GFS Tele Pickups?

5

'59

New member
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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?
 
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.
 
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
 
ArtieToo said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
I have a set of their humbuckers. Installed into a Peavey Tele, but not wired up yet. Film@11.
 
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
 
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.
 
'59 said:
I'm considering alnico gold foil neck, and one of their lipstick tubes in the bridge.
Click to expand...

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.)
 
Last edited:
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. :D

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.
 
^^^^ 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.
 
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.
 
freefrog said:
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. :D

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.
Click to expand...

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.​
 
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.
 
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