Excellent demo! I've been a pickup snob for a long time, and I dropped a set of gfs gold foil strat pickups in a DIY strat build. I was very impressed with the tone. Great pickups.
Drill oversized holes where the screws go and epoxy or super glue in hardwood plugs guaranteed fix. Make sure you drill the right size hole for the strap button screws.
if you are always using it in the studio and sitting, it doesn't matter much anyway. I saw a guitar years back (strat but can't remember if fender made... I think it was though), and some old timer was passing by seeing me look at this thing wondering why it was painted and never drilled for strap holes. he said way back they made models for studios. you can tell by the lack of strap holes for they played sitting down. I thought that was interesting
The neck pickup kinda sounds like what the bridge should be. Although I can picture this guitar doing the backing track for a thicker sounding guitar with some sweet growl
I have a newbie question. I have a Godin Session HT guitar, HSS configuration. I was looking to upgrade the tone a bit, so I went to GFS and ordered the Vintage Alnico Staggered pickups (3 single coil) 5K I plan on just using the neck and middle pickups out of those. And for the bridge humbucker I ordered a GFS Alnico Fat Pat Botique Chrome pickup. 14K. My question is will these all work happily together since the single coils are 5k and the humbucker is 14k? I also have a spare Seymour Duncan JB floating around, I'm wondering if that will be a better match if the GFS humbucker isnt'.
It'll work, but when you switch from the humbucker to the single coil pickups there'll be a drop in volume. One way around that is to set the single coil pickups closer to the strings and the humbucker farther away, but then you will lose some of the humbucker's tone. Some players don't care if the bridge pickup is hotter than the neck and middle. Fender sold a set with 7k neck/middle and a 20k humbucker. Some people want the bridge pickup to be louder for those scorching solos! But if you want them all at similar volumes, a humbucker with less output would work better.
To think you actually are considering shitty GFS pickups (these are Chinese reject pickups that no major manufacture would EVER consider using on a real guitar) over the stock Godin's! You really don't know what you already have.
@@pmondout8414 ... nothing "shitty" about GFS pickups. been using them for years and easily match tones with friends with high end guitars and amps...delusional drivel.
Were it plywood it would weigh a freaking ton! Do you know how much glue is in plywood? I have that setup and pups and they remind me of a toy guitar. You if you like that tone, you do you!
drill out the strap button holes to enlargen them and glue some solid wood dowels in the holes. Then you can drill the holes for the strap button screws in the dowels and they'll hold.
I had a squier tele in the 90’s that was plywood .it sounded great I only knew it was plywood when I took the paint off ,it was that horrible blue colour ,they made the strats in the same colour too .I was going to re pain it .but just left it bare wood with some tung oil on it .didnt really care it was plywood it sounded great.it was that old 90’s tone plywood that was on par with all those fancy tonewoods 😂😂😂.
I like GFS pickups. I bought their version of a Bigsby style vibrato and it wasn't very smooth feeling. In general, I think that the GFS pickups are great, but I didn't really like that vibrato system.
GFS pickups are ridiculously good considering the money you pay for them. Duncans are now well over 100 bucks as are DiMarzio's. Don't even think about Fishman's ridiculous pricing when compared.
The Slick 65’ Pickups sounded better to me than the GFS “Jimi” reverse staggers, the Lipsticks and Gold foils. BUT it could be just due to output. I think I like overwound pu’s. And output went in order slicks highest & Golds lowest. But the GFS pickups sounded good, they just weren’t nothing to write home about.
I really liked the sound of the bridge and middle pickups, HX Stomp high Gain Marshal. I've been looking at a lots of do it yourself guitar videos , thinking about building my own guitar and i appreciate your honest opinion that, after buyng the kit and doing the labor all you have is a chip 300 dallors guitar. I'm going to look for a good used fender telecaster MIM. Thank you for sharing!
The majority of S and E serial MIK Squiers from the late 80s, had plywood bodies. They had very nice necks with trapezoidal tuning machines. The rare upscale versions with alder bodies had much nicer hardware, presumably made by Gotoh. Not all plywood/laminate is the same. These bodies use furniture grade laminate, but are definitely not as desirable as those made from a hardwood. The first year of the Fender Bullet was mostly made in America, but the bodies were laminate made in Korea. to keep the cost down. Squiers made in Japan all had hardwood bodies.
Those dreaded trapezoid tuners are without a shadow of a doubt the worst tuners ever put on any Squier. The S and E serial MIK Squiers did NOT have plywood bodies. It was the later ones from 1992-1995. You have no clue what you are talking about. And by the way, now that people are refinishing their 1990s American Strats and Teles they are discovering that they are made from as many as 7 pieces of wood glued together. Imagine if Squier pulled that crap!
There you have it, folks, the definitive answer. I'm just teasing! But I'm not going to lie - if I had a really expensive guitar, I'm not putting GFS in it. I like GFS for budget guitars.
Thanks! Since you asked, I'll work on another motivational type video. I've written down a few ideas for it - I've got a few other videos I've started that I need to finish, but I will get another one done.
Way late but you could let your viewer know that I have a late 80's plywood squier, yes, they made them that way. I keep it just for the unique factor. Even a bad unique, is still unique.
The Korean plywood body is FAR better than the shitty reject GFS bodies. What a waste of money that would be given that the wood makes NO difference whatsoever in terms of the tone.
Excellent demo! I've been a pickup snob for a long time, and I dropped a set of gfs gold foil strat pickups in a DIY strat build. I was very impressed with the tone. Great pickups.
Drill oversized holes where the screws go and epoxy or super glue in hardwood plugs
guaranteed fix. Make sure you drill the right size hole for the strap button screws.
Great idea! I need to remember that one.
A piece if toothpick will tighten the strap pin holes so they hold firm. The Korean bodies were often plywood at Fender’s insistence to cut costs.
I guess I could - actually, it might make for an interesting video to do that repair and a few other little things.
this was a dropin pickguard for post-2023 Squier Affinity
if you are always using it in the studio and sitting, it doesn't matter much anyway. I saw a guitar years back (strat but can't remember if fender made... I think it was though), and some old timer was passing by seeing me look at this thing wondering why it was painted and never drilled for strap holes. he said way back they made models for studios. you can tell by the lack of strap holes for they played sitting down. I thought that was interesting
yes they did make squires out of plywood in korea
I like yhe music you playing at the end of your video! Is that your onw material?
The neck pickup kinda sounds like what the bridge should be. Although I can picture this guitar doing the backing track for a thicker sounding guitar with some sweet growl
Great video, great playing, thx for the demo!!
I have a newbie question. I have a Godin Session HT guitar, HSS configuration. I was looking to upgrade the tone a bit, so I went to GFS and ordered the Vintage Alnico Staggered pickups (3 single coil) 5K I plan on just using the neck and middle pickups out of those. And for the bridge humbucker I ordered a GFS Alnico Fat Pat Botique Chrome pickup. 14K. My question is will these all work happily together since the single coils are 5k and the humbucker is 14k? I also have a spare Seymour Duncan JB floating around, I'm wondering if that will be a better match if the GFS humbucker isnt'.
It'll work, but when you switch from the humbucker to the single coil pickups there'll be a drop in volume. One way around that is to set the single coil pickups closer to the strings and the humbucker farther away, but then you will lose some of the humbucker's tone. Some players don't care if the bridge pickup is hotter than the neck and middle. Fender sold a set with 7k neck/middle and a 20k humbucker. Some people want the bridge pickup to be louder for those scorching solos! But if you want them all at similar volumes, a humbucker with less output would work better.
@@budgetguitarist Thank you so much for taking the time to reply as thoroughly as you did, I really appreciate it.
To think you actually are considering shitty GFS pickups (these are Chinese reject pickups that no major manufacture would EVER consider using on a real guitar) over the stock Godin's! You really don't know what you already have.
@@pmondout8414 ... nothing "shitty" about GFS pickups. been using them for years and easily match tones with friends with high end guitars and amps...delusional drivel.
Were it plywood it would weigh a freaking ton! Do you know how much glue is in plywood? I have that setup and pups and they remind me of a toy guitar. You if you like that tone, you do you!
One, it IS plywood. Two, you've got the word "You" in there one too many times.
drill out the strap button holes to enlargen them and glue some solid wood dowels in the holes. Then you can drill the holes for the strap button screws in the dowels and they'll hold.
I had a squier tele in the 90’s that was plywood .it sounded great I only knew it was plywood when I took the paint off ,it was that horrible blue colour ,they made the strats in the same colour too .I was going to re pain it .but just left it bare wood with some tung oil on it .didnt really care it was plywood it sounded great.it was that old 90’s tone plywood that was on par with all those fancy tonewoods 😂😂😂.
I like GFS pickups. I bought their version of a Bigsby style vibrato and it wasn't very smooth feeling. In general, I think that the GFS pickups are great, but I didn't really like that vibrato system.
Yeah, I've heard their hardware is hit and miss. But I, too, dig the pickups, especially for the money.
Very beautiful, thank you.
GFS pickups are ridiculously good considering the money you pay for them.
Duncans are now well over 100 bucks as are DiMarzio's. Don't even think about Fishman's ridiculous pricing when compared.
Still love your playing!
Thank you, sir!
If it were plywood it would be as heavy as lead because it would be pull of glue
When you look inside the body, you can literally see each layer of wood that was glued together.
The Slick 65’ Pickups sounded better to me than the GFS “Jimi” reverse staggers, the Lipsticks and Gold foils.
BUT it could be just due to output. I think I like overwound pu’s. And output went in order slicks highest & Golds lowest.
But the GFS pickups sounded good, they just weren’t nothing to write home about.
I really liked the sound of the bridge and middle pickups, HX Stomp high Gain Marshal. I've been looking at a lots of do it yourself guitar videos , thinking about building my own guitar and i appreciate your honest opinion that, after buyng the kit and doing the labor all you have is a chip 300 dallors guitar. I'm going to look for a good used fender telecaster MIM. Thank you for sharing!
Guitar kits are great if you love building guitar kits. A used MIM Tele is a great guitar for sure!
@4:46 LOL
The majority of S and E serial MIK Squiers from the late 80s, had plywood bodies. They had very nice necks with trapezoidal tuning machines. The rare upscale versions with alder bodies had much nicer hardware, presumably made by Gotoh. Not all plywood/laminate is the same. These bodies use furniture grade laminate, but are definitely not as desirable as those made from a hardwood. The first year of the Fender Bullet was mostly made in America, but the bodies were laminate made in Korea. to keep the cost down. Squiers made in Japan all had hardwood bodies.
Good info! Thanks!
Those dreaded trapezoid tuners are without a shadow of a doubt the worst tuners ever put on any Squier. The S and E serial MIK Squiers did NOT have plywood bodies. It was the later ones from 1992-1995. You have no clue what you are talking about. And by the way, now that people are refinishing their 1990s American Strats and Teles they are discovering that they are made from as many as 7 pieces of wood glued together. Imagine if Squier pulled that crap!
ya.. they made them out of plywood.. I have one from the late 80's that is plywood... makes for fantastic tone wood.. who'd of thunk it : )
Mine has great sustain.
NO, their Tele pickups were as bad as the humbuckers I purchased . Save you money and buy elsewhere.
There you have it, folks, the definitive answer. I'm just teasing! But I'm not going to lie - if I had a really expensive guitar, I'm not putting GFS in it. I like GFS for budget guitars.
Great video friend! Keep it up.
Please do another motivation video soon. Thanks
Thanks! Since you asked, I'll work on another motivational type video. I've written down a few ideas for it - I've got a few other videos I've started that I need to finish, but I will get another one done.
I only use GFS P-90s in reg form and HB format. Great response, tone and volume. Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Good video. I learned more about Strat single coils, today.
your playing here is fire!!! Great cleans and I enjoyed the distortion's harshness against the mellow quality of the electric piano.
The pickups sound fine but quite honestly I enjoyed your playing even more, thanks for the demo!
Way late but you could let your viewer know that I have a late 80's plywood squier, yes, they made them that way.
I keep it just for the unique factor.
Even a bad unique, is still unique.
Some of the GFS pups are as good as some high end puppys and some not so much! just like everybody else!
GFS also makes great bodies. You could replace that crappy plywood body with a piece of poplar in the same color for about 70 bucks.
Yes - I sort of did! On my channel I built a blue partscaster with a GFS body and some of the parts from this strat. :)
The Korean plywood body is FAR better than the shitty reject GFS bodies. What a waste of money that would be given that the wood makes NO difference whatsoever in terms of the tone.
My GFS strat pickups are great.
Yes….
Yeeesss….
For gods sake yeeeessss…
Gfs are great do your home work and or email them tell what your looking for and they will help you…