Iconix Pickups -- check em out

[Frogman]

Iconix Pickups

http://www.iconixpickups.com/

I read a post from a forum member about this guy and it really intrigued me.


He is a super nice guy, very helpful, and is winding me a custom dogear P90 for only $60 plus shipping.

Here's the orignal post that piqued my interest:

I was considering a BKP set for a build I'm ALMOST done with, but I decided to take a chance on a guy in Michigan. Don Smith at Iconix pickups. Seriously great stuff. He did an absolute custom set for me and nailed the tones exactly. When I e-mailed him with what I thought was all the info he needed, he still replied with more questions and asked for links to vids or songs that contained the tones I wanted. Coincidentally, he brought out a set very similar to my custom order(18k instead of 17k everything else the same, double screw poles etc) about a week after he had shipped mine out. He did the set for $110. Yeah. Uh huh. Pennies.

The bridge is only slightly less tight than an EMG 81 and has a really thick character to it. It's not dark, just has a whole lot of meat on the bones but doesn't sound unbalanced. It's hard to describe I guess. Pinches are freakin amazing and palm mutes have authority without getting muddy. The 81 has a plinky character to palm mutes that sits well with metal, but it is kind of *****y. None of that here. Compared to a BKP Miracle Man, it has more mids, is just as tight and is much more open and much less nasal.
The neck is the most perfect neck sound I have ever heard. In my opinion of course. I like a very chimey, but lean neck pup. Something that can do Michael Amott lead tones. What he wound for me exceeded my expectations. I had planned to only put the bridge pup in, but when I heard the neck in a donor guitar it was settled. It has all the characteristics I liked about the BKP Cold Sweat, but it doesn't sound as weak. Tapping on it is heaven that I haven't ever heard before. Sort of a slightly stingy, bell-like tone. It actually made me slow down my melodies so I could hear the attack and the ring of them. It has some compression to the sound, but it's not stifling. It's perfect for me.

And they are silent. No noise issues whatsoever. Quieter than my 81/85 sets. No cool pup covers though. I had to get my own. The BKP Camo finish is just a forced patina on bare nickel anyways. Anyone can do it. Their black covers are spray paint and chip off really really badly. It's a shame to see a well made pup get dressed in crap. They are great pups, even if the price rakes you over the coals.

All of my statements are based on running a drop B guitar through a 5150 and playing metal somewhere between melodic death, folk metal, thrash and just plain heavy riffage like SepticFlesh and Meshuggah.

I suggest you check him out.

[Fusion1]

What kind of custom Dog Eared P-90 are you having him wind you?

I just asked if he can shoehorn a 17k high gain humbucker version under a Dog Eared P-90 cover and mounted on a tradititonal dog eared baseplate with 12 hex poles or dual blades like a X2N. We shall see what response I get from him.

[Fusion1]

Emaiuled the guy back and forth and he seems sketchy at best with vague answers and no specific answers to my questions. His website seems barebones and little to no pictures of his work. The videos and sound clips quality has much to be desired and the quality of the pickups is still questionable after hearing them. Nothing that would make me want to spend $70 for his work.

ps. that message you pasted in the OP was also listed on his "testimonials page" on the website. Not sure if that's a good thing if that's only one of the few testimonials he chose to add to his own page.

[Fusion1]

Well it must have been a misunderstanding on both our parts as he gave a much more detailed email this time. The short answers I was getting was making me leery, but he seems to know what he is doing enough for me to comission him to make me 2 pickups. Now just waiting on price and lead time to build these.

[Frogman]

What kind of custom Dog Eared P-90 are you having him wind you?

I just asked if he can shoehorn a 17k high gain humbucker version under a Dog Eared P-90 cover and mounted on a tradititonal dog eared baseplate with 12 hex poles or dual blades like a X2N. We shall see what response I get from him.

Basically something very similar to a Bare Knuckle 'Pig 90.
45g wire, ~22k.

Well it must have been a misunderstanding on both our parts as he gave a much more detailed email this time. The short answers I was getting was making me leery, but he seems to know what he is doing enough for me to comission him to make me 2 pickups. Now just waiting on price and lead time to build these.

That sounds more like it. He's been real helpful and detailed with me.


And you can't beat the price either.

[Fusion1]

Well he quoted me $70 for each pickup + shipping and I was ok with that and then asked for him to send an invoice. He said he did but nothing ever showed up in my paypal. He just told me to send a paypal payment to his email address, but I'd rather have an invoice in case things go south and being still a little leery with the type of shoddy email communication it is understandable. Well 3 days later I haven't heard from the guy after I sent 2 requests for him to send a paypal invoice I would gladly pay. His lack of communicastion now is making me question any kind of trust I would put in him after he gets my money and then I wait to see if I get screwed.