ok - what's the real scoop on guitar fetish pickups
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bpmorton777
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No, I was talking about a post(s) that JackTheHack made awhile ago.
Brian
Brian
bpmorton777
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it's good to know that other people have had good things to report about them. I am of the belief that there isnt any real magic to one pickup or another . if they are constructed the same and made with the same materials they should sound the same.
Brian
Brian
I've used 2 sets of GFS pickups and couldn't ask for better pickups! I think they sound as good as anything else. I have the Fat Pat's and a crunchy rail and power rail. Haven't used the single coils or lipsticks. But I imagine if the hb's sound that good so do there single's.
well the difference is the boutique guys listen to there products, and bill lawrence has very sofisticated testing methods although he is not necessarily boutique. i wouldn't say a vintage fender copy is any better than another no matter who builds it but some boutique pup have some interesting things going on with there designs.
They are usually OK, as they are most times just straight copies of existing PUP's. I m using the Texas Blues single coils in my strat and they sound fine.
One word of warning, as I have tried contacting him as ebay seller a few times (to resolve a minor dispute), and he basically doesn't ever message you back. I Don't think he has any concept of customer service.
One word of warning, as I have tried contacting him as ebay seller a few times (to resolve a minor dispute), and he basically doesn't ever message you back. I Don't think he has any concept of customer service.
I put some reverse stagger Jimi's from GFS in an Am. strat and they sounded great. Much better than the stock ones. I then sold the originals on the bay and ended up breaking even. It was a great upgrade. Now don't get me wrong, they don't sound as good as the Suhrs I have waiting for a home. But now I'm stuck trying to find a guitar worthy of a Doug Aldrich zebra bridge, V60 mid, and V60LP neck wired up with CTS pots, silver solder, premium Angela caps, CRL switch, and push back cloth wiring all mounted on a tortoise pickguard. Me and my bright ideas.
TonyFlyingSquirrel
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I have a Crunchy Rails that's up there with the Dimarzio X2N, with a tad more clarity. The NeoVin Tele pickups are very sweet too. Much better than their Strat models.
bpmorton777
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Tony,
you've tried both the strat and tele neovin's? What do you think of the Tele version compaired to a standard set of tele pickups?
Brian
you've tried both the strat and tele neovin's? What do you think of the Tele version compaired to a standard set of tele pickups?
Brian
Cagey
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joelmit said:
I haven't tried any yet, but I intend to.
When you think about it, outside of some of the few unique designs, pickups are really very simple things. It's a coil of wire wound around some permeable metal pole pieces that are magnetized by one of two different types of magnets. You can wind more or less wire on the coil, and you can change the strength of the magnetic field, maybe change the shape of the pole pieces, and that's about it. There are a few other minor details you can change, but the raw material and the construction process is pretty much the same whether it's a $120 Kinman or a $10 GFS. So, why the cost difference?
Marketing weenies. They're lower than lawyers. What's worse is the marketing weenies create economies of scale through increased demand and the resultant higher production that they don't pass along. The guy winding coils in his basement one at a time is spending one helluva lot more time doing it than DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan is, yet they're the ones charging a premium when they have the lowest costs.
CrackedPepper
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TonyFlyingSquirrel said:
I agree with your assessment of the Strat NeoVins - I am not happy with mine. They are quiet but lack personality.
I didn't like the strat neovins, either.
Cagey, I don't know, I'm inclined to agree with you that pickups are super-simple in basic design, but I think they differ quite a bit in execution, and that's where the magic comes in. I've had some GFS pickups that were totally forgettable - a tele bridge one, a Cool Rails copy, etc. Why don't they all sound like Lollars, if they actually are the same? Pickups can have the same specs and sound pretty different in my experience - saying it's an A5 magnet flat pole 6.5k strat pickup is not "all you need to know" about a pickup.
Cagey, I don't know, I'm inclined to agree with you that pickups are super-simple in basic design, but I think they differ quite a bit in execution, and that's where the magic comes in. I've had some GFS pickups that were totally forgettable - a tele bridge one, a Cool Rails copy, etc. Why don't they all sound like Lollars, if they actually are the same? Pickups can have the same specs and sound pretty different in my experience - saying it's an A5 magnet flat pole 6.5k strat pickup is not "all you need to know" about a pickup.
bpmorton777
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Tim,
you knew what was in the tele...you bought it, you installed it. not really a fair test....you got sound clips of both pickups in action?
Brian
you knew what was in the tele...you bought it, you installed it. not really a fair test....you got sound clips of both pickups in action?
Brian
Brian, I don't get it - I bought some GFS pickups for new guitars, didn't really like them, replaced them with other ones that I liked better. What's unfair? I've done that with Duncans, GFS, Rio Grande and cheap stock strat pickups too. I think choosing pickups for guitars is mostly guesswork anyhow.
I've had three GFS pickups I didn't like: The big-polepiece Tele one, GFS neovins for strat, the cool rails-copy one. I did have a set of A2 strat pickups I thought were pretty sweet, and I'd try GFS again maybe, but I'm more inclined to buy from Jason Lollar because the products are, so far, uniformly awesome, and the customer service is ace. I would love to try some roadhouse pups at some point too though, or more Bill Lawrence products if it's a budget build.
I've had three GFS pickups I didn't like: The big-polepiece Tele one, GFS neovins for strat, the cool rails-copy one. I did have a set of A2 strat pickups I thought were pretty sweet, and I'd try GFS again maybe, but I'm more inclined to buy from Jason Lollar because the products are, so far, uniformly awesome, and the customer service is ace. I would love to try some roadhouse pups at some point too though, or more Bill Lawrence products if it's a budget build.
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