Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Not bad! Not great, but definitely similar to better quality pups found in many imported guitars like Epiphone, Ibanez, Squire, Jackson, etc. These are "sealed" with plastic covers. That's still way more protection than bare pickups. Some manufacturers (Lace, EMG,) prefer plastic covers since they do not affect eddy currents like metal covers. Plastic covers are usually used for active pickups where the low-impedance preamps reduce noise instead of metal shielding. These are passive, not active, but I think the intent is to make these appear to be active like those active pickups that are so popular with metal head distortion fanatics. These are TWO-WIRE pickups, NOT four-wire, so that simplifies wiring, but reduces options for fancy coil-splitting or phase switches. Sound? With 500k ohm pots, a little dark to me, but then I like single coils. With 1meg ohm pots, actually pretty good! They have strong ceramic magnets and cheap thin wire. That combination produces plenty of output to drive a normal preamp, and WAY more than enough to drive today's hyper-sensitive Doctor Distorto amps. The hot ceramic magnets provide the power. The thin wire provides resistance, but since they don't use a ton of expensive copper, these retain enough treble to be decently articulate. Remember: more windings = more resistance. Most people are confused about resistance rating vs power output. The two seem to be correlated, but in fact are not directly correlated. Higher resistance does NOT always indicate a louder pickup, nor does lower resistance guarantee a weak one. The fact is, higher resistance only increases the BASS output, which to untrained ears sounds louder. Since so many amateur bedroom rockers have to play at bedroom levels, that extra low-end seems like a good thing. They are mostly playing one-finger monkey-knuckle power chords on de-tuned strings, so more bass is always desirable to kids or cases of arrested development. Real professionals, (yes, like me, the know-it-all-prick) know that good CLEAR low end comes from real-world volume through real amps and large speaker cabinets. Since I was making real vinyl records before most readers were born, I’m allowed to “pull rank” just a bit here. So please forgive and allow my hubris. You will benefit from it. Nowadays there are many modeling amps, preamps and pedals that imitate that raging four-12" sound, but even still, we know the difference. You always hear it in recordings and You can FEEL it at real-world volumes. So pros add bass in post effects, or from a house mixer... NOT through their amps on stage, and definitely NOT with grungy muddy flabby high-resistance pickups. Please don't believe me. Just listen to Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Van Halen. Some of the heaviest guitar tones ever created came from weak pickups through STRONG amps. The relatively weak pups provide clarity. The amps, cabs, recording techniques and sheer VOLUME provide the low end. Remember: You can always add bass in post without adding significant noise. But any time you add treble EQ to anything, it will add noticeable hiss. Therefore, we are always better off with a quiet pickup that has the inherent high-end frequencies. You can add as much bass as you need with the amps' tone knobs or the mixer's EQ. You can always reduce treble without adding noise. I hope that dispels some myths about pickups' resistance ratings and power relationships, and gives you some insight into the difference between professional rigs and amateur imitations. Unlike one unhappy reviewer here, I did get TWO pickups for this price. They look exactly like the photo. Presumably, one of these is "hotter" than the other for use near the bridge. I could not detect any significant difference between my two. (both around 7.5 k) That's why I tried the 1 meg pot on the neck position, where it had dramatic positive effect on clarity. Mine came slathered in wax, which is normally OK by me, except I think they were just dipped, not vacuum potted. I say that because the bridge pup exhibits some microphonic squeal at very high volumes. The other pickup... no problem. That tells me the QC is not consistent and the wax potting is most likely just a quick dip in common candle wax. Pro-pups are vacuum potted for several minutes in very thin bee’s wax or some proprietary wax-like syrup. I could not give these a five star rating under any circumstance, but at this price I think they earn four stars. That rating is considering value for a price-to-performance benchmark. The fact is, you could buy these just to modify them or learn pickup rewinding. For that matter, these are so cheap, you could buy FOUR of them and pick the two best sounding ones for replacing any pickup that little junior rocker destroyed during his heavy metal bedroom concert. Considering the price... these are great so long as you do not expect too much. If you just need a fast cheap replacement for a busted pup in a beginner’s guitar, these are a great value. If you are looking for the ultimate “sleeper” deal on unknown but truly pro pickups…. sorry. You’ll need to spend more. Amazon won’t allow specific URLs in reviews, so if you would like some concise explanations about pickup ratings and specs here are some resources; Just search for: “Seymour Duncan pickups 101”, Dimarzio FAQ, or StewMac, “how-to” articles and videos on pickups and wiring. I offer those sources mainly to help others and to provide verification of some statements I’ve made here. For the record, I am NOT affiliated with any particular maker of pickups, and I do NOT subscribe the the idea that we must spend a lot to get great tone. I speak from experience and hard won knowledge over decades of pro playing both as a studio musician and relentless touring. These reason I have used so many brands of expensive pickups is simply because it is more convenient to get guaranteed quality from well known makers. I know that most of the major brands’ unit cost comes from the heavy advertising and endorsements they sponsor. Since I have been sponsored at various times by numerous brands, I have tried just about every pickup ( or amp, guitar, pedal) you can think of. That said, I can recommend all the big brands, if you want to pay the tariff. If you need a more budget friendly option for really pro quality pickups, check out Golden Age pups available from StewMac. They are 40% to 60% of the major brands and have always worked well. Caveat, YOU MUST KNOW what you want so you can pick the right pup by its specifications. THAT is why I included those educational resources. If you are unwilling to read, then you will never learn enough to make a sound choice. ( get it? “Sound” choice! ;-) Obviously, if you can tolerate my tedious haughty verbosity, then you have a chance to learn enough about pickups to get good ones for a fair price. ;-)