GFS pickups or anything else

Updated
GFS pickups or anything else
Hello, I'm looking for new pickups for my little ESP EC-50. Its the ones that were made of Agaithis before the switch to Basswood. I still have the stock LH-150 pickups and I'm looking for a change. I've heard good things about GFS Pickups and I was looking at getting the Power Rail bridge pickup. Has anyone else have any experience with these? Or would recommended a different pickup? I also don't have that big of a budget, so I'm looking somewheres under $60. PS: I'm new to the forum, and this is my 1st post. So, hello! :D
diadorastriker

Cant polish a turd. Save the cash and buy a better guitar in the future.

NeedsMoreBlueBell

Yeah, I know the EC-50 isn't really the best guitar to be upgrading, especially the Agaithis one, but since I have a pretty low income, I might be stuck with it for awhile. And with them being $35, the GFS's don't seem to be a big hole in my wallet.

diadorastriker

They arent that great. Your going to get what you pay for. IMO get a dimarzio bridge p/u that way when you get a new guitar, you can transplant the p/u if you choose, or buy a used pod.

NeedsMoreBlueBell

Well, its gonna be awhile before I can afford a new guitar, but thanks for the info.

richardshipe

you don't need to buy a NEW guitar, lol. you could always buy a used guitar.

as for pickups, rockfield pickups aren't bad at all and they're relatively cheap. but i agree with the other people here, save up for a better guitar.

NeedsMoreBlueBell

Yeah, I was thinking about buying either a used EC-400AT or EC-500 on ebay. Or if I'm lucky, an EC-1000.

diadorastriker

new to him is what i meant. And 1000 series are going for around 600 used now a days.

NeedsMoreBlueBell

Yeah, I knew what ya meant, Dia. Its just that ANY guitar for me, used or not, is out of my budget right now.

esp_gaijin

i just got gfs tele vintage noiseless pups put in an american tele, i pick the guitar up from tech tomorrow, gonna review the pups after that;
i bought the gfs's based on their good reviews, and i don't mean "bang for buck" reviews but simply reviews they were good period regardless of price.

esp_gaijin

beautiful stuff,

just spent an hour with my surfgreen tele with gfs vintage noiseless tele pickups newly installed,

LOOOOVE THEM!!!!

i need to spend more time and get past the honeymoon, but initial results are fantastic!

they are totally noiseless, yet they sound super close to my '52 Reissue tele with its stock pickups,
and i've bought fender's aftermarket '52RI pickups and they did NOT sound like the 3 '52 teles i've owned all which sounded the same and sounded great.

the gfs's are slightly grittier and only slightly hotter than my '52 tele.

man i'm impressed thus far, and super happy.

songs i played for testing: glassy clean 80's new wave stuff, light overdrive rolling stones stuff, light overdrive pink floyd's Time and shine on crazy diamond. all stuff that i always play on either a Strat or a Tele.

the gfs's were not weak, warbly, or harsh highs icepick -- these are the areas bad tele pickup choices failed on for me.

the pots and caps in this guitar are stock American Standard Tele fare.

amps used: Mesa Stiletto, Splawn ProMod, also messed around some with the Splawn Nitro, but the bulk of my stuff was thru the stiletto and promod.

NeedsMoreBlueBell

Thats good to know! I might try to replace the pickups in my Schecter instead of my LTD since its made of a higher quality wood. I have the EMG HZ's in them, and they don't sound too lively and very muddy. I've read they aren't AS good as a DiMarzio, after all, they're half the price, but they're worth the money. I just wanted to see if any other people had opinions about them.

METALCARNAGE04

Sorry to thread Jack but I am looking for a pickup regardless of price with tight bass and harmonic overtones
think a cross between a emg85 and a Gibson 498t
i was looking at suhr, bare nuckle and wcr pickups (if I can find any) but any brand is fine)
my curent setup is a ESP m2 with a mxr gt od and a dual recto with a eq in the loop for a extra thud

esp_gaijin

Sorry to thread Jack but I am looking for a pickup regardless of price with tight bass and harmonic overtones
think a cross between a emg85 and a Gibson 498t
i was looking at suhr, bare nuckle and wcr pickups (if I can find any) but any brand is fine)
my curent setup is a ESP m2 with a mxr gt od and a dual recto with a eq in the loop for a extra thudjmo, i think pickup model matters, but i think these boutique pickups costing $150 and $200 for one humbucker is corksniffery. i think it's wasting money, if one has a lot of moeny it's worth testing out; if one doesn't have a lot of money i don't think it's ever worth doing buy-to-try , you can't resell a used pickup no matter how minty fresh it is, for more than half what it cost new

so i'd suggest sticking with the standard brands and normal prices, ie: dimarzio, seymour duncan, etc.

except for if you hear of an inexpensive brand with good reviews. iow, i'll "risk" $40 for a gfs humbucker, but i wouldn't "risk" $200 for a fucking bareknuckle. totally JMO.

seymour and dimarzio have SOOO MANY different pickup models to choose from, i've been very happy with both those brands.

i gave gfs a try based on reviews and a local friend's suggestion; and i'm very glad i did. being half the price of most pickups, i was willing to take the risk.

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esp_gaijin

note this example about tone:

- people pay $3,000 for a taylor , martin , gibson acoustic guitar

- people rave about the acoustic guitar tone on Boston's albums/songs.

- Tom Scholz recorded that with an inexpensive Yamaha acoustic guitar.

his guitar sounded good; it didn't cost dink.

and tone is in my underwear.
(that's because i just shoved my ipod earbuds into my asscrack, i have no idea why, maybe just to make this joaq).

NeedsMoreBlueBell

I like the way you think. ;)
But with the money I have right now, a DiMarzio or Seymour would still be pretty costly. I'm really still thinking about getting a couple of Power Rails for my Schecter or ESP.

esp_gaijin

if you don't have funds to take a risk on pickups then even a $40 pickup by gfs may not be a good idea,
i'd say go with a pickup model you already know and like, what have you played and liked before? then go and find that model used - don't pay more than half its new cost, it's not worth over half, used pickups are sold all day long, zillions of people buy and try pickups and resell them, or buy a guitar and change pickups to what they like, etc.

i just got done selling a ton of used pickups all for $20 to $40 max price each, including shipping. but main thing i'm saying is just buy some pickup model you already have played and liked, because this is very subjective and though i like the gfs tele pickup, some people might hate it; a lot of other pickups i've hated that other people swear by; etc.

i just got through having in a 2-humbucker tele, emg's, then kramer quadrails, then gibson dirtyfingers, and now i'm back to the emg's because they sounded best. if you don't have the funds to monkey around like that then don't; i already owned all the pickup sets from previous gutiars.

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