# Fake pickups?



## Arek (Jan 24, 2009)

There are some Chinese sellers offering Seymour Duncan pickups on eBay.
Whats the deal with that?
The back plate says “Made in America”, but they are sold from China,
Are they the real deal?

Link to one example:
Seymour Duncan TB-4 JB Trembucker Zebra Bridge Pickups | eBay


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

Ships from China you can pretty much guarantee they are fake.

They stamp all sorts of stuff Made in USA and use any companies trademarks at will. Intellectual property means nothing there and it's a huge problem for many industries.

I guess I'll put it this way. How could SD make a pickup in the US, ship it to China, have a middleman take a cut, and then ship it to you for less than retail?

Maybe they are real, but my radar is going off.


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## Rozz (Aug 1, 2018)

Arek said:


> There are some Chinese sellers offering Seymour Duncan pickups on eBay.
> Whats the deal with that?
> The back plate says “Made in America”, but they are sold from China,
> Are they the real deal?
> ...


Can't say for sure but you can't sell counterfeit stuff on EBay. Sometimes it gets posted, but it gets reported pretty quickly.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Have you heard of that small village in the north part of China... Usa?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I am so glad that the giant king of all things everywhere Mr. Donald Trump has taken care of the issues with CHina.


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## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

player99 said:


> I am so glad that the giant king of all things everywhere Mr. Donald Trump has taken care of the issues with CHina.


Oh boy ....American politics !!!!
I live in the United States ..... Makes me want to move to a more rational Nation like Canada or Australia !!!!


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

player99 said:


> I am so glad that the giant king of all things everywhere Mr. Donald Trump has taken care of the issues with CHina.



Probably shouldn't get into politics on this board or out come the infractions. I will say: he is the only Western leader who has ever confronted China on their one way policies; and all the other leaders are begging him to stop. Sometimes you have to endure some hardship to have it pay off in the end.

The politics of it all are complicated. I sure wish someone could get a handle on all the complete fakes that come out of China though. It's completely ruined some hobbies, and I won't get in to what it's done in some industries. Do we really want a world without intellectual property?


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## Arek (Jan 24, 2009)

Rozz said:


> Can't say for sure but you can't sell counterfeit stuff on EBay. Sometimes it gets posted, but it gets reported pretty quickly.


eBay takes its time to react.
In the mean time they sell a bunch of them.
The bigest problem here is that honest people would buy counterfeit stuff and later unknowingly sell it as legitimate.
That damages the reputation of the producer...not to mention screwing the buyers.


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## Rozz (Aug 1, 2018)

Arek said:


> *eBay takes its time to react.
> In the mean time they sell a bunch of them.*
> The bigest problem here is that honest people would buy counterfeit stuff and later unknowingly sell it as legitimate.
> That damages the reputation of the producer...not to mention screwing the buyers.


Not very much time in my experience. If you buy from EBay and you do happen get cheated, you get your money back from PayPal anyway.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

There is also Chinese company called Powered by Lace...


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

I don't know. It looks authentic enough when comparing to other photos on the web. But the ad says brand new, which I don't believe considering the marks on the screw threads and the condition of the wires. LAst time I bought a Duncan new 2 of the 4 conductor wires were taped and all were neatly tinned. That pup appears to have been used.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

Dorian2 said:


> I don't know. It looks authentic enough when comparing to other photos on the web. But the ad says brand new, which I don't believe considering the marks on the screw threads and the condition of the wires. LAst time I bought a Duncan new 2 of the 4 conductor wires were taped and all were neatly tinned. That pup appears to have been used.


They are known for stealing other peoples pics on the internet.

@Arek I used to buy and sell a lot off ebay - if it seems too good to be true it probably is.
There is a good chance you wont get anything that looks remotely like the picture.

Nathan


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I was going to post some pictures of the fake Duncans on Yahoo Japan, but I think they cracked down. Didn't see any this time around


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

here we go


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

^^ which PUPS are those supposed to be fakes of? Just curious as they don't look like any Duncans I've ever seen.


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## Rozz (Aug 1, 2018)

If you think the seller is shady, check their feedback. That seller has over 300 sales and a 99.2% positive feedback. So their history is credible...so far. The also have a 60 day return policy if you pay shipping, which is pretty standard for reputable sellers.

If you think the product might be bogus, check to see if anyone has bought it and if a verified buyer rated it. In this case 6 of 9 units have been sold. Three people rated the product. One person rated it as a 4 the other two gave it a 5.

These aren't guarantees, but it looks as legit as it can imo.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)




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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

From what I can tell the link in the first post is a real Seymour Duncan. Why does the OP think they are fake? After checking a few pictures, it seems some pickups say Made in America and some say made in USA.

Sometimes we've used "Made in USA," sometimes "Made in America," and sometimes "Hand built in Santa Barbara, California."


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## Fred Gifford (Sep 2, 2019)

purchasing ANY items from China is always strictly a last resort ... pickups from China ?? .. never


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

^^Because no one in china had ever bought a name brand Guitar?


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

knight_yyz said:


> ^^Because no one in china had ever bought a name brand Guitar?



Of course they have. There are also other legitimate ways they could get there and be resold. Some manufacturers make guitars in China with real Duncans, they get shipped over, maybe they got to many and sold them surplus.

The fact remains, cheap stuff being sold from China, being passed off as authentic, is suspect. They look real, but it wouldn't surprise me if something was fishy when they showed up.


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## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

China is starting to make great pickups, guitar hardware, home assembled / guitar kits, and other accessories.
I bought a Chinese made Randy Rhoads / Jackson kit, that was very comparable to my actual RR/ Jackson.
The pickups I got were built by Artec (from Korea) and sold here in the U. S. by GFS and Dragon Fire / TnT Guitars .... Easily comparable to my Bill Lawrence, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan and Bare Knuckle pickups.
We are living in an Golden Age of inexpensive guitar gear.
You can buy an imported guitar that costs $500.00 with great playability, decent electronic ( that you can later upgrade ) and decent hardware that 30 years ago would have cost $1500.00 to $2000.00 !!!!


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Dorian2 said:


> ^^ which PUPS are those supposed to be fakes of? Just curious as they don't look like any Duncans I've ever seen.


Blackouts. Real Blackouts have quick connects like the EMG actives do. 

I immediately distrust the Chinese sellers in this case. Too may counterfeits have been made. I went on AliExpress looking for cheap actives once, and found so many clearly fake Duncans that it only makes sense to buy from a trusted seller.

As well, there are sellers from Indonesia that "liberate" good parts from the factories there. They don't make sense economically for the most part after shipping, but one has to wonder if they are buying stolen goods.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Seymour Duncan has a line of pickups made overseas. But, I believe they say "Designed by" instead of "Made by".


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

sillyak said:


> Of course they have. There are also other legitimate ways they could get there and be resold. Some manufacturers make guitars in China with real Duncans, they get shipped over, maybe they got to many and sold them surplus.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I was being sarcastic. Post above me said never ever buy from China.....


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Quality is a nebulous thing. Lots of people sleep on $200 mattresses because they can't tell the difference. Doesn't mean I'm going to - I _can _tell the diff and their opinion is irrelevant to me (the internet if rife with people who have absolutely no clue - I see it constantly on technical forums). 

I will say this, though. In most cases, if you buy this kinda thing from China and it breaks (or it's broke right outa the box), you will get 0 recourse, nada, nothing, zilch. They will pretend they don't speak English or French. IME, their email replies are computer generated and just spin you around until you give up in utter frustration. 

Make sure you get it cheap enough that you can throw it away and buy another one, if you need the product badly enough. The whole concept kind of smacks in the face of the recent climate emergency BS. Everyone seems happy to buy disposable shit while trying to stop everyone else from doing the same. NIMBYism to the MAX!


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

knight_yyz said:


> I was being sarcastic. Post above me said never ever buy from China.....



I know you were. I wasn't trying to be snooty. I was agreeing there are legitimate ways a genuine Seymour Duncan gets to China.


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## Sazista (Jun 13, 2021)

Hello. I have just realized that they are counterfeiting pickups now. Last year I bought "Fender" strings from China and well, the first 3 strings had no steel in them, so no sound. I see DHGate, from China is selling Seymour Duncan Pickups. This really sucks. They should just make their own fricken pickups and put some weird name on them. Anyhow, these are for sale here in Chile and they look very fake and the price is about 86.00. I've also never seen a little sticker like that. The name Seymour Duncan on the bottom one looks quite wrong, no.


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## YellowChecker (Jun 10, 2021)

As great as stuff coming from china can be, I wouldn't touch that. The post is fairly old now and the ebay link is probably not relevant anymore. 
Prices seam to be almost the same as buying them through Seymour Duncan


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## SmoggyTwinkles (May 31, 2021)

sillyak said:


> Ships from China you can pretty much guarantee they are fake.
> 
> They stamp all sorts of stuff Made in USA and use any companies trademarks at will. Intellectual property means nothing there and it's a huge problem for many industries.
> 
> ...


It's so hard to be sure though, 

Next time you're in the grocery store and looking at "Atlantic Haddock" or whatever, check out where it came from (China)

So they sail to the Atlantic and fish, then sail back to China to process the fish then send it back to a country that's on the Atlantic ocean........? I have no idea.

We live in a wild world!


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Everything is faked there...the fake epi I bought had fake EMG's, fake Grovers, etc.


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## josephborman2 (7 mo ago)

player99 said:


> I am so glad that the giant king of all things everywhere Mr. Donald Trump has taken care of the issues with CHina.


If you really believe this then you are stupid.but if your being sarcastic then cheers...lol.and you are brilliant.weird I know but...


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## josephborman2 (7 mo ago)

Rollin Hand said:


> Blackouts. Real Blackouts have quick connects like the EMG actives do.
> 
> I immediately distrust the Chinese sellers in this case. Too may counterfeits have been made. I went on AliExpress looking for cheap actives once, and found so many clearly fake Duncans that it only makes sense to buy from a trusted seller.
> 
> As well, there are sellers from Indonesia that "liberate" good parts from the factories there. They don't make sense economically for the most part after shipping, but one has to wonder if they are buying stolen goods.


Well I just found an active Seymour blackout set on Ali Express for cheap.with th Kwik connector plug on each pickup for less than half of what the USA pickups cost.im ordering me a set for my omen 6 extreme.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

josephborman2 said:


> If you really believe this then you are stupid.but if your being sarcastic then cheers...lol.and you are brilliant.weird I know but...


The Great Orange Pumpkin will rule the world.


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

josephborman2 said:


> Well I just found an active Seymour blackout set on Ali Express for cheap.with th Kwik connector plug on each pickup for less than half of what the USA pickups cost.im ordering me a set for my omen 6 extreme.


If you really believe this then you are stupid.but if your being sarcastic then cheers...lol.and you are brilliant.weird I know but...


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