GFS Tele Pickups?

[freefrog]

To the question: "Does a Gold Foil pup have a different wind than a typical Tele or Strat pup?"

Depends on which "Gold Foil" IMHO. DeArmond? Teisco? Anyway, the foil is just a cosmetic thing textured like a grid and overlaid on pretty different structures, AFAIK. Some "Gold Foils" have screw poles absent in other iterations. Some coils are wide, others aren't. Some measure 12k vs 4k on other models. Some have silver foils but are technically similar to gold ones...

What they seem to have in common is rubber magnets, often laid next to the coil instead of inside it. Coil geometry appears to vary AFAIK, as does the shape of bobbins / coils...

I have a Silver Foil from the late 60's, that I've opened to wax its guts because it squealed like a pig. I should have take pics of it but it's not something that I do spontaneously - everybody knows that I prefer to post graphs. :-P

I've also somewhere a DeArmond "Harmony Maximum" from 1961, with a gold foil shining in the holes of its cover... This one is high resistance, high inductance and pretty thick sounding, with incredibly high eddy currents... its pole spacing is too narrow for most guitars, even in neck position, and it's unevenly magnetized... Prototype of a cheap pickup with a delicious low-fi vibe.

In some way, GFS are faithful to the original spirit of Gold Foils because they are what original DeArmond's and similar products were: cheap pickups.

There's a World to explore in such cheap pickups if you ask me...

https://drowninginguitars.com/2012/06/29/the-bizarre-guitar-pickup-encyclopedia/

(scroll down and you'll see different kinds of Gold Foils).


FOOTNOTE - Original vintage DeArmond's can still be found for a reasonable price, IME. But they might require to do some routing and/or recut the pickguard used.

[ArtieToo]

^^^^ I love that guys YT vids. He has some nice licks and also has videos of 2 or 3 unusual guitars that I own. It's nice to hear them in the hands of someone who can make them "sing" properly.

[GuitarDoc]

Thanks for all of that info, freefrog.

I did some research and can verify all that you have said. Seems to be a whole lot of variance in the design and structure of what are referred to as "gold foil" pups.

[GuitarDoc]

To the question: "Does a Gold Foil pup have a different wind than a typical Tele or Strat pup?"

Depends on which "Gold Foil" IMHO. DeArmond? Teisco? Anyway, the foil is just a cosmetic thing textured like a grid and overlaid on pretty different structures, AFAIK. Some "Gold Foils" have screw poles absent in other iterations. Some coils are wide, others aren't. Some measure 12k vs 4k on other models. Some have silver foils but are technically similar to gold ones...

What they seem to have in common is rubber magnets, often laid next to the coil instead of inside it. Coil geometry appears to vary AFAIK, as does the shape of bobbins / coils...

I have a Silver Foil from the late 60's, that I've opened to wax its guts because it squealed like a pig. I should have take pics of it but it's not something that I do spontaneously - everybody knows that I prefer to post graphs. :-P

I've also somewhere a DeArmond "Harmony Maximum" from 1961, with a gold foil shining in the holes of its cover... This one is high resistance, high inductance and pretty thick sounding, with incredibly high eddy currents... its pole spacing is too narrow for most guitars, even in neck position, and it's unevenly magnetized... Prototype of a cheap pickup with a delicious low-fi vibe.

In some way, GFS are faithful to the original spirit of Gold Foils because they are what original DeArmond's and similar products were: cheap pickups.

There's a World to explore in such cheap pickups if you ask me...

https://drowninginguitars.com/2012/06/29/the-bizarre-guitar-pickup-encyclopedia/

(scroll down and you'll see different kinds of Gold Foils).


FOOTNOTE - Original vintage DeArmond's can still be found for a reasonable price, IME. But they might require to do some routing and/or recut the pickguard used.

Thanks for all of that info, freefrog.

I did some research and can verify all that you have said. Seems to be a whole lot of variance in the design and structure of what are referred to as "gold foil" pups.

[RanchManSandy]

I dunno what the deal is with GFS pickups, if they're like rebranded Artecs or something, but they are a pretty good value if one's budget is tight.

[GuitarDoc]

I've used quite a few GFS pups (singles, humbuckers, p-90s) and they have all sounded really good and at a good price.