Anyone use GFS Pickups?

Jason · 09-23-2008, 12:41 PM

Man they're cheap... just wondering how good they sound? Anybody use these things?

Skynyrdpicker · 09-23-2008, 12:42 PM

Theres tons of threads on 'em. I have a set, and I was extremely satisfied. Great pups, great price, 'nuff said

hbucker · 09-23-2008, 12:44 PM

Yeah. Do a search and you'll get more than enough reading.

My general statement is that they're easily worth twice the price and are worthy competition for the DiMarzios and Duncans of the world, depending of course on what you're looking for.

Definitely worth a look though.

overdriver · 09-23-2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC

Man they're cheap... just wondering how good they sound? Anybody use these things?

They are good MIK by the same people that make Kent Armstrong pickups. Other inexspensive pups are , a few good make, Tonerider & www.vintagevibeguitars.com

Jason · 09-23-2008, 02:03 PM

Thanks for the info guys! I had tried searching GFS but it was too short, ended up having to do "GFS Pickups" with quotes to get any info.

overdriver · 09-23-2008, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC

Thanks for the info guys! I had tried searching GFS but it was too short, ended up having to do "GFS Pickups" with quotes to get any info.

Untitled Page

overdriver · 09-23-2008, 02:07 PM

The stewmac golden age ones are pretty good also www.stewmac.com

Jason · 09-23-2008, 02:14 PM

Interesting... I'm looking for some four conductor leads, and I see that GFS makes quite a few pickups like that... is there any truth to the rumor that coil tapping works best with high output pups?

overdriver · 09-23-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC

Interesting... I'm looking for some four conductor leads, and I see that GFS makes quite a few pickups like that... is there any truth to the rumor that coil tapping works best with high output pups?

IMO yeah when tapped, other will disagree, IMO the higher DC pups allow for a better single coil sound , most Fender pups ,vintage spec approx. are in and around 6K . So if you tap into a HB which has balanced coils and puts out vintage approx. 7.6-8. you are only getting a 4K single which IMO is weak sounding. Never liked coil taps on lower output HBs weak sounding IMO and tooo much difference in out put using live.

Jason · 09-23-2008, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overdriver

IMO yeah when tapped, other will disagree, IMO the higher DC pups allow for a better single coil sound , most Fender pups ,vintage spec approx. are in and around 6K . So if you tap into a HB which has balanced coils and puts out vintage approx. 7.6-8. you are only getting a 4K single which IMO is weak sounding. Never liked coil taps on lower output HBs weak sounding IMO and tooo much difference in out put using live.

That makes perfect sense, thanks!

dtube · 09-23-2008, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC

Thanks for the info guys! I had tried searching GFS but it was too short, ended up having to do "GFS Pickups" with quotes to get any info.

"GFS" is short for "Guitar Fetish". That might yield more search info.
-Darren

GFS Pickups

Jason · 09-23-2008, 08:37 PM

Well yea, I knew where the website was. I just wanted to know how the pickups actually perform.

dtube · 09-23-2008, 09:06 PM

A bunch of guys on the Telecaster Discussion Page, Pickups section have various GFS pickups. They come up for discussion quite often. Have you searched over at the Gear Page? I was tempted to get a GFS mini-humbucker last year when I put a parts-Tele together. But, the LP bug got me before I fully explored Tele tone...
-Darren

overdriver · 09-24-2008, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC

Well yea, I knew where the website was. I just wanted to know how the pickups actually perform.

They are pretty good clear not muddy touch sensitive ( the Mean 90s are very much so, but they aren't HBs), not quite as nice as a good hand wound pup but IMO as good as, dare I say it ,

why not; as good as Seymour Duncans and current Balaned Gibson pups. If you really think you would like to try a set ,IMO figure which and look used for awhile , you could resell em quick I am sure.

Fitzwell · 09-24-2008, 04:07 AM

I bought a couple of sets the 59 classic zebras and the crunchy paf zebras for a couple of epi`s and they sound great as far as price goes. Make sure you swap out the stock ceramic caps (if your installing them in an Epi) for some Sprague orange drops at $3.00 or so each it will definitely improve the tone of your guitar along with the pickups. I think I paid $140 with shipping to Canada from Guitarfetish and it only took 3 days. Great products, service and price IMO. A local shop installed everything (50`s style wiring) in both guitars for $70 CDN. Not a bad investment in a couple of quality guitars now I gotta learn to play`m better LOL.

jumpinjackf1ash · 10-05-2008, 04:46 AM

GFS has some of the best customer service I've ever run into. I have a GFS Fat Pat in the bridge of my Epi LP and have finally found what I was looking for...tried Dimarzios, Seymours, and some other random pups and the GFS beat them all hands down...and for 28 bucks!!!! I seriously recommend them, I'm a return customer

and I have this pickup wired to a mini switch for series/split/parallel...and the split tone is pretty damn good...very brian may-ish...and the parallel tone is also very usable

dougiestyletone · 04-12-2009, 01:08 PM

I have a set of GFS Vintage '59s in my Samick AV3 (China Les Paul copy). Sounds very much like my USA Gibson Les Paul Classic (that's good!) only a lot cheaper. I also threw a GFS Crunchy Rails pickup into my bridge position on my Ibanez Artist. Sounds awesome. GFS pickups are a great value for the money. Still not as "sweet" sounding as a S.D. JB. Rock on, Garth.

Sinster · 04-13-2009, 10:52 AM

I have a Vintage 59' in the neck position of my Jackson.. My Epi Custom has VEH in neck and Fat Pat in the bridge. I'm looking at another one for the Bridge of the kit I'm working on.

Redbird · 04-13-2009, 10:59 PM

I got the third degree on my thread asking about them

I just wanting an opinion on sound and tone, same as you.
Pretty good price if they are even decent.

I found this on youtube. Sounds killer to me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYUYMMbMPGM

diceman · 04-13-2009, 11:14 PM

I've got GFS Mean 90's and a Dream 90 - they are some fantastic pickups.

Skynyrdpicker · 04-13-2009, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diceman

I've got GFS Mean 90's and a Dream 90 - they are some fantastic pickups.

I know you always talk about these, but, how's the hum? I'm thinking about switching to P90s in my Xaviere

diceman · 04-13-2009, 11:36 PM

I haven't had any problems with hum. No more so than my Strats. And no more feedback issues than w/ my unpotted humbuckers. A Dream 90 in the neck is just absolute perfection...

Skynyrdpicker · 04-13-2009, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diceman

I haven't had any problems with hum. No more so than my Strats. And no more feedback issues than w/ my unpotted humbuckers. A Dream 90 in the neck is just absolute perfection...

Awesome. My next order from GFS will include 2 new P90s.

Thanks bro

diceman · 04-13-2009, 11:40 PM

I haven't tried a Dream 90 bridge pup... but I'm thinking that a Dream 90 neck and Mean 90 bridge pup would be an awesome combo.

Jason · 04-13-2009, 11:45 PM

StrangerNY · 04-13-2009, 11:52 PM

I use GFS in my Squier Tele and my Epi LP Standard.

I got the Tele set first, and they're just mean. Just like Tele pups, only much hotter.

I've got a Vintage '59 (bridge) and a Dream 90 (neck) in my Epi Standard. It isn't as heavy sounding as my Custom - it's almost as bright as my LP Specials.

Noise from the Dream is minimal. It's there, but not as bad as you'd expect.

- D

Sinster · 04-14-2009, 12:44 AM

I was thinking about getting the Dream 90 or the 180 for my neck..

diceman · 04-14-2009, 12:51 AM

The Dream 90 sounds exactly like the P90's I've got in my '69 LP Deluxe (not original pickups - but they are some older Gibson pups).

guitar_randy · 04-15-2009, 02:04 PM

they are better than the sheptones,tophats,and all these other more expensive pickups many fall for

SABLE · 04-15-2009, 06:57 PM

They are good.

09-23-2008, 12:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 12,995 Thanks: 84 Thanked 91 Times in 23 Posts	Anyone use GFS Pickups? Man they're cheap... just wondering how good they sound? Anybody use these things?

09-23-2008, 12:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
Skynyrdpicker Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Montreal Posts: 3,240 Thanks: 74 Thanked 13 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? Theres tons of threads on 'em. I have a set, and I was extremely satisfied. Great pups, great price, 'nuff said __________________ Check out my MySpace!

09-23-2008, 12:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
hbucker Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,153 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? Yeah. Do a search and you'll get more than enough reading. My general statement is that they're easily worth twice the price and are worthy competition for the DiMarzios and Duncans of the world, depending of course on what you're looking for. Definitely worth a look though. __________________

09-23-2008, 02:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 12,995 Thanks: 84 Thanked 91 Times in 23 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? Thanks for the info guys! I had tried searching GFS but it was too short, ended up having to do "GFS Pickups" with quotes to get any info.

09-23-2008, 02:07 PM	#7 (permalink)
overdriver V.I.P. Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Kanata Posts: 5,447 Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? The stewmac golden age ones are pretty good also www.stewmac.com __________________

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09-23-2008, 02:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 12,995 Thanks: 84 Thanked 91 Times in 23 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? Interesting... I'm looking for some four conductor leads, and I see that GFS makes quite a few pickups like that... is there any truth to the rumor that coil tapping works best with high output pups?

09-23-2008, 08:37 PM	#12 (permalink)
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 12,995 Thanks: 84 Thanked 91 Times in 23 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? Well yea, I knew where the website was. I just wanted to know how the pickups actually perform.

09-23-2008, 09:06 PM	#13 (permalink)
dtube Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: North of Pittsburgh, East of Youngstown, close to nowhere... Posts: 324 Thanks: 4 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? A bunch of guys on the Telecaster Discussion Page, Pickups section have various GFS pickups. They come up for discussion quite often. Have you searched over at the Gear Page? I was tempted to get a GFS mini-humbucker last year when I put a parts-Tele together. But, the LP bug got me before I fully explored Tele tone... -Darren __________________ Strange women, lieing in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of goverment. Supreme, executive power derives from a mandate from the masses; not from some farsical, aquatic ceremony...

09-24-2008, 04:07 AM	#15 (permalink)
Fitzwell Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 77 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I bought a couple of sets the 59 classic zebras and the crunchy paf zebras for a couple of epi`s and they sound great as far as price goes. Make sure you swap out the stock ceramic caps (if your installing them in an Epi) for some Sprague orange drops at $3.00 or so each it will definitely improve the tone of your guitar along with the pickups. I think I paid $140 with shipping to Canada from Guitarfetish and it only took 3 days. Great products, service and price IMO. A local shop installed everything (50`s style wiring) in both guitars for $70 CDN. Not a bad investment in a couple of quality guitars now I gotta learn to play`m better LOL. __________________ "BOTTOMS UP" OOOOOOh Thats what she meant HEY I Too was an amish rake fighter

10-05-2008, 04:46 AM	#16 (permalink)
jumpinjackf1ash Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 469 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? GFS has some of the best customer service I've ever run into. I have a GFS Fat Pat in the bridge of my Epi LP and have finally found what I was looking for...tried Dimarzios, Seymours, and some other random pups and the GFS beat them all hands down...and for 28 bucks!!!! I seriously recommend them, I'm a return customer and I have this pickup wired to a mini switch for series/split/parallel...and the split tone is pretty damn good...very brian may-ish...and the parallel tone is also very usable __________________ "Dude...you suck at guitar...lol"

04-12-2009, 01:08 PM	#17 (permalink)
dougiestyletone Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I have a set of GFS Vintage '59s in my Samick AV3 (China Les Paul copy). Sounds very much like my USA Gibson Les Paul Classic (that's good!) only a lot cheaper. I also threw a GFS Crunchy Rails pickup into my bridge position on my Ibanez Artist. Sounds awesome. GFS pickups are a great value for the money. Still not as "sweet" sounding as a S.D. JB. Rock on, Garth.

04-13-2009, 10:52 AM	#18 (permalink)
Sinster Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Plymouth, MA Posts: 1,322 Thanks: 13 Thanked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I have a Vintage 59' in the neck position of my Jackson.. My Epi Custom has VEH in neck and Fat Pat in the bridge. I'm looking at another one for the Bridge of the kit I'm working on. __________________ 2009 Les Paul Kit - GFS Dream 90 (N), SD Seth Lover (B) 2009 Gibson Les Paul Worn Brown 2008 Epiphone Custom - GFS VEH (N), Fat Pat (B) 2007 Agile AL3000 - SD Alinco II set 2005 Epiphone Standard - SD Pearly Gate (N),SD Alinco II (B) 2004 Epiphone Custom Plus Top 2004 Gibson SG Faded - Stock 1997 Epiphone Slash Snakepit 1995 Fender Strat - SD Lil 59' Bridge, SD Hotrail Middle, Stock Neck

04-13-2009, 11:14 PM	#20 (permalink)
diceman V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 16,342 Thanks: 311 Thanked 91 Times in 32 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I've got GFS Mean 90's and a Dream 90 - they are some fantastic pickups. __________________ My Band: www.comeupswingingmusic.com or www.myspace.com/comeupswinging

04-13-2009, 11:36 PM	#22 (permalink)
diceman V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 16,342 Thanks: 311 Thanked 91 Times in 32 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I haven't had any problems with hum. No more so than my Strats. And no more feedback issues than w/ my unpotted humbuckers. A Dream 90 in the neck is just absolute perfection... __________________ My Band: www.comeupswingingmusic.com or www.myspace.com/comeupswinging

04-13-2009, 11:40 PM	#24 (permalink)
diceman V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 16,342 Thanks: 311 Thanked 91 Times in 32 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I haven't tried a Dream 90 bridge pup... but I'm thinking that a Dream 90 neck and Mean 90 bridge pup would be an awesome combo. __________________ My Band: www.comeupswingingmusic.com or www.myspace.com/comeupswinging

04-13-2009, 11:45 PM	#25 (permalink)
Jason Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 12,995 Thanks: 84 Thanked 91 Times in 23 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups?

04-13-2009, 11:52 PM	#26 (permalink)
StrangerNY Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New York Posts: 5,074 Thanks: 16 Thanked 156 Times in 41 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I use GFS in my Squier Tele and my Epi LP Standard. I got the Tele set first, and they're just mean. Just like Tele pups, only much hotter. I've got a Vintage '59 (bridge) and a Dream 90 (neck) in my Epi Standard. It isn't as heavy sounding as my Custom - it's almost as bright as my LP Specials. Noise from the Dream is minimal. It's there, but not as bad as you'd expect. - D __________________ Bands, Present & Past: Nurse Diesel \| Diesel On MySpace \| Big Sky \| 20FTWide \| Solo Work \| Chronicles: The Clapton Project "I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with 20 notes." - Les Paul "You were old the first time I signed you." - unnamed A&R guy to StrangerNY, 2000

04-14-2009, 12:44 AM	#27 (permalink)
Sinster Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Plymouth, MA Posts: 1,322 Thanks: 13 Thanked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? I was thinking about getting the Dream 90 or the 180 for my neck.. __________________ 2009 Les Paul Kit - GFS Dream 90 (N), SD Seth Lover (B) 2009 Gibson Les Paul Worn Brown 2008 Epiphone Custom - GFS VEH (N), Fat Pat (B) 2007 Agile AL3000 - SD Alinco II set 2005 Epiphone Standard - SD Pearly Gate (N),SD Alinco II (B) 2004 Epiphone Custom Plus Top 2004 Gibson SG Faded - Stock 1997 Epiphone Slash Snakepit 1995 Fender Strat - SD Lil 59' Bridge, SD Hotrail Middle, Stock Neck

04-14-2009, 12:51 AM	#28 (permalink)
diceman V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 16,342 Thanks: 311 Thanked 91 Times in 32 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? The Dream 90 sounds exactly like the P90's I've got in my '69 LP Deluxe (not original pickups - but they are some older Gibson pups). __________________ My Band: www.comeupswingingmusic.com or www.myspace.com/comeupswinging

04-15-2009, 02:04 PM	#29 (permalink)
guitar_randy Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 740 Thanks: 17 Thanked 11 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? they are better than the sheptones,tophats,and all these other more expensive pickups many fall for __________________ GuitarRandy

04-15-2009, 06:57 PM	#30 (permalink)
SABLE Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 826 Thanks: 5 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Anyone use GFS Pickups? They are good. __________________ In Blood, SABLE I'm happy I live with my brother. I'm even happier he's with the FBI Special Quarter 7 Crew, hah. Bodyguard and political prosecutor anyone? Guitars and strings go together for Gibsons Guitars and etching acid go together for Fenders

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