Shopping Quandry

[marnold]

OK, here's my quandry. I would really prefer to buy the pickups I want to get for my Floyd from a certain local shop. Unlike a couple of the local stores, the owner seems to give a rats and has never treated me like I was wasting his time by browsing. I bought my AD30VT from him. His price was the same as MF's and his shop is a Vox authorized repair place. Seemed like a no-brainer.

My problem is that I'm not sure they can get the Lace pups in. He got prices on Dimarzio Area 61s for me (he doesn't normally stock Dimarzio--they do much more Duncan business). The price he quoted was $75 plus tax. With my 10% coupon from MF, I can get them for $63 sans tax or shipping. If I go through him the two pups will cost me $158.25. If I go through MF, they will be $126. $32.25 (20%) is nothing to sneeze at. The basic issue is this: do I support the local guy who has been good to me but pay through the nose when I don't have money to spare? Or do I go through MF, save the $$, but support a company that could care less?

I suppose I could "pretend" that I don't have the coupon. Then the difference would be $18.25 or $6 per pickup plus tax. Still, I could get the Lace Hot Gold SSD set with all three pickups for only about $15 more than that shipped. Sigh. Thoughts?

[Robert]

Support your local guy. I'll tell on you if you don't. ;)

[Spudman]

Do whatever you think best. There is always confessional. :D

You might ask the local guy if you pay for them up front if he can get you a better deal. Most any music store can get you those pickups.

Whether or not they can get them at a price you like is a different issue. Sometimes they might have to go through a distributor they don't normally order through and to get a good wholesale price from them they might have to purchase a large quantity of products to get their margin big enough to make any money. This might not be an easy thing for a small shop to do especially if they don't need any other merchandise right now.

[oldguy]

Go with the people who give a sh!t about the customer, unless, of course, you can use the link here to get TheFret credit for your purchase. Then it's a toss up. We care, too, y'know??:D

[wingsdad]

I'd go with whoever will be there for you with a friendly & helpful attitude if something's not right about the pups after they go in your axe and you need some troubleshooting, or exchange a (rare) defective piece. It's worth more than $32. Funny thing about the local indy stores. They have a way of repaying customer loyalty.

[marnold]

Whether or not they can get them at a price you like is a different issue. Sometimes they might have to go through a distributor they don't normally order through and to get a good wholesale price from them they might have to purchase a large quantity of products to get their margin big enough to make any money. This might not be an easy thing for a small shop to do especially if they don't need any other merchandise right now.
That's the thing. This is basically a special order. His price on a Duncan Screamin' Demon is actually better than MF's but he normally doesn't carry Dimarzio. As a matter of fact, his catalog was so old that it didn't even have the Area 58/61s in it. He had go wait until Dimarzio sent him a new one and a price list. I think if I wanted to go with the Laces, I'd have no option. The last time I was in there the owner's kid was in there. He wasn't sure if they could order Lace. Clearly they don't do it often. I'm sure they wouldn't come close to Aamp's prices on those.

[Lev]

I had the same decision to make with my last guitar and decided to go with the local guy just for piece of mind and service. Maybe he can do a deal with you on fitting the PUP's too? Unless you want to get your hands dirty yourself.