I've recently bought a GFS Gold Foil Ferrite soapbar humbucker. I mounted it on my Eastwood Baritone to replace the neck pickup that I founded too muddy and rusty. Despite being a cheaply-made pickup, it sounds marvelously. It matches the sound of all the demos I have heard on the net. The sound is incredibly defined and clear, the highs are shimmering and refined, the basses are transparent and profound. the sound is soft, light and precise. It is a completely new category of pickups. I'm sold to it.
So, some years ago I went to Hawaii for my cousin's wedding. He had this old silvertone there that he'd picked up for $5 at a yard sale, and it was is pretty sorry shape, and had these really odd looking pickups that reminded me of an old automobile grille. Anyway, in my spare time there, I cleaned it up, and restrung it, and wow, the neck pickup sounded amazing! I offered him double what he'd payed for it, which he declined. It took some searching over the following years, but I finally came to learn that these were a variant of these "gold foil" pickups... just with red foil, in the case of this guitar. Now I'm on a quest to find some, or reproductions at a reasonable price. I'm also a fan of Ry Cooder's music, and had no idea he was also a fan of these until I started digging.
I never comment on videos but this is the only one i've watched with the right combination of great playing, decent sound & interesting information given clearly and concisely. Good job.
Seems like the "warmer"-sounding Guyatone pickup's polepieces are closer to the neck, and the "thinner"-sounding one's polepieces are closer to the bridge. Maybe flipping it around would thicken up its sound.
also... I'm not sure why more people don't talk about this, but gold foil pickups sound AMAZING With colbalt string on a detuned short scale into a high gain amp. fuvking incredible
The midrange scoop makes this sound feel soo wider. Beautiful tone and gorgeous slide technique. I'm looking for replacing the stock P90 on my baritone guitar by a gold foil pickup. Sadly Mojo pickups is overflowed by customer demand and I will have to wait.
@@GregoryPearsonMusic Yes I did the replacement. The sound was lighter, softer, with less attack and a more "ambient" feel. These pickups are interesting, really. I'll keep them in my Godin "Redline", which is a modern strat with humbuckers. They give a smoother sound to a guitar aimed at metal originally.
Nice man! Another tip for those looking to build a Coodercaster Tele but avoid routing is to order a body that is routed for P90’s in the neck and bridge. Both the Mojo gold foil and the lapsteel fit P90 routes. There are plenty of places online that will route decent bodies for not a lot of money. P.s. I still haven’t got around to posting my build thread on TDPRI but it’s on my to do list!
I have enjoyed the videos on Gold Foil pickups. I have just bought a K-Line Truxton. British Racing Green with a Lollar Gold Foil in the neck and a P90 at the bridge, I have fallen in love with the gold foil. Like a P90, but without the hike in the mid and surprisingly loud. Bright without any edginess. The Tele is a great platform for these kind of pickups. Very nice playing by the way.
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2331759943535787&set=p.2331759943535787&type=3&theater That should lead you to it. Actually the original pickup surround and P90 cover were black - but I thought it looks much better with cream.
Sounds good but what i miss is my jagalike Audition with gold foils and LaBella Flatwounds thru a phono preamp with channels split thru a stereo. Yes, pretty horrible but worked for a kid of 15 copping Sab, Mountain and ABB. ha, don't forget the headphones ;)
I have an old high school guitar with two of those nothing sounds so I don't know how to describe it really warm sounding. Maybe that's why Clapton has one in one of his guitars and I've seen others
I'm a big fan of these style of pickups too, I really like the guyatone's, but I want to give a shout out to the echopark/arcane gold foil style pickups too. I have one in my coodercaster style guitar and it sounds incredible. When it even beats the 2 vintage guyatone's I've had in a lot of ways.
Thanks EJ - I agree those arcane style pickups are very cool indeed - and I also agree not all Guyatone pickups sound good - I have some which are a little on the weak side - thanks!
Yea, weirdly enough I've found I use the gold foil pickup about 95% of the time compared to the Lap steel pickup. I don't know, I just can't make friends with it lol. I do seem to prefer neck pickups in general too.
@@EJ_Crough right I hear that. I'm the same but live with a band to cut through in use the bridge with a more overdrive tone which helps compress the highs.
@@EJ_Crough but also live I like using the neck with a nice creamy over driven tone for lead ...but for chordal stuff I use the neck with either chorus or vibrato which I love
Also since you mentioned Ry tends to solo on the bridge pickup I felt compelled to link to this; ua-cam.com/video/AJnWdj7Km94/v-deo.html @17:20 he takes one of my favorite short and sweet blues solos! It looks like he's on the neck pickup and has oddly raised the screws of his goldfoil. I find that particularly interesting since I vaguely remember Jason Lollar talking about gold foil construction saying that the screws didn't do anything. That's diving pretty deep into guitar nerdsville, but hey I find this stuff interesting!
The entire time I watched this video, all I could think was "What on earth is that pickup in the bridge position, and what is that metal plat around the bridge, on the first guitar?" I don't even care what it does, I need it.
wow but the algorithm for suggested(to me) videos sux going with it's dates! But anyway hearing this and because I'm a tone chaser I'm a bit lost without knowing if the Guyatones had a bridge and neck(orientation) position pickup and are they humbucking, with a coil tap option? There are plenty situations where only one pickup of a certain style used along with a certain effect in a certain way and amp that's a one of a kind tone. You'll see players that use a certain pickup in all their guitars for their main tone and a different guitar/amp that's for a wider range of tones with more variety or dynamics because their main tone amp/guitar doesn't have a controllable clean tone if at all. You had one orientation in the blue guitar and reversed in the natural wood guitar, why? Plus I heard very little noise to boot. Tone chasing will never end but it's good to see certain components that were used to define those great tones like Ryland's as a example. Another would be Ty Tabor and his Gibson L5's and Fender Super Strat, Gilmore"s tone using a recorder(If a recall) to get his tone and on. Great vid!
Great video. Do you happen to know how the vintage ones were wound, back in the day. I would assume they were machine wound. And would you know any of the specs on the windings? Roughly how many turns? Thanks for the great videos.
Saw a Fender Jim Adkins thinline telecaster equipped with this type of Japanese Goldfoil pickup for sale the price is quite high, it'd be interesting to and play and hear how it sounds , tho it sounds great in this video
Great video! I have an old Teisco pickup (and an extra coil from one I tore apart) in my parts box that I've been saving for 40+ years. What value pots for Volume and Tone and what capacitor value do people generally use with Gold Foil pickups? Thanks!
Liked your demo a lot. I am wondering if those original gold foils were wax potted. I know the new Mojotone models are. I'm guessing the original ones were not.
The adjustable poles pieces on the Teisco were facing the bridge while the Guyatone ones face the neck......won't that affect the pickup's tone and output?
What is the bridge PU on your Coodercaster? What is the function of the metal covering the pickup. I have an original gold foil that I’d like to put in a single PU guitar.
Im a huge Ry Cooder fan - I don't really listen to Blake's music so much but he's an amazing player and a great producer and I love his tones. Ry Cooder is a big influence on my style of playing - especially his slide playing. Other big influences are: George Harrison, Peter Green, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, Eric Dolphy, Richie Valens, Jimi Hendrix, Bill Evans etc etc.!
@@TheGuitarShow hello i want to ask you a question and may be you could help me. ive found a blue teisco del rey spectrum (called 2 because of the 2 pickups) for my searching this is the 3rd series whit the gold hardware, whit the word spectrum in the neck side, its from 67, 68 or 69 i guess from the information that is in the web. it sound fantastic!!! althoug the vol pot whas changed and 3 missing screws, its all original. but the pickups squeaks a lot and have microphonic issues, i feel and know in a way that there is the charming of these vintage sound. So here is my question: what do you think that i can do to solve the michoponic issues whitout changing the tone and spirit of true vintage sound of the pickups? hope made myself clear about what im asking because english is not my lenguage, also hope you might help me to get an idea of what could i do whitout changing for bad the guitar, because you have a lot of knowledge about all of these guitars and pickups. un saludo desde Argentina. : )
Great demo although I personally think a strat is already too thin of a sound to have gold foils. They do sound amazing in the Tele tho and really love being in bigger chambered and fully hollow bodied guitars.
It’s the “free as a bird” tone. Also, I never realised the similarities between “free as a bird” “Shangri-la” and “sleepwalk”. Well done. I’ve got an old gold foil I’m thinking about adding to my tele as a middle pickup.
There is no such thing as "A Gold Foil Pickup". These are many cheap, usually microphonic, pickups usually installed on inexpensive electric guitars. They used gold craft foil as a decoration to spif them up a bit, but they are all over the map as far as design, construction and sound. I've heard great sounding ones, real crap, and everything in between, all with gold foil on them. The gold foil does NOTHING at all. It just a decoration.
Great demo. Minimal effects showcase the pickup, the demonstrator knows how to play. He tuned his guitar. Take note youtube.
Thanks
Came here for gold foil pickup information and 30 seconds in and you have a new subscriber. Superb slide playing my friend!
Great playing guitar 🎸 excellent sound! The tones are heavenly !
I've recently bought a GFS Gold Foil Ferrite soapbar humbucker. I mounted it on my Eastwood Baritone to replace the neck pickup that I founded too muddy and rusty. Despite being a cheaply-made pickup, it sounds marvelously. It matches the sound of all the demos I have heard on the net. The sound is incredibly defined and clear, the highs are shimmering and refined, the basses are transparent and profound. the sound is soft, light and precise. It is a completely new category of pickups. I'm sold to it.
An excellent summary of that pickup: I have one in the neck position of my SG, my experience evidently identical.
So, some years ago I went to Hawaii for my cousin's wedding. He had this old silvertone there that he'd picked up for $5 at a yard sale, and it was is pretty sorry shape, and had these really odd looking pickups that reminded me of an old automobile grille. Anyway, in my spare time there, I cleaned it up, and restrung it, and wow, the neck pickup sounded amazing! I offered him double what he'd payed for it, which he declined. It took some searching over the following years, but I finally came to learn that these were a variant of these "gold foil" pickups... just with red foil, in the case of this guitar. Now I'm on a quest to find some, or reproductions at a reasonable price. I'm also a fan of Ry Cooder's music, and had no idea he was also a fan of these until I started digging.
Thank you for this very comprehensive and clear explanation. Really nice playing too by the way.
pleasure is all mine
I never comment on videos but this is the only one i've watched with the right combination of great playing, decent sound & interesting information given clearly and concisely. Good job.
Thanks very much for your kind words
Seems like the "warmer"-sounding Guyatone pickup's polepieces are closer to the neck, and the "thinner"-sounding one's polepieces are closer to the bridge. Maybe flipping it around would thicken up its sound.
Good point and something we'll worth trying... Thanks
also... I'm not sure why more people don't talk about this, but gold foil pickups sound AMAZING With colbalt string on a detuned short scale into a high gain amp. fuvking incredible
They are Ry Cooder's favourite pick-up, and people do talk about them. They are for sale on Ebay.
The midrange scoop makes this sound feel soo wider. Beautiful tone and gorgeous slide technique. I'm looking for replacing the stock P90 on my baritone guitar by a gold foil pickup. Sadly Mojo pickups is overflowed by customer demand and I will have to wait.
Many thanks indeed
Marin, coming to this discussion a little late - but did you finally replace the P90 with the gold foil? and what type of difference did it make?
@@GregoryPearsonMusic Yes I did the replacement. The sound was lighter, softer, with less attack and a more "ambient" feel. These pickups are interesting, really. I'll keep them in my Godin "Redline", which is a modern strat with humbuckers. They give a smoother sound to a guitar aimed at metal originally.
i love the pickguard you chose for that beautiful Strat!
thats the Ry Cooder look, Coodercaster.
Wow, that Mojo pickup. Sounded like a mix between a Tele pickup and a gold foil
I bought the Guitar Fetish gold foil pickups and was very impressed with them after I put them in a straty type guitar.
which output? i"m kinda lookin at them for a brian may tone...
@@Scott65J - GF makes a BM set called Brighton Rock.
Damn that's pretty playing. Thanks for the info, love those old Teisco gold foils!
Thanks Mike
Inspiring playing and tones, Casper.
Many thanks indeed 🙏🙏🙏
Nice man! Another tip for those looking to build a Coodercaster Tele but avoid routing is to order a body that is routed for P90’s in the neck and bridge. Both the Mojo gold foil and the lapsteel fit P90 routes. There are plenty of places online that will route decent bodies for not a lot of money.
P.s. I still haven’t got around to posting my build thread on TDPRI but it’s on my to do list!
Cool thanks for this! That's a great tip - I'm going to do an update video on making a Coodercaster and Ill include this info - thanks bro!
I thought the lapsteal was body mounted
That last one would make a great funk pickup. I could see that layin down some funk licks like hell
Thanks yes its a real funk vibe
Your a great player..love listening
many thanks indeed
Really like your sound/ playing and thanks for the info. Will def do more investigating.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Anthony
well I know what my next project is going to be..fantastic tone..
Keep me updated on the progress! Best, R.
Amazing cover of Sleepwalk
Thanks for the great demo
My pleasure!
I have enjoyed the videos on Gold Foil pickups. I have just bought a K-Line Truxton. British Racing Green with a Lollar Gold Foil in the neck and a P90 at the bridge, I have fallen in love with the gold foil. Like a P90, but without the hike in the mid and surprisingly loud. Bright without any edginess. The Tele is a great platform for these kind of pickups. Very nice playing by the way.
lovely - please post a link of your guitar - Im interested to see it! Thanks for watching David!
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2331759943535787&set=p.2331759943535787&type=3&theater
That should lead you to it. Actually the original pickup surround and P90 cover were black - but I thought it looks much better with cream.
Very nice, detailed explanation an demos, amigo! Thanks!
I also very much enjoyed listenin to yer playin; fine job, that...
Beautiful playing, really pretty man. Anywhere I could hear your full cover of sleepwalking?
Thanks I will do that been meaning to play it for a while
Great clear tone
Thanks Dai
Sounds good but what i miss is my jagalike Audition with gold foils and LaBella Flatwounds thru a phono preamp with channels split thru a stereo. Yes, pretty horrible but worked for a kid of 15 copping Sab, Mountain and ABB. ha, don't forget the headphones ;)
Good info, thanks for sharing
Pleasure
Great job 👏 😊
Thanks 🙏
Top chune! Great review mate. Enjoyed all of that.
Jeez man when I play slide we'll I don't because I sound so bad. But I couldn't listen to you all day long ☺
Thanks so much Malcolm - Im sure you are better than you think!
A fantastic intro!
Thanks Grant
I have an old high school guitar with two of those nothing sounds so I don't know how to describe it really warm sounding. Maybe that's why Clapton has one in one of his guitars and I've seen others
I'm a big fan of these style of pickups too, I really like the guyatone's, but I want to give a shout out to the echopark/arcane gold foil style pickups too. I have one in my coodercaster style guitar and it sounds incredible. When it even beats the 2 vintage guyatone's I've had in a lot of ways.
Thanks EJ - I agree those arcane style pickups are very cool indeed - and I also agree not all Guyatone pickups sound good - I have some which are a little on the weak side - thanks!
Yea, weirdly enough I've found I use the gold foil pickup about 95% of the time compared to the Lap steel pickup. I don't know, I just can't make friends with it lol. I do seem to prefer neck pickups in general too.
@@EJ_Crough right I hear that. I'm the same but live with a band to cut through in use the bridge with a more overdrive tone which helps compress the highs.
@@EJ_Crough but also live I like using the neck with a nice creamy over driven tone for lead ...but for chordal stuff I use the neck with either chorus or vibrato which I love
Also since you mentioned Ry tends to solo on the bridge pickup I felt compelled to link to this; ua-cam.com/video/AJnWdj7Km94/v-deo.html
@17:20 he takes one of my favorite short and sweet blues solos! It looks like he's on the neck pickup and has oddly raised the screws of his goldfoil. I find that particularly interesting since I vaguely remember Jason Lollar talking about gold foil construction saying that the screws didn't do anything. That's diving pretty deep into guitar nerdsville, but hey I find this stuff interesting!
Absolutely f@ckin' beautiful mate!
The entire time I watched this video, all I could think was "What on earth is that pickup in the bridge position, and what is that metal plat around the bridge, on the first guitar?" I don't even care what it does, I need it.
same here. I need answers
@@bsmith8166 www.mojopickups.co.uk/product/mojo-lapsteel-with-strat-bridge/
..looks like you got Cooder's guitar, ..🎸
Thanks Ben - Ry Cooder called me - he says he wants his guitar back!
wow but the algorithm for suggested(to me) videos sux going with it's dates! But anyway hearing this and because I'm a tone chaser I'm a bit lost without knowing if the Guyatones had a bridge and neck(orientation) position pickup and are they humbucking, with a coil tap option? There are plenty situations where only one pickup of a certain style used along with a certain effect in a certain way and amp that's a one of a kind tone. You'll see players that use a certain pickup in all their guitars for their main tone and a different guitar/amp that's for a wider range of tones with more variety or dynamics because their main tone amp/guitar doesn't have a controllable clean tone if at all. You had one orientation in the blue guitar and reversed in the natural wood guitar, why? Plus I heard very little noise to boot. Tone chasing will never end but it's good to see certain components that were used to define those great tones like Ryland's as a example. Another would be Ty Tabor and his Gibson L5's and Fender Super Strat, Gilmore"s tone using a recorder(If a recall) to get his tone and on. Great vid!
Teeesco and paaahff pickups. 😂
ha
Great video. Do you happen to know how the vintage ones were wound, back in the day. I would assume they were machine wound. And would you know any of the specs on the windings? Roughly how many turns? Thanks for the great videos.
Great questions - Ill do a video on this soon!
Saw a Fender Jim Adkins thinline telecaster equipped with this type of Japanese Goldfoil pickup for sale the price is quite high, it'd be interesting to and play and hear how it sounds , tho it sounds great in this video
Great video! I have an old Teisco pickup (and an extra coil from one I tore apart) in my parts box that I've been saving for 40+ years. What value pots for Volume and Tone and what capacitor value do people generally use with Gold Foil pickups? Thanks!
Very frustrating, as a slide player I would have liked a comparison of the 2 pick ups playing slide on both the Teisco AND the Guyatone.
Okay I'll try to do another video soon in this
that would be great @@TheGuitarShow
@@markh7523 pleasure
Liked your demo a lot. I am wondering if those original gold foils were wax potted. I know the new Mojotone models are. I'm guessing the original ones were not.
Fantastic playing, and guitar tones! What amp are you playing through?
The adjustable poles pieces on the Teisco were facing the bridge while the Guyatone ones face the neck......won't that affect the pickup's tone and output?
Sounds great you have an original style where are Mojo p/ups?
Thank you - The Mojo pickups are at: www.mojopickups.co.uk. Thanks David
Is it a single coil , is it the gold cardboard that makes it a gold foil ?
wow! . . i love that tone!-do you think mojotone can do a good rendition?
Yes perfectly Sarah
How would you say they compare to Jazzmaster pickups ?
Thanks!!!
Which is the body wood of the Navigator Thinline Tele? Alder or Ash?
It's Korina - it's my favourite guitar
Thanks 🙏 I'm planning a thinline with fold foils and I'm scouting for the right body wood. Korina it's one of them
What is the bridge PU on your Coodercaster? What is the function of the metal covering the pickup. I have an original gold foil that I’d like to put in a single PU guitar.
fuck man what a great player!
Thank you sir
Which gfs goldfoil humbucker would you recommend?
Mojo pickups do some great replicas but try and get the originals if you can off ebay or reverb as those old goldfoils have some extra Mojo to them
Would you clue me in on how to procure the coodercaster pickguard/pickguard material?
I'll let you know as a friend got mine for me
@@TheGuitarShow thank you! I appreciate it.
Very interesting. How would the Guyatone pickup sound in the bridge position ?
It sounds pretty good actually although not as direct as a normal tele single coil
How does the DeArmond pickup compare to the Teisco and Guyatone?
strangely ugly strat at the beginning ... i love it
You must be a Blake Mills and Ry Cooder fan
Im a huge Ry Cooder fan - I don't really listen to Blake's music so much but he's an amazing player and a great producer and I love his tones. Ry Cooder is a big influence on my style of playing - especially his slide playing. Other big influences are: George Harrison, Peter Green, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, Eric Dolphy, Richie Valens, Jimi Hendrix, Bill Evans etc etc.!
What tuning are you using? I would love to know.
i myself am a teisco (bridge) fan! . . you did not show any teisco pickups
Yes the first slide guitar playing is done on an original Teisco pickup from the 60s
thanks!
ah right you mean in the bridge - no just the neck im afraid
TEISCO=tokyo electrical instrument sound company
@@TheGuitarShow hello i want to ask you a question and may be you could help me. ive found a blue teisco del rey spectrum (called 2 because of the 2 pickups) for my searching this is the 3rd series whit the gold hardware, whit the word spectrum in the neck side, its from 67, 68 or 69 i guess from the information that is in the web. it sound fantastic!!! althoug the vol pot whas changed and 3 missing screws, its all original. but the pickups squeaks a lot and have microphonic issues, i feel and know in a way that there is the charming of these vintage sound.
So here is my question: what do you think that i can do to solve the michoponic issues whitout changing the tone and spirit of true vintage sound of the pickups?
hope made myself clear about what im asking because english is not my lenguage, also hope you might help me to get an idea of what could i do whitout changing for bad the guitar, because you have a lot of knowledge about all of these guitars and pickups. un saludo desde Argentina. : )
hifijohn Cool
what pickup is in the bridge of the first guitar in the video?
An original valco lapsteel pickup from the 50s
SHALL I TELL YOU ABOUT MY LIFEEEE? THEY SAY IM A MAN OF THE WORLD!
Is the volume rolloff issue something you have experienced as well ?(as pointed out in this video ua-cam.com/video/JNXDOPDjpkA/v-deo.html)
No mids? I'm hearing nothing but mids.
Great demo although I personally think a strat is already too thin of a sound to have gold foils. They do sound amazing in the Tele tho and really love being in bigger chambered and fully hollow bodied guitars.
Great playing. Great sound. Tuning?
Ok, this is driving me crazy, what’s the song you’re playing at the beginning? I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me.
sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny
Gah! Cheers mate. Your performance of it sounds great. Your tone and style reminds me of George Harrison.
@@IanOrmistonMusic ah thanks so much I am a huge George Harrison fan
It’s the “free as a bird” tone. Also, I never realised the similarities between “free as a bird” “Shangri-la” and “sleepwalk”. Well done. I’ve got an old gold foil I’m thinking about adding to my tele as a middle pickup.
@@IanOrmistonMusic thanks you won't regret installing your gold foil
Sleepwalk....ahhh
Thanks
Thank you Julian Assange
Pelasure bro - its hard making these videos from inside prison
There is no such thing as "A Gold Foil Pickup". These are many cheap, usually microphonic, pickups usually installed on inexpensive electric guitars. They used gold craft foil as a decoration to spif them up a bit, but they are all over the map as far as design, construction and sound.
I've heard great sounding ones, real crap, and everything in between, all with gold foil on them.
The gold foil does NOTHING at all. It just a decoration.
How much do vintage gold foils go for. £
I think around £100 - £150
Thanks mate
if you don't recognise this song you're lying
Not much sustin though.