Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: willo on November 23, 2005, 02:27:51 PM
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Hi guys, I have an interesting question. I know that I feel somewhat 'proud' to be using British-made pickups (being a Brit), particularly when you consider the dominance of american made products. I was wondering what other people think about this issue? Do American forumites feel a sense of national pride to play American products, even when they are increasingly common everywhere? And if given the choice between a cheaper, foreign model and a slightly more expensive, but comparable quality, home-made model, where would your preference lie? Pay a little extra for the british model?
All contributions welcome! :wink:
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Well, lets pretend bkp and dimarzio make the exact same pickups, I would buy the cheaper option. Pickups are so expensive in this country, americans pay less than half the price we pay for dimarzio, duncan, emg, etc. Sucks. It costs less than £50 to buy and have shipped a dimarzio pickup from the us to the uk, and if they were as good, I would use them, cause bkps are nearly £100 a go. I know that they are great quality coupled with great service, but when you see guys making and selling them for £30/£40 each(and are apparently very good), it makes you wonder.
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I'm with you on this one. One of the reasons I got a Cornford was because they're British. I ordered my 1st pair of BK's earlier this week because they're British. I've used Dean Markley strings for years but have just ordered my 1st job lot of Rotosounds.
I was always this way inclined but earlier this year my job moved to the Philippines. Since then if I can keep the money in this country that's what I'll do. Don't want other people jobs going off shore too. :)
I had a Gordon Smith GS-2 but didn't like it so sold it...and brought an Epiphone Sheraton. Did I just contradict myself?
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Though my pickups and amps are British, my main guitars are both American for the most part.
That said, nationality bears no factor on wether I'd buy something. Well, not in the sense of national pride. But "made in the UK" does instill a sense of confidence in a product that you wouldn't get from "made in Korea" or something. If I wasn't in the UK, I'd still consider "made in the UK" to be a good thing.
But at the end of the day, hearing knows no borders. :wink:
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:D The truth is you buy what you can afford. i`m happy to buy British if it`s what i`m after. The more british companys there are the better the choice & hopfully the better the product will then have to become.
:D 8)
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But at the end of the day, hearing knows no borders. :wink:
agreed! my set up is a mish mash of translatlantic and far east stuff.
But I suppose, what I'm trying to say, is does nationatlity influence your decision in any way? If you were dutch, would you rather buy Koch then Mesa? Or any other nationality and brand...you get the drift.
I'm wondering, on a personal level, simply because it saddens me a little when I look at my pedal board...I guess I would like more british pedals on there. But then, there aren't very many british pedal manufacturers around...and part of that may be down to consumers spending money on foreign-made goods. :?
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i play a japanese guitar, and i'm going to buy a german amp
what does that tell you?
i want to play the best, where it's built be damned
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If there's no trade off in quality I'll buy everything British, yet it just so happens that buying British made BKP's are better quality than anything else on the market - so I win either way!
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I tend to buy British where I can, but only if I am not getting a bag of sh*t. If I don't buy British then its normally German although I tend to buy the best I can afford with most things. The best components of my HiFi are made in the UK, but I bought them because they are good products first and foremost.
I think the feeling is replicated in the US where they've only recently had a decline in their manufacturing industry, well certainly not to the extent the UK has suffered. From what I understand lots of their industries are moving to Mexico. Unfortunately I think that the UK is best at making luxury goods rather than mass market products - look at the car market for an example where most of the mass market cars are no longer made in the UK. Japanese products were at one time looked upon as cheap goods, but now they are high end goods.
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Not bothered where it comes from - I'll source the best sounding gear from wherever. What bothers me is when you buy something flagged as American or British and half of it is made abroad.....Ashdown, Fender, Gibson to name three I know about....
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The fact that BKP's are a small firm, making quality products with care & precision, that actually give a toss about the customer, and more importantly, offer their product at a reasonable price makes me a proud user of their products.
The fact that they are a bunch of Tone-Hounds is a credit to them (and a beneftit to us!), and their products allow the rest of us to share in their Tone-Quest.
Now, what else can I put a set of BKP's in? ;)
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I'm prolly the odd one out here. I'm originally Australian, and I got to a point when living there where I would often be happier avoiding Australian-made products. They were rarely as good as the imports and were much dearer. Plus the government taxed imports enormous amounts so that Australian stuff would be competitive price-wise. Something about that just bugged me.
But being a Canadian of some kind now I'm happy to buy Canadian products if I can find them. Unfortunately, there isn't much that's made here, except snow.
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Unfortunately, there isn't much that's made here, except snow.
Godin? I've been eyeing one of their guitars up for a while now...
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Unfortunately, there isn't much that's made here, except snow.
Godin? I've been eyeing one of their guitars up for a while now...
Actually, if we talk acoustic guitars there are a few here that are pretty good. I have a Larrivee (http://www.larrivee.com/) myself. Plus, on the other side of the country is a little amp building workshop (Kingsley Amps (http://www.kingsleyamplifiers.com/)) that makes some awesome stuff that I can't afford. :? :wink:
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To bad there aren't many Australian cars on the European roads. At least the UK gets the Monaro. I'd like to see more Monaros, Falcon XR8's etc. Big V8 engines, decent handling and a fair price tag.
It's a bit off topic, sorry, I couldn't help myself.
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the netherlands has some quality "national produce"...
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the netherlands has some quality "national produce"...
Our biggest export product (XTC). Not something to be proud of, I'm afraid.
The grass is great tho. (haven't smoked it in years, btw)
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If i could afford it, everything i owned would be British and Hand Made. However, its not always the most economical (or sensible) way to spend your money. Hence japanese guitar, american pre-amp, british amplifier :lol:
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To bad there aren't many Australian cars on the European roads. At least the UK gets the Monaro. I'd like to see more Monaros, Falcon XR8's etc. Big V8 engines, decent handling and a fair price tag.
Yeah but can you imagine how much it would cost to run with petrol prices over here! The Aussies get cheap fuel hence big engines. I'd like to see more HSV's over here mind.
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I like to try and keep my money in Europe at least. Warwick amps and basses, EBS sweedish effects...Our pickups of course! But if something sounds good and it's american I'd buy it.
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EBS sweedish effects...
did they become Carl Martin? its just the paintwork looks very similar :?
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Nope, they make bass effects.
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Nope, they make bass effects.
oh right, my mistake. I just came across an old Guitarist magazine a while back, and thought the pedals looked familiar - wondered whether the company had changed names.
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Just seen some of the CM's. they are pretty simular looking!
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I've just had a thought occur to me, the same sort of thing happens with beers. America being the Japan of beers I think, for years assosciated with utter shitee (Crudweiser, joke of beers) then coming along with some real winners in the form of microbreweries. I like stuff from all over, but I do take satisfaction to some degree if I rally enjoy a home grown product. Although a lot of what I drink's Irish, they know how to get ya pissed!
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Beer's a funny one as where ever you go everyone thinks imported beer should be better than home grown. In the US Heineken is a premium imported beer but Budweiser is seen a cheap rubbish. But perhaps people in the US are just strange - they have draft Newcastle Brown and I once went to a "Scottish" restaurant in Cincinnati where they served the "traditional" Scottish starter "burnt toast".
Even more crazy, there's an Irish pub in Chicago with a plaque on the wall saying that it was actually built in Ireland but taken apart and shipped over there and rebuilt. (Wonder if this is the same as certain amp companies do - get the components made in China then ship the bit to the UK where they put them in a box and stamp it made in UK?)
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I'm the least nationalist/patriotic person on the planet -- or in the running for that spot, at least! I don't even like the idea of nation-states :). I buy and use stuff because I like it, or think I'll like it, and (importantly) can afford it, and for no other reasons. Value for money is king! OK ... if I had a personal friend or family member making stuff, I would probably at least try theirs before anything else.
That said, all my kit is made on Planet Earth by humans, and it's gonna stay that way until aliens bring me something better ;)
Same goes for beer :)
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I try to buy British even if there's a slight premium on price. The commercial advantage American manufacturers have enjoyed for years is down to them having a massive, largely nationalistic (or should I say loyal), domestic market. And that's where the marketing budget comes from.
This dominance, particularly in the guitar market, has made the big manufacturers into "household names" with a marketing image that's hard to contend with. Many people will go for the product with the well known name even when a far superior lesser known product is staring them in the face.
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One other reason I try to buy local (in my case British) is for environmental reasons. Why buy a Mesa cab with celestions? The speakers have been made in the UK then shipped to the US only to be shipped back here again.
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The Aussies get cheap fuel hence big engines.
Not to derail the thread or anything, but fuel recently was up to $4.94 US per gallon in Melbourne, Australia. Tell me how that's cheap.
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Check what we pay, check exchange rates, and be glad you aint gotta fill up here. :wink:
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i´M pROUD TO HAVE SOMETHING THAT WAS made by a person/company with good intentions, high quality,fair prices, and no poserism or bad attittude.
regardless of country or etc.
also.. :lol: ahahah I´m proud to be fromthe samestate/province from one of the greatest brazilian poets(don´t know if you know him outside brazil) called AUGUSTO DOS ANJOS.
he has just one book of poetry called "EU" or "I" in english
check it if you can.. i don´t know if it´s translated to english
but it worth a checkin
Q:)
$%&#ING HAILS
J.P
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Best possible tone from anywhere that is. :)
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I love the fact that BKP's are British, I try and buy Brit stuff unless its manufacturing has involved too many Northerners.... just jokeing :lol:
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my buying of locally produced products isn't to do with flag waving or any of that rubbish. its about making sure the employment stays with this country, or certainly making sure that people who make the products get paid a decent amount. making products abroad is more to do with saving costs, which in the case of guitar equipment means cutting corners.
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The amount of ethnocentrism going on in the US right now kind of makes me sick. I personally don't believe USA made guitars are always the best, and don't hesitate to buy Japanese, Korean, etc... Whoever makes the best product gets my money.
I think USA Fenders are a pretty good deal (under a grand for a killer guitar). Pickup-wise, we do get stuff pretty cheap. However, I want BKs, and they're sure as hell not cheap :)
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I think USA Fenders are a pretty good deal (under a grand for a killer guitar).:)
The Strat may have been instrumental (no pun intended) in kicking off the the solid electric revolution but you have to see it for what it is. Following the car analogy, the Strat is like the Model T Ford, it was designed to be machine made and assembled by semi-skilled labour, it was even painted with car paint in the early days. Although a lot of tweaks have been made over the years it is still the fairly crude product of a guy who was essentially a radio repair man. Now I don't want all you Strat fans to get all shitety and defensive because I TOTALLY acknowledge the fantastic impact Leo Fender had on the music biz and respect the position the Strat has in musical history but it really is time to move on!
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I am not sure I agree with the Model T analogy old chap. I'd have said one of those 1950's Cadillacs.
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I am not sure I agree with the Model T analogy old chap. I'd have said one of those 1950's Cadillacs.
The Gibson Explorer was inspired by 1950's Cadillacs and Chevys. The rear of an Explorer follows the exact same line as the tailfin of a 1957 Bel Air, if you remove the chrome fittings.
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I think USA Fenders are a pretty good deal (under a grand for a killer guitar).:)
The Strat may have been instrumental (no pun intended) in kicking off the the solid electric revolution but you have to see it for what it is. Following the car analogy, the Strat is like the Model T Ford, it was designed to be machine made and assembled by semi-skilled labour, it was even painted with car paint in the early days. Although a lot of tweaks have been made over the years it is still the fairly crude product of a guy who was essentially a radio repair man. Now I don't want all you Strat fans to get all shitety and defensive because I TOTALLY acknowledge the fantastic impact Leo Fender had on the music biz and respect the position the Strat has in musical history but it really is time to move on!
Out of interest what do you play?
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Others have compared the Strat to a VW Beetle.
An easy to manufacture, mass produced instrument for the masses that is easy in maintanance and easy to modify to your personal specs. (And it still isn't outdated)
The crucial difference why I won't go with the Model T comparison, is that the Strat was made with the customers wishes in mind.
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Dead right Ratty, I forgot that you are the man when it comes to cars. The Tele is a bit utilitarianbut nevertheless I love em almost as much as Strats.
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The Strat (1954) is actually derived from the original P-bass(1951), the double cut away design was introduced to balance the guitar better.
It may be simple. But simple is best. Im not shure they were all painted with car paint, just the same colour chart.
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Mr Siminoff, who wrote a book about building guitars, actually suggests car paint for solid guitar colors. And why not, it's very tough so it resonates with the body instead of dampening it.
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Mr Siminoff, who wrote a book about building guitars, actually suggests car paint for solid guitar colors. And why not, it's very tough so it resonates with the body instead of dampening it.
I'll remember that next time i'm about to pay $200+ on paint for a warmoth body - garage down the road sells car paint for like £10 a can :lol:
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I really don't care where it came from, but I do have brand loyalty. If it was made in eastern mongolia and it sounds good, I'll use it.
It is nice to be able to support a boutique british buisness like bareknuckle though, but if they were made in the US, I'd still buy them.
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Bareknuckles being British pickups is just a bonus to me. I'd buy them because they're great pickups. What with them being made in Britain means less postage and such, and obviously pride :) I tried to order British walnut for my double neck build too, but they didn't have any left so I had to settle for USA walnut :cry: