Wilkinson Pickups - wide difference in prices

[Grangur]

Right now I have a bass in my possession. It sounds amazing. I'd love to buy it from the owner, but it would be rude to ask; he loves it too.

As we all know, the wood and the thickness of the neck do absolutely nothing to add to the tone. The strings are the same as I already use on my basses. The pickup is a Wilkinson. I don't know the actual one, but I'm guessing.

So with that I went to look at prices:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-WPB-AlNiCo-V-Bass-Pickups-for-PB-type-guitars-Precision-/122085873533?hash=item1c6ce2977d:g:Wq8AAOxyiSlSUYv2

http://www.jhs.co.uk/brands/wilkinson/wilkinson-alnico-v-bass-pickup-pair

Here you'll see there's a massive difference in the prices. Does the gathered BC community think they're the same?

[Marvin]

It's difficult to say from the photos. The ones on ebay look like they have a shinny casing, the others textured.
Saying that, i would assume they're the same. £37.99 is the RRP and JHS are the distributor for Wilkinson so will quote the RRP

[miles'tone]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/122142979468?_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=20150313114020&meid=18a7176dd0bc4a1c9c4e7695b147671e&pid=100338&rk=1&rkt=15&sd=371675355411&_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_mwBanner=1

These look the same as the JHS website and a lot cheaper!
I think they're the same just this one has the logo printed, the other has a chrome logo stuck on.
I had the chrome logo jazz pups on a Vintage fretless. Sounded really good.
I picked the logo sticker off though.

[Dood]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1474800997' post='3140563']

Saying that, i would assume they're the same. £37.99 is the RRP and JHS are the distributor for Wilkinson so will quote the RRP
[/quote]

Yup very likely to be what's causing the price difference.

Recently I bought a product shipped from Germany that was cheaper than the quote I got from the UK distributor (yup sans shop mark up) So in a U.K. shop that item would be very expensive in comparison. It's not the fault of the distributor though - and a situation that will probably only get worse post EU exit. (Slow clap but that's a discussion for elsewhere..)

[Thunderbird]

If you look on the JHS website there are 2 different sorts of P pup one is slightly hotter than the other and is a few quid more

[Grangur]

But Vanson Guitars sell 2 types as well.

They sell the

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-WPB-AlNiCo-V-Bass-Pickups-PB-type-guitars-Precision-/122085873533?hash=item1c6ce2977d"]NEW Wilkinson WPB AlNiCo V Bass Pickups for PB[/url] at £22.95

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-MWPB-Bass-Guitar-Pickups-PB-type-guitars-Precision-/122142979468?hash=item1c7049f58c"]NEW Wilkinson MWPB Bass Guitar Pickups for 'PB' type guitars[/url] at £15.90


JHS have
[url="http://www.jhs.co.uk/brands/wilkinson/wilkinson-alnico-v-bass-pickup-pair"]http://www.jhs.co.uk...ass-pickup-pair[/url] - £37 WILKINSON ALNICO V BASS PICKUP - PAIR
[url="http://www.jhs.co.uk/brands/wilkinson/wilkinson-p-style-active-bass-pickup-pair"]http://www.jhs.co.uk...ass-pickup-pair[/url] - £28 WILKINSON P-STYLE ACTIVE BASS PICKUP - PAIR

It seems to me the Alnico ones are probably the same. The MWPB don't seem to be on the JHS site, they're also on Amazon as "not currently available", so maybe they're old stock.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Grangur

[NancyJohnson]

I was looking back through my eBay purchases trying to see which one it was...I honestly don't think I paid more than £20 for the pickup. The one thing I did seem to do correct was ensure I got the right pots and cap.

Incidentally, I do have an identical Wilkinson pickup in a Sunn Mustang body (essentially a Fender licensed clone made in India). I just need to procure a loaded neck for it.