GFS Tele Pickups?

['59]

I've got a partscaster with a Strat neck and a Tele body. It's setup rn for standard Tele pickups and to be honest, it's not optimal (I'd prefer to try out some less traditional pickips) but I don't really want to put the work in for it.

Guitar Fetish sells a two sets of pickups that claim to be gold foils but actually look like they are probably just single coils with a interesting cover.

I'm considering alnico gold foil neck, and one of their lipstick tubes in the bridge.

Are there any other companies that sell weird pickups for really cheap that fit in a Tele route?

[Supernautilus]

My go-to for cheap pickups these days is Guitar Madness. They got a good selection of decent import pickups at super cheap prices. I don't know if they have what you're looking for but it's worth a look at least. Hope that helps.

https://www.ebay.com/str/guitarmadnessguitarmadness

[GuitarDoc]

By "less traditional pickups" are you just referring to esthetics? Gold foil neck with lipstick bridge would certainly look, well, let's just say non-conventional.
If you want something that is different tonewise, tell us what you want to achieve.

The GFS Gold Foils sound clear and bright with lots of overtones...not just a standard single coil with a fancy cover. The 6k alnico neck version would go well with the GFS 10k Tele bridge, a great beefy sounding bridge pup.

[Chistopher]

I can confirm that the Tele sized gold foil set is just a standard single coil in a fancy cover. The humbucker sized single coils actually are true gold foils though.

[GuitarDoc]

I can confirm that the Tele sized gold foil set is just a standard single coil in a fancy cover.

Just curious, how did you determine that? What would be the difference(s) between a gold foil and standard single?

[Chistopher]

I debated buying these single coils from GFS, but when you take them apart they are just flat staggered tele pickups with a foil sticker on top. I've read that the strat pickups are the same, but I cannot confirm.

If you think about it, it makes sense though, theres not really all that much room in a tele neck pickup to put a bar magnet next to a coil

[GuitarDoc]

I was asking what the differences are, not the similarities.
Does the type of wind enter into this at all? Does a Gold Foil pup have a different wind than a typical Tele or Strat pup?

[ArtieToo]

Fleor makes some surprisingly nice "cheap" pickups. A friend just built a baritone Strat with a set of Fleor singles, and he said it's one of the best Strats he's heard.

[jeremy]

yes, absolutely. the coil geometry is totally different on a real gold foil pup.

those tele gold foils are just cosmetic obviously. theres a ton of misleading bs about these things all over the web

[Supernautilus]

Fleor makes some surprisingly nice "cheap" pickups. A friend just built a baritone Strat with a set of Fleor singles, and he said it's one of the best Strats he's heard.

That’s interesting. I keep seeing that brand on Amazon and I was wondering if they were any good. These import brands are killing it lately, it seems like.

[ArtieToo]

I have a set of their humbuckers. Installed into a Peavey Tele, but not wired up yet. Film@11.

[ehdwuld]

I like the fleor

I have some other Amazon cheapos
That sound goog

YiBuy
And MaxCheer

I got this set for my tele project
FLEOR Alnico 5 Guitar Pickups Tele Bridge Pickup w/Neck Pickup (Golden) Fit Fender Telecaster Pickups Part https://a.co/d/aiHuhmr

[Ashurbanipal]

I also have some Fleors in a guitar that was a husk for a long time and didn't want to spend much in getting up and running. I got a set of A5 hbs, I guess they're like '59s, with a 7k-ish neck and 8k-ish bridge. They're cool, sound like a PAF style pu, bright and not heaps of mid.

They have lots of different pups with different mags, wired up pickguards etc. Worth a punt; you can get a Tele pu set for like $15. There's also the related brand OriPure, which is supposed to be a bit fancier.

[ArtieToo]

I'm considering alnico gold foil neck, and one of their lipstick tubes in the bridge.

For what it's worth, I have a Strat, with Duncan Designed Lipstick Tubes. Positions 2 - 4 are outstanding, but the bridge, by itself, is almost worthless. Too thin and weak.

Then again, the GFS version is wound to 8k, to the DD's 5k. That could make a big difference. (I'm assuming the DD version is close to the US specs.)

Edit: You got my brain a going. A Pair of Lipstick tubes in a Tele could be kinda cool. ("Looking", at least.)

[GuitarDoc]

I've tried several pups (mostly P-90) by Fleor that sounded very good.