Pickup installation cost - is this too much?

[SomeguyUK]

Hi,

I'm getting BKP's installed in my Les Paul, and the shop have given me a quote of £80 for labour. This includes installing up the pickups (with coil tap), setting up the guitar, and also installing a new pickup selector switch.

Does £80 seem steep to anyone else?? They originally told me they would install pickups for £20. I don't believe that the cost of setting up the guitar and putting in a new pickup selector switch should cost another £60, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm in central London, so maybe they charge more here.

Any thoughts? The shop also told me they would do me a deal on installation if I bought the pickups through them, so this is supposed to be a discounted rate!!

[gwEm]

Who quoted you this price? Seems a bit high (semi-acoustics are a bit of a sod to do, so would be a lot higher, but not an LP).. unless it includes new strings and a setup etc??

Feline Guitars charge pretty reasonable labour of 40 pounds an hour, and their work is impeccable. They are based in Croydon, so easy to get to.

Edit: just saw it does include a setup, and also those switches are surprisingly expensive. Might not be so bad in fact.. I still recommend contacting Feline for a second quote though.

[juansolo]

What he said ^

I had typed more, but he said it better.

[gwEm]

* I've never paid to have a guitar set up. You could grab a book on guitar maintenance as I did and learn to do it yourself if you liked. You'll also need a few tools and bits and bobs.

This is true, but when speaking to a good luthier/repairer, its amazing how many little tips they have that are not common knowledge.

Juan: edit confusion :lol: ;)

[SomeguyUK]

Just to clarify, I am paying for the switch + new pots in addition to this cost. So the £80 is just for labour. Yes it does include a setup as well.

[gwEm]

Just to clarify, I am paying for the switch + new pots in addition to this cost. So the £80 is just for labour. Yes it does include a setup as well.

So thats 80 pounds labour to redo basically all the electronics, and do a setup.

45 -> 60 is the going rate for a proper setup. 20 or 30 quid extra for the electronics work doesn't seem too bad to me..

alot of us here like to do the electronics of our guitars ourselves, and basic maintenance. But this is your precious Les Paul.. ;)

[SomeguyUK]

Yeah well I wanted to get it looked at by a pro anyway. I am usually pretty good with adjusting intonation etc, but the guitar has developed a buzz I can't get rid of, so I'm thinking there might be something wrong with the nut/frets. I know nothing about electronics, so I don't really fancy trying to install the pickups myself.

Ok seems like that might not be a bad price then. I definitely don't think they are giving me any kind of 'deal' on labour costs though.


Well, luckily for me I work near Denmark street, where all the guitar shops are. So maybe I will go down there tomorrow and see what other prices I get quoted. I've seen good things about Feline on this forum, but Croydon is a bit of a trek for me :/

[gwEm]

Try and go to someone with some kind of "rep" anyway.. We get a few stories on here about bad techs!  :D

[juansolo]

* I've never paid to have a guitar set up. You could grab a book on guitar maintenance as I did and learn to do it yourself if you liked. You'll also need a few tools and bits and bobs.

This is true, but when speaking to a good luthier/repairer, its amazing how many little tips they have that are not common knowledge.

Juan: edit confusion :lol: ;)

Sorry about that, I preferred your reply ;)

[FELINEGUITARS]

Why not give us a call
Were only about 20 mins from central London
Croydon is served by trains from Victoria , London Bridge and Kings Cross

We stock BKPs, CTS pots , push pulls , toggle switches etc and keep lots of guitars fitted with BKPs in stock (our own make of course)

We always offer a thorough health check free of charge on all guitars.
Many of the forum users have had work done here and some have got guitars we've built.

We take a very friendly customer focussed approach and our work is to a very high standard.

[38thBeatle]

Many of us hear would readily vouch for Jonathan and Feline- very highly recommended.

[Afghan Dave]

Many of us hear would readily vouch for Jonathan and Feline- very highly recommended.

Ditto! A great guy, doing great work.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Wouldn't cost me more than $60 to get that done, so I don't know about that quote.

[WezV]

it all depends what they mean by 'set-up', and it depends on their reputation and experience

if that is a full set-up including a little nut work and minor fret work from someone good then £80 could seem like you are getting a free wiring job.


anyway,  the guy quoted £20 - which i think may have actually been £20 per pickup.  wiring the switch  is uusally more connections than wiring a pickup so say £20 again, maybe a little extra for the coil tap.  you can see how these things start to add up.

 

i tend to do it based on actual work, so it might be £20 for the first pickup and £10 for subsequent ones.  half the work in a simple swap is getting the guitar ready and putting it all back together - and you only do that once no matter how many pickups you install.  and the set-up would be reduced rate so you were not paying twice for some jobs that only happen once - things like restringing

[SomeguyUK]

Sadly Croydon is a bit out of the way for me, especially when I work 10 minutes away from a bunch of music shops.

The general consensus seems to be that it is an ok price. Since my original post, I had another look at their website..it quotes £45 for a setup, £20 for installation of a pickup, and £15 for switch installation. So I guess £80 is not bad.

Thanks all for your help.