Nordstrand product descriptions

[SactoBass]

"smoked anything and everything that would burn and then busted out the thesaurus."

This sounds strangely familiar.

Kinda like *profound revelations* perhaps?

 

[NKBassman]

Dear TBers,
This thread shows the dichotomy of our shoppers. We appreciate both sides of this argument. Those that get it... a spoof, a play on the arbitrary words that describe tone, a commentary to those that don't even read the copy.

Then there are those that want something more straight forward in their initial visit to the product page.

When we decided to play with the copy, we knew there may be some backlash. While this isn't the first time we have gotten negative comments on the copy, it has been pretty infrequent, most likely because most of the tonal information is there in the product page as well as sound samples when we have them.

Plus an email to [email protected] or [email protected] is sometimes just what you need to make a decision, regardless of how the copy is written. As described in many of the responses, an email to our shop is a goldmine of information that we could never distill into copy. It is specific to you and your instrument.

While what we put on our website is an in-house decision and a reflection of our DNA, we always take into consideration what our patrons want. Rest assured though, the thought and care we put into our product makes our electronics serious, for serious musicians.
--S

There you have it, folks.

@SoniaMara, I did email my questions to the shop and received great service from Stew, as always.

My position on the ad copy still stands, however knowing that it's a spoof on typical marketing mumbo-jumbo BS does alleviate some of my "concern".

All due respect to Nordstrand for their excellent product and customer service! Thanks for chiming in.

 

[SoniaMara]

There you have it, folks.

@SoniaMara, I did email my questions to the shop and received great service from Stew, as always.
My position on the ad copy still stands, however knowing that it's a spoof on typical marketing mumbo-jumbo BS does alleviate some of my "concern".
All due respect to Nordstrand for their excellent product and customer service!

yeh, work with artists long enough, it makes you a little loopy! And i have been (not just musicians) for over 25 years! (i know, i look so young!)

 

[NKBassman]

yeh, work with artists long enough, it makes you a little loopy! And i have been (not just musicians) for over 25 years! (i know, i look so young!)

I'm still standing by my request/suggestion for only one paragraph of nonsense, and one attempt at something meaningful. Perhaps on the next product.

 

[SoniaMara]

I'm still standing by my request/suggestion for only one paragraph of nonsense, and one attempt at something meaningful. Perhaps on the next product.

duly noted!

 

[SoniaMara]

Fun Fact: our in-house copywriter (who, by the way, is neither Carey nor I) was wondering what took you guys so long!

 

[NKBassman]

Fun Fact: our in-house copywriter (who, by the way, is neither Carey nor I) was wondering what took you guys so long!

lol! Happy to have finally brought it up.

 

[Brent's Groove]

I completely get that they're attempting to be tongue-in-cheek, but it's so over the top that it's way more annoying than funny. It's like linguistic slapstick.

I'm in favor of them expressing their sense of humor, but not at the expense of providing a more useful description of the product.

Yeah, tone is subjective, but it's entirely not beyond description.

 

[Lunatique]

I completely get that they're attempting to be tongue-in-cheek, but it's so over the top that it's way more annoying than funny. It's like linguistic slapstick.

I'm in favor of them expressing their sense of humor, but not at the expense of providing a more useful description of the product.

Yeah, tone is subjective, but it's entirely not beyond description.

THIS. Sense of humor and being informative are not mutually exclusive. When it's just completely nonsense it become useless, distracting noise.

 

[BLDavis]

All silliness aside, Big Blade J Warm and Wooly are the best J-pups I've ever tried. My shameless offer to be a Nordstrand endorser still stands. All of my tens of fans agree, I sound better with Nordstrand.
B.

 

[NKBassman]

All silliness aside, Big Blade J Warm and Wooly are the best J-pups I've ever tried. My shameless offer to be a Nordstrand endorser still stands. All of my tens of fans agree, I sound better with Nordstrand.
B.

I have the same pickups in my Geddy Lee Jazz and really like them.

 

[Geri O]

Thankful that I was able to find my favorite Nordstrand pickups and preamp by finding the pertinent information and not notice, much less be bothered by ad copy that doesn’t fit someone’s narrative of good ad copy.

Of course, no copy will give the impression gained by taking a chance, buying and installing the pickups you want to check out.

And the name of the pickups (“Vintage single-coil 70s Wind”) steered me in the right direction from the start. I can’t remember reading anything else on their webpage about the pups (other than looking for the right sizes to fit my Mike Lull bass).

 

[Snaxster]

I'm still standing by my request/suggestion for only one paragraph of nonsense, and one attempt at something meaningful.

Here is a copy of a Nordstrand Pickups product page from 2016 (yes, I save a lot of stuff). Maybe what was old will become new again.

 

[bucephylus]

This irks me. I was just on the Nordstrand website today and saw a new product... '51 Precision style split-coil pickups in Jazz shells! Cool!

Then I went to the product page to get more information, and trying to read the product description makes me go crosseyed. It's like marketing department smoked anything and everything that would burn and then busted out the thesaurus. Where they couldn't find a word, they're now simply making up nonsense. This isn't the first time they've done this, and I've noticed this descriptive trend escalating over the last few product releases (see Zen Blades), but this one absolutely takes the cake.

Excerpt:


Now, don't take my complaining as a knock against the company or their product. I have Nordy pickups in my Jazz and P basses and really like them. In my opinion, Nordstrand are (perhaps arguably) one of the most high profile and reputable bass pickup manufactures out there today, and continue to push the state of the art with new interesting products that far exceed "niche" market applications.

And they are of course free to run their business and describe their products however they see fit. But, in my opinion, this is absolutely terrible product marketing.

Am I crazy? Over reacting? Is 35 too young for a "get off my lawn" moment? Maybe it just disagrees with my practical sensibilities and preference for technical information. Maybe I just expect a little more professionalism and/or straight-forwardishness from such a renowned and respected pickup builder. I don't know... at the end of the day, big deal right?... it definitely won't stop me from buying their stuff because I already know it's top quality. But for anyone visiting that page for the first time and trying to read that nonsense hoping to get some feel for what the product actually offers, might not take the company seriously.

Thoughts?

Carey & Co are good folks with good products. Did you try calling them? Recommend you give it a shot before dumping them in the bin.

Note: haven’t seen the marketing blah blah blah and not defending it. Carey may or may not have had a hand in it. They are a diverse bunch, IME. Better to just get them on the phone.

 

[NKBassman]

Carey & Co are good folks with good products. Did you try calling them? Recommend you give it a shot before dumping them in the bin.

Note: haven’t seen the marketing blah blah blah and not defending it. Carey may or may not have had a hand in it. They are a diverse bunch, IME. Better to just get them on the phone.

Yes all my questions have been answered after a few emails.
I posted the responses in this thread somewhere.

 

[Joey lewis]

I find the sarcasm in their marketing refreshing. Wades out the trash anyway

 

[iiipopes]

Whatever the descriptions, I do find that Nordy's Mustang pickup, with two poles per string and a good chunk of windings, does sound fabulous as the perfect middle ground between a P-bass pickup and a Mustang single-pole-per-string pickup, and could be the ultimate pickup for narrow-bridge Mustangs and related short scale instruments.