Vintage Gear Parts - Quality

[beginnersluke]

Does anyone have experience with Vintage Gear (vintagegear.eu) parts?

They are inexpensive compared with Vintage Vibe or Ken Rich. (Pedal, legs, and leg plates for about as much as a KR sustain pedal!)

I just wonder if the quality is worth the savings.

Thanks!

[Chris Carroll]

 Quality is something that should be taken heavily into consideration .  Purchasing quality parts from companies such as Vintage Vibe Ken Rich sound services and EP services who have been around for a very long time and continue to support all of their customers with information service and parts as part of their core business practice.  These are the companies that you want to build personal relationships with. These are the companies that are going to be there for you when you need it.  You could forgo this to save a couple bucks on a cheaper pedal but then ask yourself if it's really worth it .

[beginnersluke]

Cool thanks. Yeah, the difference in price made me weary.

[funkylaundry]

Sorry for the late reply.

I purchased a sustain pedal and legs for a Wurli from vintagegear.eu.

The legs were very nice quality. Almost indistinguishable from the originals.

Although they claim the pedal is an exact replica, it's actually a quite obvious remake, but the pictures of it are accurate. The shape of the housing and the shape of the pedal itself is not quite right and the same goes for the finish. The original is wrapped in a vinyl-like material. This one is just painted wood. But there is nothing wrong with the mechanical function or the build quality overall.

It works great and even though it might not look exactly like the original it's close enough that nobody would ever call you out on a dim stage for having a remake sustain pedal for your Wurli.

I live in Denmark and the numbers make it an absolute nobrainer for me:

The price from Vintage Vibe is:
Pedal: 195 USD
Shipping: 75.82 USD
Import fee: 25 USD
VAT: 74 USD

Total: ~370USD
(and I suspect that there might be an additional tax on top of that - probably in the 3-5% range)

The price from vintagegear.eu
Pedal: 170 USD
Shipping: 19 USD

Total: ~189 USD

Another option is ep-service.nl, but they generally set their prices so they almost perfectly match what it costs to ship inidividual items directly from vintage vibe:
Pedal: 265 USD
Shipping: 26.5 USD
VAT: 61 USD

Total: ~352,5 USD

[cinnanon]

The original is wrapped in a vinyl-like material. This one is just painted wood.

The original pedal boxes are in fact painted wood! They seem to have been spray painted with a thick/heavy spatter to give that finish, then spray painted over that with more black to make it all the same color. I have yet to see one covered in a tolex or plastic glue'd-on covering.

[funkylaundry]

Right. I thought it was some very thin type of vinyl, but you're probably right.

In this case the vintagegear texture is very different though and a clear giveaway for anyone who has had an original pedal in their hand.