# Budget GFS Pickups?



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Anyone use GFS pickups by GuitarFetish.com for budget guitar projects? I was thinking of a pair of these for my Jaguar Blacktop HH. I can suffer from klutzitis, so I want to start low priced in case I bugger things up.










Dream 90 Black Bobbin with Nickel Case


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I have nothing bad to say about them.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

From what I've heard they're hit and miss. I had one a few years ago and wasn't overly fussy on it.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

This is the guitar (phone pix) I am thinking about using them on....


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

what's your budget? I'd suggest used duncan or dimarzio before GFS, mostly because I have no personal experience with GFS.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I had one of these at one point in time...it didn't impress me.
KP - VEH - Vintage Extra Hot - The BROWN Sound, Chrome - Kwikplug™ Ready

Personally, I found that AlNiCo II pickups produced the tones I enjoyed most.

You might want consider looking for used pickup(s) here in the forum.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

While one can't tell an enormous amount from the DC resistance of the coil, the model Dave/Greco describes seems to have been highly overwound, while the other ones linked to, at just over 8k, wouldpromise a more "open" sound, more compatible with what folks buy Fenders for.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

If I had the money,..... I'd get these Vineham Hum Dogs. HB sized P90s - $190 Cdn per set.










They gotta look right on this guitar.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

They are good for budget...i have the mean 90 and a classic 67(i think) tele pickup...the dont sound terrible


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

You could buy just one for now to get you started.




Robert1950 said:


> If I had the money,..... I'd get these Vineham Hum Dogs. HB sized P90s - $190 Cdn per set.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## tonewoody (Mar 29, 2017)

I've tried a few GFS pickups over the years. The only ones that impressed me were the Dream 90's.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

SaucyJack said:


> You could buy just one for now to get you started.


I think I am going to order a Vineham Sweet 59 humbucker to see how much I like it before shelling out for a pair. A single pickup costs less than an inexpensive pedal so why not. The GFS stuff gives me the impression that it will ultimately just turn out to be money that should have been spent on something better in the first place.

TG


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## alwaysflat (Feb 14, 2016)

I tried a set of similar (Bezdez/ebay) in a LP clone for a while. I pulled them out when a trade opportunity (guitar) came up. They're 8.0K/8.8K and were cheap.
White pearloid instead of black coil top. At the time I used stock 500K pots and .022 caps.
I guess I should get another mule for them and explore a little more thoroughly. Thanks for the reminder


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## Fergie55 (Feb 6, 2017)

Robert1950 said:


> Anyone use GFS pickups by GuitarFetish.com for budget guitar projects? I was thinking of a pair of these for my Jaguar Blacktop HH. I can suffer from klutzitis, so I want to start low priced in case I bugger things up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've had that one in 3 different guitars a Dot, an LP and a Washburn. Sounded absolutely creamy and you crank it up. Sold it in my last build and looking for another. Dealt with them for five years with no hassle's.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

I have a gfs dream 180 bridge pickup in a project guitar. Cool sounding pickup, sounds different than I expected, but can do some pretty cool lead stuff with it. Decent cleans, can handle gain well.

I bought the pickup when our dollar was on par and it made quite a difference in shipping costs etc. I would probably go the vineham route; just buy one pickup at a time.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Having made plenty of pickups for myself, I can say that it doesn't actually take all that much to make one, so they can be produced quite cheaply if they don't require exotic materials (e.g., custom magnets or polepieces, rare wire gauges, etc.). But then, I'm not aiming for any particular tonal target, and I don't have to worry about maintaining consistency. I try different things, using the materials available to me, and am generally varying degrees of happy with what I get in the end; sometimes less, sometimes more.

When you buy them from boutique makers, what you are generally paying for is the higher per-unit overhead costs of somebody who only does THAT for a living, and doesn't have a 5000sq ft facility with one machine operator per 6 winders to produce the thousands used on the budget guitars we see turning up on Kijiji daily. You are also paying for an identified tone that is a fairly close (if not identical) replica of a particular pickup, and that is _consistently_ achieved. In contrast, the cheap ones have a form-factor, a mechanical and electrical reliability target, and that's pretty much it. Although form-factor can often be a powerful component in tone (single-coils will not sound like an HB, and Jazzmaster style will not sound like Strat style), sometimes they sound like what you were looking for, and sometimes not. And although Jay Abend (pres. of GFS) is a decent guy, and provides decent quality for the money, I doubt you'll see any mention of "scatter wind" on the GFS site.

I have little doubt that, for _some _players, and _some_ models, installed on_ some_ guitars, the result will be "Where has this been all my life!". And for other players, the result will be "Not awful, but not what I was aiming/hoping for....but at least they didn't break the bank."


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Would likely save a bit on shipping Vineham Hum Dogs if I just saved $50 a month and order them once I have $200 if I decide to do so. Still waiting on string tree (thank you Mooh). Still have to tweak B string intonation.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Robert1950 said:


> Would likely save a bit on shipping Vineham Hum Dogs if I just saved $50 a month and order them once I have $200.


Vineham's listed prices include shipping if that helps any.

btw.....
I have a GFS "single coil in a humbucker format" bridge pickup I'll donate to your cause if you want to try one out. I don't think it has the open nickel cover though, it might be a closed nickel cover. (haven't looked at it for a while) Say the word, give me an address and it's yours.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Lincoln said:


> I have a GFS "single coil in a humbucker format" bridge pickup I'll donate to your cause if you want to try one out. I don't think it has the open nickel cover though, it might be a closed nickel cover. (haven't looked at it for a while) Say the word, give me an address and it's yours.


I love this community. Will PM You.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

I have 3 sets of GFS single coils over the years. 
Love them, fat, loud and just the right amount of jangle for me. 

I've also have a set of Retro'tron humbuckers (Liverpools) and they are freaky great when overdrive channel of my amp.

I've had 1 of their single coil sized lipsticks and that was ok. Just Ok.


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

I've tried numerous GFS pickups over the years, from their Filtron copies, Tele inspired, and Humbucker styled and none of them lasted very long in my guitars. None of them produced the sound I was looking for or lived up to the hype or description on their web page. It comes back to the old adage "You get what you pay for".


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## MarkusV (Sep 24, 2009)

P90s in my opinion are hard to mess up.
They are supposed to be unrefined and raunchy 
I have a set of el cheapo bez dez ones in a tele and they rock


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

MarkusV said:


> P90s in my opinion are hard to mess up.
> They are supposed to be unrefined and raunchy
> I have a set of el cheapo bez dez ones in a tele and they rock


I agree 100%

I bought some inexpensive ones from ebay in a humbucker casing that resembled a p94....they were definitely single coils (hummed) but they sounded awesome and fat like a p90 should.

Nathan


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

FWIW, I've tried a variety of HB-sized P90s over years: including Seymour Duncan Phat Cats, Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen, and GFS Dream/Mean/Surf 90s in the neck of my main player Tele. What is staying in there, given my desire for some clarity/grit over mud and bridge/neck mix, is the Surf 90, and I would not hesitate using a Mean/Dream 90 over the others. The Dream/Mean 90- also pairs nicely with a conventional bridge HB (Reverend did this for a while). YMMV, of course. Got a tech friend who also swears by their conventional size vintage wind P90s -- I heard a pair in a WildKat and they blew away the stock pickups.

OTOH, I'm not impressed with their Lil Puncher blade pickups, at least the Tele-format ones, BUT the 60s Hot Alnico is a winner (and balances really nice with the above BD P90s). Never tried their HB or strat offerings... 

They regularly have discount deals, so wait for them; shipping to Canada is reasonable and arrives via Canada Post.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I've used GFS pickups of various styles, P-90, Filtertron, Tele, though I don't have any installed at the moment. Dirt cheap and good QC. They're better than your average import guitar pickups and some have been really good, but none would surpass the tone of the classics they imitate, though they're equal to many of the originator's own import knock-offs. I've put them in budget guitars, lapsteels, and to generally experiment.


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## Tony65x55 (Mar 7, 2012)

I've used their P90s, humbuckers, Nashville filter'tron knock offs, NYIIs, Dream 90s. They were ok but nothing more than that. The exception is their Slick Fullerton Tele pickups which are absolutely fantastic. 

Robert, people don't regret buying quality. Spend the little bit extra and get Vinehams. Thank me later.


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