"GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

[blueman335]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Which ones have you tried?

I've only tried Mean 90's. The rest I've read posts on here, and they seem to be hit or miss. Most guys like Mean 90's; I haven't seen that much agreement with their HB's or Dream 90's.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I've only tried Mean 90's. The rest I've read posts on here, and they seem to be hit or miss. Most guys like Mean 90's; I haven't seen that much agreement with their HB's or Dream 90's.

But you can say the same thing for any brand of pickups. For instance, I've just never been a fan of the JB. Some people would use a broad stroke and say "I don't like the JB, so that means Duncan sucks!"

Same thing with DiMarzio. A lot of people stay away from them because one or two models are predominant in genres they don't like. I'm glad I didn't fall for that trap because I put a set of D-Activators in a MeanStreet Exile kit guitar I put together as a project and they sound fantastic.

I really like the GFS VEH. Their '59 leaves me a little cold... But then again so does the Duncan '59. LOL My brother has a Crunchy PAT neck and a Crunchy Rails bridge in an Ibanez that's really killer for heavy tones with clarity. Their Music Man AlNiCo bass pickup is AMAZING in the Jazz Bass I built for my buddy with an Ash Warmoth body and an AllParts neck.

Thought I had a pic of the whole bass after I finished it, but here's the body with the pickups laid in there for looks.

 

[9fingers]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

It depends on the pickups. I have tried & then changed out some GFS pickups. The ones that are staying for me are their lipsticks, and especially their fatter Neovin Tele neck pickup. I have tried all the boutique Tele pickups & that one is outstanding. as well as noise free.
I worked at a big blues fest a few weeks ago. One guy had the best sounding Strat I ever heard (in 45 years of playing & tweaking Strats). I made a point to search him out afterwards & ate lunch with him to talk about his guitar. Turns out it is an import Schecter Strat with GFS vintage Neovins! Amazing sweet, clear, cutting, woody, quacky, perfect Strat tones.
GFS makes SOME good ones.

 

[tonello]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

The Dragonfire 81 and 85 are great pickups. Not identical to EMGs, but close enough.

I'm pretty sure that Dragonfire's passive line is made by Artec (as are GFS and Guitarheads), so there's some overlap there. I made a hybrid using a GFS 59 and Guitarheads Megametal and it's an awesome pickup.

For GFS pickups, the VEH and the PATs are awesome. I've used the PAT with A5 (Fat PAT), Ceramic (Crunchy PAT) and also swapped in an A8. I've also swapped an A8 into a VEH, that sounded great too.

Agreed on the close enough. I don't care if those pups are spot on. For $40 a pup, they sound awesome.

 

[dominus]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

But you can say the same thing for any brand of pickups. For instance, I've just never been a fan of the JB. Some people would use a broad stroke and say "I don't like the JB, so that means Duncan sucks!"

The reason I stay out of topics that say "which neck pickup is best for...." is because I never use them. I've owned the Jazz and 59n, so I can recommend them to pair with a bridge occasionally when someone is asking for pairings. I've also installed the GFS AII neck pickup into an Agile LP (3100), it does do the Slash thing.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Ive owned and installed gfs 57s into 3 guitars. The lil puncher set in a tele, the alnico II strat set, the premium alnico 5 set, and the overwound greybottom set in strats. Ive also installed a pair of the dog ear p90s in my 1966 casino.
57s...pretty good, way better than epi pups. Quite midrangey. I like SD59s better tho. More clear and articulate and heaps more low end - even with a2 magnets.
The strat sets: alnico IIs are nice. Spongy. I cant compare em to the SD set.
The premium alnicos i found to be simultaneously too hollow and lifelss. SD ssl-1 kill them in every respect.
The overwound greybottoms are really nice tho. Fat. Much nicer i think than fender texas specials. I still prefer ssl-1's to either tho.
Lil Punchers for tele...great! Loved them....they dont sound very "tele" ish tho, but they were a marked improvement in terrms of clarity and feel than the lace sensors they replaced.
Dog Ear p90s - fantastic. Loved them. They even are spaced and calibrated to line up properly on old gibsons. Brilliant. Plus he sells chrome covers that fit if you ask nicely.

So yeh, GFS are good quality and are an upgrade over pretty much any stock asian pickups and in some cases are comparable to the really high end boutique stuff, but for really special axes, id go for SD any day of the week - thats the benchmark IMHO.

 

[blueman335]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Dog Ear p90s - fantastic. Loved them. They even are spaced and calibrated to line up properly on old gibsons. Brilliant. Plus he sells chrome covers that fit if you ask nicely.

So yeh, GFS are good quality and are an upgrade over pretty much any stock asian pickups and in some cases are comparable to the really high end boutique stuff, but for really special axes, id go for SD any day of the week - thats the benchmark IMHO.

+1. Their mean 90's are pretty good. Since there's a thriving market for used PU's in the USA, you can get many used American-made PU's for the price of a new GFS, so why not just go with Duncan or DiMarzio?

 

[Franknfilms]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Lets not forget the mini buckers. When you shop for firebird or minibuckers your options are all usually in the $95 range! GFS and Kent Armstrong are some of the only affordable minibuckers. The GFS fat alnico mini is fantastic. I have one in a tele neck position and it certainly sounds as good as any of my other neck pickups.

 

[Gplayerzzz]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I'm using a GFS crunchy rails humbucker in my one guitar, and I like it. It does what I want.

 

[totergecko]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

apparently no one who works at guitar fetish knows how a no load tone control or a typical tone circuit works. I wouldn't buy a guitar pickup that was designed or built by someone who doesn't know how a tone circuit works...I mean if you don't understand the basic electronics involved in a part you are developing then why would you expect it to be any good? it looks like a lot of their products were ripped off of very famous and popular designs, but very poorly. if there is a product by gfs you like, maybe you should find out what product they were ripping off and buy the real thing instead. I can sorta understand trying to save money buying an off brand imitation guitar, but it doesn't make much sense to do that with pickups. if you're gonna have them in for a long time, just buy what you think is best, it will be worth it in the end.

 

[formula73]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Um...they don't understand tone circuits? Please explain.

 

[JeffB]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

i have some experience wthe overwound grey bottoms. I think they are decent pickups for the money. Good upgrade for a mim standard, or squier or similar. I find them about on par with Duncans production line true single coil strat pups. Very average, imo.

Id save my pennies for some used or new high quality pups, like fralin, van zandt, klein, lollar, etc.

 

[siam]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I never tried any. I just heard that quality spreads and some are happy with the pus and others complain all the time about the same model.

I was thinking about getting red tortoise pick guard material. Does anybody has seen their pickguards? I heard tortoise is just printed but does it look good or fake?

 

[GilmourD]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

Um...they don't understand tone circuits? Please explain.

I would imagine that they do know quite a bit about tone circuits as Jay Abend is the same guy that used to be behind Bedrock Amps.

 

[marcello252]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

There's a couple of guys on here who think they're great.

I don't think they actually gig with them though, which maybe says a lot.

(Before you'll ask me this, I say I love SDs, I have SSL-1, JB, '59, CC, Custom, Tele set and many other in my guitars, and I have a quite trained ear about pickups)

I used a lot of GFSs. I do prefer single coils, particularly my grey bottom set, which I used live a lot in my "number one" strat, and the Mean 90, that is a killer pickup in its own.
About the Hb, I like the Classic II a lot, a bit less the Crunchy PAT, then a step below the Fat Pat. I had a very bad experience with a VEH but someone here likes it: now I made a Classic II/Veh hybrid and it's really good, it's in bridge position on the strat mentioned above.

In my opinion they're really good for the money.

 

[marcello252]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

if there is a product by gfs you like, maybe you should find out what product they were ripping off and buy the real thing instead.

what models have you tried?

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I got no problems with my ceramic Lil Cruncher Ceramic MIniHumbuckler , just waht the doctor ordered for my Tele neck untill I can afford a SM3-n Duncan, but they changed it later- mines older, presumably cause it was decent and costed to much to make, so they cheaped out on it and made something crappier- just a guess..
Another time I ordered a Neo pickup, and it was Dead On Arrival. I contacted Jay at GFS, and he gave me a bad attitute that "Nothing they sell could possibly ever be bad, and he would not refund"; somthing to that effect.
Okay so, I go through Paypal Buyer Protection, and 10 days later get a full refund
I won't buy anymore GFS pickup. I do admit they have some decent saddles and upgrade trems for medium grade assemblys that I'm finding it hard to do wihtout, but they can be found elsewhere in most cases.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I never tried any. I just heard that quality spreads and some are happy with the pus and others complain all the time about the same model.

I was thinking about getting red tortoise pick guard material. Does anybody has seen their pickguards? I heard tortoise is just printed but does it look good or fake?

fake. its that same stuff you see on lots of cheap axes - but then again its no worse than the genuine fender tortoise pickguards. I had on one of my strats. The moto and plastic look fine tho...but thats the same with fender too. If you want really good stuff, shell out (sorry for the pun) a few extra bucks and get 4 layer celluloid.

 

[totergecko]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

read their product description in this link:

http://store.guitarfetish.com/1menolofusia.html

can anyone tell me why I think they do not know how tone circuits work now? seriously.

also this product used to be advertised as a no load pot. I ordered one and had to explain to them why it was not a no load pot. MANY TIMES. even the "owner and tech" of the company thought that the tone pots were no load, even though no one would explain why they thought so or listen to my explanation of why they werent. I have a whole chain of emails with them trying to explain to them how they work before finally they realized the product they were selling was actually not a no load pot. who knows how many they sold before they realized it...

 

[jtougas]

Re: "GFS" Guitar Fetish P'ups?

I'll toss in another vote for the grey-bottom overwounds - in my case , the '64s. Thick, without being too heavy and muddy.

I have a pair of the Fat Minis I'm planning on putting into an ash body... I'm looking forward to that.