set.

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:21 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
The additional premium that FMIC charges for AY pickups isn't worth the cost for the ink used to create her signature on the bobbin IMO.

Arjay


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Just more marketing hype.
How about just building good stuff all the way around?

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:52 am
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Not sure what the current prices are, but the Abby masterwounds that I have are quite nice.

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:35 am
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There were lots of nice sounding pickups. Just depends on how deep your pockets are and what you're willing to pay. Kind of like an Eric Johnson thing. Johnson has all kinds of Voodoo stuff going on with his rig that only he hears. All said and done, If you didn't know that Abby wound them, you wouldn't know the difference. But that's why we all have choices and I'm glad we as musicians have these choices to some degree. FMIC employ master marketeers and can make you think anything they manufacture is awesome and amazing.

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Post subject: Re: Are Abby wounds worth the price?
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:53 am
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I think it's a history/vibe/mojo thing. It would be cool to have a set she wound, just like it's cool if you have proof that Leo or George Fullerton or Freddie Tavares actually assembled your guitar.

Also, she's gotta be good at it--she's been doing that job longer than I have been alive...sometime little technique tricks are hard to define.

Ultimately, whether they're worth the price depends on the price. It shouldn't cost 50% more, unless there's a immediate tonal difference that's noticeable to the casual listener...and of course, that's in the ear of the beholder.

The fact that she has now retired might bump the price up about 10-15%, in my mind.

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