Blackmachine pickups

[leonardo7]

I did not see a thread on this yet.

Doug at Blackmachine Guitars has been working on his own pickups for a couple of years and they are now available to purchase. I just bought a set for over $400. They are called the Blackmachine Blackbird pickups, designed by Doug, made by ASL pickups in the UK, and sold by Feline Guitars in the UK. They are only available in a 6 string set. They sound great! Very warm and organic with tightness and a very sweet neck pickup that sounds phenomenal for cleans. Has anyone else tried them?

I found this pic online:

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Haven't heard anything about these, but they certainly look nice kinda like an old Q-Tuner

 

[bloc]

Eh, they ain't no Ibanez V7s but a man can dream...

 

[downburst82]

Well that could be interesting!

What do yours look like? Are they also the clear bobbins? Any idea on the ohm rating?

 

[leonardo7]

Well that could be interesting!

What do yours look like? Are they also the clear bobbins? Any idea on the ohm rating?

Mine look exactly like in that pic. Apparently quite a few sets have already sold so I was wondering what others thought. I just removed mine the other day and sold the guitar they were in, so I actually currently have no use for them. Apparently you can order them and then they have to be made so they arent immediately available but can be ordered. I can do a meter check for ohm ratings soon. The bridge is alnico 5, I know that

 

[rochesterbox]

Do you have sound samples?

 

[Nag]

I expect those *not* to sell well at all.

BKP gets a ton of shit for making "too expensive" pickups. Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio keep making new models for half the price of a BKP, to steal the customers.

And then Blackmachine tries to do the same as BKP.

 

[cwhitey2]

$400



F that, I'll take 3 sets of DiMarzio or Duncans

 

[asher]

$400



F that, I'll take 3 sets of DiMarzio or Duncans

Used Lundgren Ms ftw.

 

[narad]

I expect those *not* to sell well at all.

BKP gets a ton of shit for making "too expensive" pickups. Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio keep making new models for half the price of a BKP, to steal the customers.

I'm unsure. It's a slight smidge over BKPs -- 250 GBP vs. 225 GBP per set, but if you look at TGP there's lots of PAFs duking it out at that or more.

It's tough. It's hard to justify that price when the right DiMarzios or SDs are probably going to sound better to you, but from the builder side, London cost of life is nuts. I don't think any winders could stay in business here selling at DiMarzio prices!

 

[leonardo7]

OK so I just looked up my Paypal history and I paid 248 GBP to have a set of these sent to California. Today that is $394. That is about what a covered set of BKPs would cost and these are made by a much smaller company. They are around $110 more than a set of Duncan Nazgul/Sentient. It is alot to pay for pickups, but its not too much if they are truly exactly what the customer wants and needs. If these are the most fantastic pickups you have ever had in your Fender strat or your Ibanez RG then you wont feel upset for spending $400 on them. Plus you have to keep in mind that there are 3 companies involved who need to make money on these, and all of whom live in the UK as stated. They are Blackmachine, Feline, and ASL.

 

[technomancer]

OK so I just looked up my Paypal history and I paid 248 GBP to have a set of these sent to California. Today that is $394. That is about what a covered set of BKPs would cost and these are made by a much smaller company. They are around $110 more than a set of Duncan Nazgul/Sentient. It is alot to pay for pickups, but its not too much if they are truly exactly what the customer wants and needs. If these are the most fantastic pickups you have ever had in your Fender strat or your Ibanez RG then you wont feel upset for spending $400 on them. Plus you have to keep in mind that there are 3 companies involved who need to make money on these, and all of whom live in the UK as stated. They are Blackmachine, Feline, and ASL.

Your pricing info needs help, an uncovered Nazgul/Sentient set is less than $200 and uncovered BKP sets are $269 most places if they're not sig models with an artist upcharge. The set of BKP Rebel Yells I just bought for a build were $299. Also since these are uncovered the price of a covered BKP (which is an upcharge) isn't really relevant, the price of an uncovered BKP is.

I don't care what they cost and I actually considered trying a set of these in the build I mentioned above, but if you're going to try to defend pricing on these by quoting prices of other pickups at least get your numbers right

 

[Fretless]

Your pricing info needs help, an uncovered Nazgul/Sentient set is less than $200 and uncovered BKP sets are $269 most places if they're not sig models with an artist upcharge. The set of BKP Rebel Yells I just bought for a build were $299. Also since these are uncovered the price of a covered BKP (which is an upcharge) isn't really relevant, the price of an uncovered BKP is.

I don't care what they cost and I actually considered trying a set of these in the build I mentioned above, but if you're going to try to defend pricing on these by quoting prices of other pickups at least get your numbers right

Got that right. I picked up my pegasus and sentient for ~$70 each. (If I had ben patient I could have probably gotten them for less since my friend has a dealer account I always forget about lol). It may be different over seas, but I know in the USA duncans are pretty darn affordable for what they give.

 

[technomancer]

Got that right. I picked up my pegasus and sentient for ~$70 each. (If I had ben patient I could have probably gotten them for less since my friend has a dealer account I always forget about lol). It may be different over seas, but I know in the USA duncans are pretty darn affordable for what they give.

Yeah I have no problem with the pricing on these and will probably try a set, but bottom line is they're boutique pickups from a small manufacturer so they're expensive, and that's fine. Some people don't want to spend that and that's fine too

 

[leonardo7]

Yeah it does look like the non covered Duncans are cheaper than I had thought. There is so much variation in pricing on ebay with BKPs its ridiculous

 

[Humbuck]

I just sold set of used pickups for $800. May not be worth it to you but to somebody they were. Way of the world.

 

[narad]

Yeah it does look like the non covered Duncans are cheaper than I had thought. There is so much variation in pricing on ebay with BKPs its ridiculous

Ebay isn't a great source for price assessment. You wouldn't believe - some people even try to sell Daemoness guitars for close to twice their new, straight-from-Dylan price on there!

 

[cwhitey2]

I just sold set of used pickups for $800. May not be worth it to you but to somebody they were. Way of the world.

Were they solid gold?

 

[ceiling_fan]

I'm really interested in trying the bridge pickup for high-gain stuff, I haven't had an Alnico pickup sound perfect for it, and the ceramics I've tried (admittedly, not a ton) tend to get a bit shrill. Does this model sound like any other BKP/SD/etc pickup, or is it it's pretty much it's own thing?

 

[Eclipse]

So expensive.