Why are 85/15 so expensive?

[SinSir]

What is your amp rig like?

Kemper and handful of other amps with too many pedals. I mostly run through the Kemper these days with more profiles than I can load to the toaster.

 

[bodia]

I assume they came out of a guitar...
Why did you sell them?

I had 2 or 3 594s at the time and just wanted something different. I think it was a set of Throbak Peter Green pickups that went in that guitar.

 

[gush]

Because people that want them bad enough will pay that. Heck, it’s cheaper than buying a $4k guitar to get them. Case in point, in 2018 I sold a set of 58/15LT for $750

I think I told this story here before but I started talking with a guy on a BST forum back in 2017.

Got comfortable enough to start talking via text. He had an early set of 8515 pickups out of a CE that he wanted to sell.

He was asking 125.00

We talked about that for a while. I actually told him that asking price was ridiculously low and that he could easily get 3 or 4 times that amount.

He appreciated my honesty but insisted on 125.00. I bought them and that was the set I first put in my McCarty. Still have the set.

He asked if I had any high output PUs for sale. Eventually I returned the favor and sold him a set of M PUs for 125.00.

A few weeks go by and he has another set of 8515 for sale and again wants 125.00. I sent him the money and he went dark on me.

He was a veteran and we talked about that many times and it was obvious to me he was having issues.

I continued to reach out to him for the next 5 years and even reached out to people on his friends list but he was gone????

I don’t really care about the money, I was more concerned that he was getting some help.

I completely exhausted all paths of communication and never heard a word.

Hope the guy is ok.

 

[bodia]

I think I told this story here before but I started talking with a guy on a BST forum back in 2017.

Got comfortable enough to start talking via text. He had an early set of 8515 pickups out of a CE that he wanted to sell.

He was asking 125.00

We talked about that for a while. I actually told him that asking price was ridiculously low and that he could easily get 3 or 4 times that amount.

He appreciated my honesty but insisted on 125.00. I bought them and that was the set I first put in my McCarty. Still have the set.

He asked if I had any high output PUs for sale. Eventually I returned the favor and sold him a set of M PUs for 125.00.

A few weeks go by and he has another set of 8515 for sale and again wants 125.00. I sent him the money and he went dark on me.

He was a veteran and we talked about that many times and it was obvious to me he was having issues.

I continued to reach out to him for the next 5 years and even reached out to people on his friends list but he was gone????

I don’t really care about the money, I was more concerned that he was getting some help.

I completely exhausted all paths of communication and never heard a word.

Hope the guy is ok.

Man, that is such a bummer......

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Yep, and I later found out that it was someone here. Had I known that, I would have dropped the price considerably. It was a couple years later that I found out. It was Casi1. Haven't seen her on here in a couple of years.

Yeah........I often wonder what happened to her. She sold me a black chrome Mann trem probably about that same time.

I blame Howie.

 

[RossF]

Yep, and I later found out that it was someone here. Had I known that, I would have dropped the price considerably. It was a couple years later that I found out. It was Casi1. Haven't seen her on here in a couple of years.

You put her into bankruptcy. ;-)

 

[mixmkr]

Are not the 85/15 an updated version of a "vintage" sound and generally considered an aggressive pickup...IOW slightly higher output suited for higher gain sounds? ...but still nowhere near some active EMT for example.

fwiw...I really like my 85/15 "S" pickups. I've done side by side with lots of guitars and they always come away my favorite. Bright, clean and easy to crunch and give a nice defined dynamic with picking. The coil tap(or split) doesn't drop the volume and is like a 6dB treble boost.

 

[jamjam1]

The coil split on my 85/15 definitely drops the volume.

 

[SinSir]

The coil split on my 85/15 definitely drops the volume.

It also depends on how it's wired, with or without resistors.

 

[GGJJGG]

I had 2 or 3 594s at the time and just wanted something different. I think it was a set of Throbak Peter Green pickups that went in that guitar.

How did you like the Throbaks?

 

[Monahan]

With the "s" import models selling for less than $100 for a set, the 85/15 seem to easily approach $500 a set. In general, I'm not even really seeing other manufacturers pickups so expensive.

Here's something that might cook your noodle-- direct from the Gibson website:

Gibson '59 Humbucker Collector's Edition

"The most accurate recreations of the Legendary Patent Applied For humbucker pickups ever made" ~Gibson website description.

Would love to have watched Paul's reaction to this one LOL!

 

[mixmkr]

Except you're tacking on the majority of the price because Gibson is *recreating* their own product. Not some guy named Smith, whose vision of what they were.
Kinda like the increased pricing on Murphy Lab and Fender custom shop. Of course PRS has their own visions to increase the price of their core guitars.
Obviously very interested markets in all of that. Christie's auctions make it all seem like pennies.

EDIT: all the while, what I spend on my dawgs could probably buy me a brand new core a couple times a year. Meanwhile my 2020 SE 24 Standard I bought for $350 is probably my favorite guitar at the moment over all my other name brands. I'm a happy boy. ;-)

 

[bodia]

How did you like the Throbaks?

They fantastic! Pricey though