Short-lived pickup experiment (GFS NYII)

[ricardo_vicente]

Just a heads-up for those who might be thinking of ordering a set of these pickups from Guitar Fetish.

I just received a set which I ordered to try out in my 330. I reasoned that it would be an inexpensive experiment, seeing as they go for less than $80 for a set. What I didn't realise though is that they require new holes to be drilled. They are mounted with a screws in each of the four corners of the pickup housing as opposed to the two screws (one on each side) on the Rickenbacker original pickups.
I am personally not prepared to take the drill to my 330 just to try out these pickups so I'll be leaving the Hi-gains in there.

Just wanted to let you all know in case anyone else was tempted and it wasn't common knowledge.

[doctorwho]

Richard, would those fit if one were to drill holes in the middle of the mounting edge on those pickups (corresponding to where the mounting holes are on a Rickenbacker pickup)?

[jingle_jangle]

Exactly my thinking...fill those corner holes with some 4-40 X 3/16" screws with hex nuts on the back, drill a couple of 1/8" holes in the center of each short side, and use the Rick screws to mount 'em. Don't forget pads or rubber washers.

[ricardo_vicente]

You're both absolutely right. I might just give it a whirl.

[doctorwho]

Let us know how it works out if you do.

[ricardo_vicente]

Sorry for the lack of feedback on this , guys. I've been playing in a band again and, as ever, the 330 is the number one and sounding great stock, so I'm rather less than motivated to tinker.
However, I have since replaced the stock pickups in my Mexican Strat (Robert Cray hardtail model) with a "GFS '64 staggered" set and am very, very impressed.
The set cost me less than 85 US dollars, including delivery to the Canary Islands. They took a mere 4 working days to get here and sound great.
My impression of the GFS stuff so far is that it is high-spec stuff and very good quality.

[whojamfan]

For the money, they are quite good actually. I purchased a few sets for a couple of guitars, and they sound better than what I had in them. When I can upgrade the pickups in a guitar for well under a 100 bucks, that's a good thing. It's nice to have a choice from the 2 big guys and 8 million hand wound 300 dollar boutique pickup folks-not that there is anything wrong with them.

I somewhat recently bought a set of their dual lipstick humbuckers for my Danelectro 12 string that is completely custom except for the body and neck. I used to play this guitar all of the time, but play my Rick instead now(big surprise). The pickups look great, sound much better than the originals, and better than what I replaced the originals with. I have series/parallel/single coil options on them, and the variety of sounds is amazing, with all being "keepers".

I did, however, get their "hot Liverpool" gold humbucker set for my Les Paul, but found they looked much better than they sounded. The sound wasn't bad, but the Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro 2s I put in their make this puppy sing.

Well worth a shot if you're thinking about GFS replacements.

[deaconblues]

GFS sells excellent products...my upgraded Squier Strat has a bunch of parts from them and sounds/plays (surprisingly) great.

[ricardo_vicente]

Another update ...

I had a few hours of spare time this morning and curiosity got the better of me. Well, almost ...

I decided to have another look at these GFS pickups for Rickenbacker. I drilled the new holes, opened up the 330, heated up the soldering iron ... then changed my mind again!
I've really been digging my 330 and its Hi-Gains a lot recently and started hatching plans to eventually get myself another, so I thought "what's the point?".
As a side note, another thing which put me off slightly is that one area where GFS evidently do cut corners to cut costs is with the connection wires. The wire they use is extremely thin, i.e. is made up of very few individual strands. It just looked too brittle.

I'll find something to do with the pickups though. I'm already looking at getting hold of a second pickguard for my Tele to maybe try one in the neck. I may even build a lap steel or something.

My favourite guitar, however, is keeping its Hi-Gains and keeping me pretty happy as it is.