remember when we were all nuts over GFS pick ups?

[mutant_guitar]

I just replaced a gfs "pro" 'bucker in my strat's bridge position with an SD 59. Huge improvement, and the SD 59 used was $10 more than a gfs "pro." Not so sure I see the value in gfs when you can pick up quality used gear for nearly the same price. 

 

Do people still get butthurt about GFS here?

[kayd_mon]

I see fewer posts about them (and almost no posts about Xavier guitars). I have owned two sets of GFS, and I have a friend that has bought a bunch. I think that they're certainly good for the money, and some of them sound great in their own right. That said, I have bought Duncans for four guitars, and they are generally much better. Given their easy availability on the used market, it makes more sense to get Duncans (or Dimarzios, I guess) than to get new GFS, unless the GFS has exactly what you're looking for.

[xrleroyx]

GFS has some specialty pickups I've bought, like the humbucker sized wide range reissues.

[kayd_mon]

I agree to an extent on quality. I mean, they are budget pickup upgrades for a reason. As far as muddiness, the two sets I've owned were prettt bright and clear - Dream 90s and a Premium Vintage Alnico Strat set. The Strat set I had was very similar to the Fender 57/62 set, but I must say, the Fenders are better. The GFS set had a bit of harshness where the Fenders were more clear and (as some people say) bell-like. They were good, and clear, but lacking a bit. Still, that harshness might be what someone's looking for. And if you want a vintage-wound Strat set that has bit if "garage rock" character, I recommend those.

 

A friend let me borrow hos guitar with a Dream 180 set in there, and I could hear a little of what you're describing. But those pickup gave my amp a pretty satisfying crunch.

[mutant_guitar]

I do remember people always saying their single coils were better than their humbuckers. I've never tried their SCs so who knows, maybe their not as dissapointing. Still, I can find much better quality for nearly the same coin in the spam thread or ebay. 

I do have a set of GFS tuners on the same guitar with the SD 59. I'll give them credit for that, I've never had a single complaint about the tuners. 

[kayd_mon]

I've bought a Strat bridge and block (solid equipment) as well as some pickups. My first recommendation to someone won'tbe GFS, it's usually Duncan or Gibson, makers of my favorite pickups, or Fender for Strats.

[guitarcapo]

In my experience, anything they made that was labeled "hot", "overwound", "extreme", "plus" or whatever were kind of muddy and lame.  The retrotrons were nice, though...and their standard PAF sounded great.

All that heavy metal style stuff seemed to be what you saw them selling on Ebay because there was an oversupply and not much demand at their online store.

[kayd_mon]

That makes sense, and I sort of expected that about the hot pickups, which is why I've never bought any.

[Fusion1]

I liked their version of Tele hot rails  Wasn't so happy when they first made them before they made a wider version since with their first version, the neck pickup rails didn't completely cover all areas under the strings for a full signal.  Worse yet is they charged more for the wider XL version which is the vesion they should have made from the beginning.  I have many teles, Fender USAs and many crappola imports and none worked with the original hot rails as they were too narrow.  

Having said that, I much prefer the tone of Seymour Duncan Hot Rails for Tele in both neck and bridge positions.  For the money though... The GFS pups are alright.

[kayd_mon]

Not all those trends are necessary bad gear. The 51 was a trend for guys that like to do a lot of upgrades, since they were cheap (even cheaper when blown out), already look modded, and had somewhat unique switching.

 

FWIW, if you can deal with those thin Squier CV necks, the guitars sound fantastic.

[Dougy]

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kayd\_mon wrote:

Not all those trends are necessary bad gear. The 51 was a trend for guys that like to do a lot of upgrades, since they were cheap (even cheaper when blown out), already look modded, and had somewhat unique switching.

 

FWIW, if you can deal with those thin Squier CV necks, the guitars sound fantastic.

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And inevitibly, it lead to an expensive Fender version....

 

[kayd_mon]

Yeah, the 51 worked really well as a Squier. As a Pawnshop Fender, I don't know. I wonder how many they've sold. In fact, I wonder about most of the Pawnshop line, since the only one I see that's worth it is the Mustang (and that one is great).

[Bucksstudent]

I don't understand why the regular Mustang is the price it is, since it began as the student model for the brand. I can't even play a Mustang because I'm too big for it; my hands feel like they're engulfing the fretboard.

 

The Pawnshop version sounds muddy to me.

[kayd_mon]

Well, the Gibson LP Jr was a student model, too. I think the Mustang is generally pricy because 1) Cobain played on, giving the guitar more appeal, and 2) since it clearly isn't for everyone (due to scale and whatever), they decided not to produce a lower line, MIM Standard-level version. Of course there's the Squier one, but I've never actually seen one.

[danny-ZW8Hl]

I tried the gfs ill killer rail pickup. I hated it. Tried to convince myself otherwise, it's **** to my ears

[GilmourD]

 

---

danny-ZW8Hl wrote:

 

I tried the gfs ill killer rail pickup. I hated it. Tried to convince myself otherwise, it's **** to my ears

---

 

Now you do understand that's just one pickup in a line of dozens?

 

If I applied the same logic that some apply to GFS (not saying that you're doing this, since your post wasn't clear on this point) then I would absolutely hate Seymour Duncan because I can not stand the tone of the JB. It's nasaly to me and just hurts my soul. However, I don't hate Duncan and I own several pickups from them.

I personally own two VEH bridge pickups and a set of Greybottom Texas Strat Staggered pickups. I think they sound great. My bassist has a hot Jazz Bass and an AlNiCo MusicMan pickup from GFS in the ash Warmoth/AllParts lefty Jazz Bass I built him. The thing sounds bloody fantastic.

Now, to me, I put GFS somewhere in between Duncan Designed and US factory-floor Duncans, closer to the US in tonal quality as far as my experience (although the DDs aren't that far behind).

If you want something more than that, look at BG-Pups.com. Bryan is up there with Duncan's MJ and Jason Lollar but he doesn't ask for your first born as a down payment on his pickups.

[kayd_mon]

The reason that Duncans are easy to find used is that they are probably the most well-known, bestselling aftermarket pickups.  (with Dimarzio probably in second place).

 

My only real problem with GFS (and I like some of their pickups) is that they try to say they're better than boutique builders, but they're really not. My opinion, of course.

[AJ6stringsting]

I'm not a fanboy of any brand ..... I just love great tone and unique tones !!!!

[JTEES4]

I just put a pair of Crunchy PAT's in a project of mine (bought used cheap). They sound as good as the Duncan Dimebucker and Dimarzio PAF Pro that were in there....sure it depends on the guitar but they sound great in mine.