Brad
03-07-2005, 04:49 PM
I also spent a bit of time Saturday afternoon changing pups in the ol' tele. I've been very happy with the combo of an SK Dualtone ll in the neck and an SK T-90 in the bridge. But....due to an unexpected financial crisis, I have to come up with some extra cash quickly.....so, it was time to re-evaluate priorities and sell off what I can. I have a pretty healthy stash of parts/pickups I've aquired over the years, so....out with the old and in with the ah...older?
First off, I picked up one of those GFS Dream 180 pickups for $20.00 several months ago. The one with 12 pole pieces they advertise as a cross between a humbucker and a filtertron. I was going to pop a Stew Mac Golden Age in the neck, but decided to give the GFS a go. I was a bit skeptical about the GFS line, but I can honestly say, this is a fine sounding pickup. Very open, articulate and responsive to touch. An excellent pickup for blues, rock and country. It sounds killer clean. Very even across the tonal spectrum. Used with overdrive, it retains it's identity and the string definition is excellent. Wonderful sustain. It sounds pretty ( for lack of a better word ) when played with a light touch and really strats to growl as you dig in a bit. All in all, I'm very impressed with this pickup. Excellent bang for buck.
For the bridge, I went back to an old standard and installed a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Hot T pickup I've had lying around for a few years. Although I use the neck pickup more than the bridge, I was very hesitant to replace the T-90. The T-90 is one of the best tele bridge pickups I've had the pleasure of using. The Dimarzio howeve, also has great tone. Pretty much everything one could want in a tele bridge pickup. It has more twang and spank than the T-90, ( the T-90's strength lies in it's P-90ish tone and responsiveness to vol and tone control tweaks ) and comes close to the P-90ish tone the T-90 has. I am very happy with the tone I'm getting from these pickups. They sound excellent alone and killer mixed together.
While I'm sad to let the Dualtone and T-90 go, I'm glad I had other pickups to fill the gap.
First off, I picked up one of those GFS Dream 180 pickups for $20.00 several months ago. The one with 12 pole pieces they advertise as a cross between a humbucker and a filtertron. I was going to pop a Stew Mac Golden Age in the neck, but decided to give the GFS a go. I was a bit skeptical about the GFS line, but I can honestly say, this is a fine sounding pickup. Very open, articulate and responsive to touch. An excellent pickup for blues, rock and country. It sounds killer clean. Very even across the tonal spectrum. Used with overdrive, it retains it's identity and the string definition is excellent. Wonderful sustain. It sounds pretty ( for lack of a better word ) when played with a light touch and really strats to growl as you dig in a bit. All in all, I'm very impressed with this pickup. Excellent bang for buck.
For the bridge, I went back to an old standard and installed a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Hot T pickup I've had lying around for a few years. Although I use the neck pickup more than the bridge, I was very hesitant to replace the T-90. The T-90 is one of the best tele bridge pickups I've had the pleasure of using. The Dimarzio howeve, also has great tone. Pretty much everything one could want in a tele bridge pickup. It has more twang and spank than the T-90, ( the T-90's strength lies in it's P-90ish tone and responsiveness to vol and tone control tweaks ) and comes close to the P-90ish tone the T-90 has. I am very happy with the tone I'm getting from these pickups. They sound excellent alone and killer mixed together.
While I'm sad to let the Dualtone and T-90 go, I'm glad I had other pickups to fill the gap.