warwickhunt Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) Just happened to be looking on eBay for a new pot for a Warwick bass of mine which is a bit scratchy, nothing major but I thought I'd replace it as a matter of course rather than waste money on a contact cleaner... or at least I thought I would till I saw the price of the chuffin push/pull vol pot for a Warwick! £70 (yes that is seven zero) on ebay so I thought that was a laugh and went to the Warwick shop site expecting to pay £5-£10; NOPE the pots are 76.90Euro +P&P! Is it just me thought a pot would be single figure amounts or am I the only one that has bought a pot in 25 years? Edited February 8, 2011 by warwickhunt Quote
mart Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 Some of the MEC parts prices are insane. I found some cheap pots (inc push/pull) on Thomann - EMG if I remember rightly, and under £10. No probs with them so far. Quote
mep Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 That's crazy money. I paid less than a tenner for a new volume pot for my Stingray from Strings & Things and that included postage! Quote
warwickhunt Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 [quote name='mart' post='1120522' date='Feb 8 2011, 08:03 PM']Some of the MEC parts prices are insane. I found some cheap pots (inc push/pull) on Thomann - EMG if I remember rightly, and under £10. No probs with them so far.[/quote] [quote name='mep' post='1120599' date='Feb 8 2011, 08:38 PM']That's crazy money. I paid less than a tenner for a new volume pot for my Stingray from Strings & Things and that included postage![/quote] That's what I thought. However, does explain why a new Warwick is so expensive! Quote
lemmywinks Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 I got one from Promenade Music a while ago, about £10-£15 for a proper one from Warwick. I'd give them a shout. If it's still so expensive then mention it on the Warwick forums, £70 for a pot is beyond belief! Quote
amnesia Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 Every step in the chain from manufacture to retailer will probably double the cost. £1 from the manufacturer could easily get to £30 or £40 before you can find a retail outlet to sell it to you. Looking at the prices 'direct' from Warwick they have obviously gone through several distribution stages - Manufacturer - distributor - MEC - Warwick at the least I would imagine. Quote
warwickhunt Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 [quote name='amnesia' post='1120689' date='Feb 8 2011, 09:49 PM']Every step in the chain from manufacture to retailer will probably double the cost. £1 from the manufacturer could easily get to £30 or £40 before you can find a retail outlet to sell it to you. Looking at the prices 'direct' from Warwick they have obviously gone through several distribution stages - Manufacturer - distributor - MEC - Warwick at the least I would imagine.[/quote] True but then again the guy who owns Warwick owns MEC... go figure! Quote
lemmywinks Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 The story i was told was that MEC were Warwick's in house take on EMG after they didn't want to pay EMG's prices, have no idea if it's true or not. Also everybody else seems to keep prices down, i really can't think of a reason why they're £70 apart from greed. Seriously, i reckon bringing it up on their forum might get you somewhere (a free pot?), especially as you've owned every bass they've ever made at some point. Quote
warwickhunt Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) [quote name='lemmywinks' post='1120760' date='Feb 8 2011, 10:35 PM']The story i was told was that MEC were Warwick's in house take on EMG after they didn't want to pay EMG's prices, have no idea if it's true or not. Also everybody else seems to keep prices down, i really can't think of a reason why they're £70 apart from greed. Seriously, i reckon bringing it up on their forum might get you somewhere (a free pot?), [u]especially as you've owned every bass they've ever made at some point.[/u][/quote] Now that 'is' an exaggeration... still after a Star Bass! I've asked the question over on the Wick forum but there is no definitive answer as I can see no justification for a part costing x7 what a comparative generic part costs. <edit> It is a commonly told story/explanation re. the EMG/MEC/Spector story and anecdotal evidence would point to the fact that it makes perfect sense. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to search for who owns (is director) of each company (Warwick/MEC). Nothing wrong with that as it makes perfect business sense that they are one and the same. Edited February 8, 2011 by warwickhunt Quote
bumnote Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 Try [url="http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm"]http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm[/url] Quote
mcnach Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 [quote name='warwickhunt' post='1120468' date='Feb 8 2011, 07:21 PM']Just happened to be looking on eBay for a new pot for a Warwick bass of mine which is a bit scratchy, nothing major but I thought I'd replace it as a matter of course rather than waste money on a contact cleaner... or at least I thought I would till I saw the price of the chuffin push/pull vol pot for a Warwick! £70 (yes that is seven zero) on ebay so I thought that was a laugh and went to the Warwick shop site expecting to pay £5-£10; NOPE the pots are 76.90Euro +P&P! Is it just me thought a pot would be single figure amounts or am I the only one that has bought a pot in 25 years? [/quote] eh?? do you have the details of the pot you need? As it turns out I bought a couple of push/pull pots for a project, and got the MEC ones from the Warwick store... then only used one. They were expensive... and they're very good, but they cost me about £25 not £70!!! That was only a couple of years ago. If you want I'll check the one I have for specs and let you know, and we could make a deal, way cheaper than £70! Quote
mcnach Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 Actually, I checked and it may not be what you're after... The one I have is a push/pull *AND* stacked dual pot. Linear 100Kohm/100Kohm, MEC part #84110 Quote
warwickhunt Posted February 9, 2011 Author Posted February 9, 2011 [quote name='bumnote' post='1120854' date='Feb 9 2011, 12:06 AM']Try [url="http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm"]http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm[/url][/quote] That's what I expected to pay! [quote name='mcnach' post='1120882' date='Feb 9 2011, 01:08 AM']eh?? do you have the details of the pot you need? As it turns out I bought a couple of push/pull pots for a project, and got the MEC ones from the Warwick store... then only used one. They were expensive... and they're very good, but they cost me about £25 not £70!!! That was only a couple of years ago. If you want I'll check the one I have for specs and let you know, and we could make a deal, way cheaper than £70![/quote] Many thanks for the offer, I'm not desperate to replace the pot, I could probably sort it with contact cleaner but thought that if a replacement pot was a fiver I may as well just replace the pot. I was more shocked at the cost of a replacement genuine MEC part than anything, especially as the Warwick shop have been pretty reasonable for parts in the past (other than replacement preamps). The stacked pot is likely a Pan/Vol or B/T pot as opposed to a Vol but thanks for the offer. Quote
mcnach Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 [quote name='warwickhunt' post='1120925' date='Feb 9 2011, 07:38 AM']That's what I expected to pay! Many thanks for the offer, I'm not desperate to replace the pot, I could probably sort it with contact cleaner but thought that if a replacement pot was a fiver I may as well just replace the pot. I was more shocked at the cost of a replacement genuine MEC part than anything, especially as the Warwick shop have been pretty reasonable for parts in the past (other than replacement preamps). The stacked pot is likely a Pan/Vol or B/T pot as opposed to a Vol but thanks for the offer. [/quote] No problem. Just sitting there doing nothing. I can't even remember what I meant it for... the other one was in a bass I sold already and I had changed the wiring on that one a few times... If they charge £70 for a pot now... how much is a preamp??? a while ago when I thought my Corvette $$ preamp was faulty I contacted them about getting another one, and they quoted £120. Has that gone up too?? They're not even that great, as preamps go... Quote
EBS_freak Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 Tell me about it. A great source of annoyance. I've experienced a similar thing with replacing a pot on an Ernie Ball volume pedal. Quote
umph Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 should never need to replace a pot if you can get inside them. They're a piece of piss to repair Quote
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