GFS Tele Pick Up Review

Johnny N.

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I really have no business reviewing gear but I'm going to anyway.

A while back I bought a Made in Mexico Squier Series Tele. These were made in the 90's during a time when Fender was transitioning production to Asia. They were made with Fender bodies and necks and from what I understand, cheaper pickups and electronics. This is the guitar.

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I love the way the guitar feels. I always have. I have tried a bunch of teles since I bought this one and none of them have felt as good to me. It is a basic black guitar but the neck is quite nice looking. Overall, a pretty good guitar, especially considering I paid $100 for it with a hard case.

As much as I love the guitar, the pickups were a little weak. Not terrible clean but not a bunch of power when I add some crunch. So I find a couple of ebay deals on GFS pickups. I got the Fatbody neck and the Hot Alnico Lead bridge. They were both second hand but never installed in a guitar. I think I spent $45 total for the pair. Yep, I am a cheap bastard.

So my buddy helps me install them and then we play it through his vintage Princeton Reverb. I dont remember the year but it is a silver face. I dont notice as much difference in the clips below but with that amp, the GFS pickups had more power and a rounder I guess tone. That said, my original pickups sounded pretty damn good through that amp too. I had never heard them sound that good anyway.

The biggest difference was when we cranked it up. The breakup with the GFS was just so nice. It made the hair stand up on my arm. The neck sounded almost like a humbucker to me. Position was fantastic, especially cleaner, and the bridge was just plain nasty when we pushed the amp.

Overall, I am very happy with the new pups and I am glad we did it. I learned that my old pups were better than I thought, at least clean, they just needed to played through a proper amp. Dirty, there is no contest. Unfortunately, I cant find what I did with the dirty clips from the old pickups to compare.

Below are three clips. Original pickups clean, GFS clean and GFS dirty. All of the clips are neck, middle, bridge. I dont hear a huge differnce in these clips but I definitely did with the Princeton. These are through a preset in GearBox through my Toneport.

Tone is a matter of personal taste but let me know what you think. And pardon the lack of talent.

Original pups clean.

http://hc.bloodyvelvet.com/files/209/Tele Clean.mp3

GFS clean

http://hc.bloodyvelvet.com/files/209/Tele GFS Clean.mp3

GFS Dirty

http://hc.bloodyvelvet.com/files/209/Tele GFS Dirty.mp3
 
Actually, listening back to it now it almost seems like I could lower the bridge pickup a little.
 
Definitely an improvement! I've never tried the BFS pickups but they have a great ruptation.

I think that playing the guitar through a "real" amp as opposed to the modeler will give you a truer feel for the sound. Whenever I demo guitars for students I never use the pod in my office since it seems to have the effect of "Homogenizing" whatever is put through it...
 
Definitely an improvement! I've never tried the BFS pickups but they have a great ruptation.

I think that playing the guitar through a "real" amp as opposed to the modeler will give you a truer feel for the sound. Whenever I demo guitars for students I never use the pod in my office since it seems to have the effect of "Homogenizing" whatever is put through it...

This is definitely true. The difference was clear through the Princeton but not as obvious with the toneport. Still better but not as noticable.

I wanted it to remain a tele but with a thicker tone. I got exactly what I wanted as far as that goes. Both pickups have some balls without losing the tele vibe. I cant wait to get a tube amp.
 
This is definitely true. The difference was clear through the Princeton but not as obvious with the toneport. Still better but not as noticable.

I wanted it to remain a tele but with a thicker tone. I got exactly what I wanted as far as that goes. Both pickups have some balls without losing the tele vibe. I cant wait to get a tube amp.

Fender for years has seemed to think that a tele bridge pickup should sound like nails on a chalkboard.....especially on the cheaper instruments. I think you took the right road with this guitar...
 
Fender for years has seemed to think that a tele bridge pickup should sound like nails on a chalkboard.....especially on the cheaper instruments. I think you took the right road with this guitar...


I think so too. I am also thinking of getting some new tuners - these stay in tune but I noticed they are getting a little wobbly when I changed the strings. I think I might get a toroise shell (red) pickguard too. I am just not in love with this pearloid one.
 
I think so too. I am also thinking of getting some new tuners - these stay in tune but I noticed they are getting a little wobbly when I changed the strings. I think I might get a toroise shell (red) pickguard too. I am just not in love with this pearloid one.

I'm a big fan of the vintage style kluson tuners...I even have them on my Suhrs....
 
more proof that its the amp that really matters.

you should post this in HCEG. they'll go hog wild over it. (or it'll drop like a rock)
 
more proof that its the amp that really matters.

you should post this in HCEG. they'll go hog wild over it. (or it'll drop like a rock)


He'd need clips with the Princeton to compare...or maybe (in my massive amounts of free time) I should do a shootout between my POSxt and micing my Deluxe......
 
more proof that its the amp that really matters.

you should post this in HCEG. they'll go hog wild over it. (or it'll drop like a rock)



It might be worth it for entertainment value. Those guys are pretty passionate one way or the other about these GFS pickups.

I would have to make sure to state that they sound better than $200 pickups to make it fun though. I should also just post the same clip for both and talk about the amazing difference.

That could actually be fun. I probably wont have time today but that could be fun.
 
It might be worth it for entertainment value. Those guys are pretty passionate one way or the other about these GFS pickups.

I would have to make sure to state that they sound better than $200 pickups to make it fun though. I should also just post the same clip for both and talk about the amazing difference.

That could actually be fun. I probably wont have time today but that could be fun.

lol.

i like my GFS Mean 90. it doesn't sound like a P90, but i do like what it does. one of these days my Explorer will actually get routed for the damn sustainer and we'll find out if the VEH pup i bought for it lives up to the hype.
 
It might be worth it for entertainment value. Those guys are pretty passionate one way or the other about these GFS pickups.

I would have to make sure to state that they sound better than $200 pickups to make it fun though. I should also just post the same clip for both and talk about the amazing difference.

That could actually be fun. I probably wont have time today but that could be fun.

lol.

i like my GFS Mean 90. it doesn't sound like a P90, but i do like what it does. one of these days my Explorer will actually get routed for the damn sustainer and we'll find out if the VEH pup i bought for it lives up to the hype.

That sounds like the old Tommy Tedesco trick.

When a producer would ask him to change his sound to make it "more rock and roll" or "more Jazz" or just different even though what he had was already right for the song her would just lean over and pretend to turn a knob.

Then he'd play a chord or lick and ask if this was now the right tone and almost always the answer was "yes...thats perfect now!"
 
GFS pickups

I have had great experiences with gfs pickups and am thinking of getting some for a tele. The ones in my Xavier xv500 are incredible, incredible.

I would like to see a chart that roughly associates the gfs pickups with the corresponding pickup that they are supposed to be emulating. For instance, what is the gfs copy of the Seymour Duncan 59 or JB? How close are they?

I'd buy gfs pickups again and plan to buy some soon.

How are the neovins?

Duffy
 
I also like to sing with guitar and i have 3 kind of guitars.
I love music which use guitar's tune.
 
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