How much for a pickup swap?

[TheSteveMan]

I called a local tech today and asked how much for a pickup swap.. he said 50 bucks minimum and it goes up from there if a lot of stuff goes wrong and it takes extra work to get it going right.
50 bucks seems a little steep to me.. last time I had a pickup swap done I was getting a full setup and the guy mentioned he would take apart the electronics and clean it out and put it back together, so I asked him to to do a pup swap while he was in there, and he did it for 15 bucks extra.
What do you guys think?

[Chuckracer]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

Wow! I'll do pickup swaps all day long for $50 a pop.
Shop around.

All you want is a straight swap, right? Are there any members in the Eugene area that could help Steve out? He'll buy the beer...!

[Widowmaker]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

That is steep. Sounds like he's charging you the shop bench rate. 'round here it's 65 bucks /hour-minimum. Learn to do it yourself. It's very rewarding when you get it done! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[sully]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

wowee, i agree with chuck. i've only paid once to have a pickup installed, and the cost was $75 total, including the cost of the pickup. so that's about 10-15 over the cost of the actual pickup istelf. if it's just one pickup, chances are it's gonna take all of 5 minutes. it'll take longer to install the pickup in the mounting ring than it will to solder it in there.

sully

[rjohnstone]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

I just install them myself. $50 is insane.
It's pretty easy and quick to swap pickups.
There are plenty of tutorials and JCF members in general to help you out if you get stuck.
I did a complete swap of all 3 pups in my PC-3 from the stock Duncan Designed to DiMarzios in less than 20 minutes.
Most of the time was spent waiting for the damn soldering iron to heat up. I have a cheap one, but it works.

[TheSteveMan]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

Yeah maybe I'll give it a shot and try doing it myself... my (unopened) soldering iron is at my mom's place, but I can get a new one for far less than the cost of having somebody do it for me if everyone in town charges what this guy charges.
I've never soldered before but I can probably learn to do it just fine.

The guy I talked to gave me a long story on why he charges a minimum of $50 for electronic repair: there are a lot of things that can go wrong, the pickup could turn out to be out of phase with the others, I may need to reverse the polarity of the wires, blah blah blah, and it takes longer to test for that than even installing the pickups, and sometimes the pickup won't fit the mounting ring, etc. etc. but if none of that stuff goes wrong I can get it done for $50.

Sorry, but I knew that stuff was BS off the bat.

Thanks guys [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[TheSteveMan]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

[ QUOTE ]
Wow! I'll do pickup swaps all day long for $50 a pop.
Shop around.

All you want is a straight swap, right? Are there any members in the Eugene area that could help Steve out? He'll buy the beer...!

[/ QUOTE ]

I would buy the beer, but I'm not 21 [img]/images/graemlins/eviltongue.gif[/img] damn this country, I can't even buy myself a brewskie.

[XSSIVE]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

man i hate to hear about techs that charge stupid prices for work like that. if you were local i'd do it for you and teach you but alas you are a bit too far to drive over lol. it would cost you more in gas or to fly lol.

-Mike

[VitaminG]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

[ QUOTE ]
I would buy the beer, but I'm not 21 [img]/images/graemlins/eviltongue.gif[/img] damn this country, I can't even buy myself a brewskie.

[/ QUOTE ]
Pickups cost more down here, but you can buy beer at 18 [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[donvandam]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

[ QUOTE ]
man i hate to hear about techs that charge stupid prices for work like that. if you were local i'd do it for you and teach you but alas you are a bit too far to drive over lol. it would cost you more in gas or to fly lol.
-Mike

[/ QUOTE ]

im not that far away [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

You spring for the plane ticket and buy lunch and I'll come out and do it for you. No charge!

[TheSteveMan]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

Well, I've only called one tech so far, so I'm gonna get out the phone book tomorrow and see what other kind of pricing we can come up with [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Otherwise, I'll wait a few weeks and go to my mom's place for Thanksgiving or winter break (if I can't get it done myself), and drop by the tech there because I know he charges less.

Thanks again guys [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

Share your findings with us. It may be intersting to compare price spreads.

I may start doing this kind of stuff when I get to Phoenix.

[Hotrod]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

Steve,
I'm here in Salem. Let me know if I can help. If you can bring it to me, I'll do it for free and show you how.

Eric

Edit *** If the techs in Eugene are anything like the ones here in Salem, do not let them touch anything in your rig. They can and will do more harm than good. Trust me. That's what got me into fixing my own stuff.

[rjohnstone]

Re: How much for a pickup swap?

[ QUOTE ]
Share your findings with us. It may be intersting to compare price spreads.

I may start doing this kind of stuff when I get to Phoenix.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, let me know when you get to Phx.
I friend of mine, Brian O'Carrol, owns a repair shop.
He may be looking for some help. I'll give him a shout if you're interested.