Anyone tried the GFS Neovin Tele pickups?

[SpinWheelz]

http://store.guitarfetish.com/nenofrpifort.html

Anyone tried these? I did a search and the results came back a bit thin.

Cheers.

[blingdogg]

They only became available for sale this week. they're brand new.

[SpinWheelz]

Is that right? I had no idea - I just stumbled upon the offering while I was shopping around for a bridge pickup.

[joebonilla]

what the? I didn't know these were out yet!!! i'ma get on that quick time!!! :D

[SpinWheelz]

I wouldn't mind making an order to try 'em out. But before I do, thought I'd get some input first.

I've got 500K pots in my current Tele (I suspect it's because I have a humbucker at the neck). I'm also using a 0.033 cap. Now, the GFS suggests 250K pots for their Pure Vintage bridge pickup, but a 500K pot for their Hard Vintage bridge pickup.

Now, granted, I know these are very new "untested" pickups. But in terms of electronic principles, what effect can I expect if I mated a pickup that's been "specced" for 250K pots, to a 500K pot?

[Tele Fan]

It will be brighter than it usually would be.

[GhostofJohnToad]

These look interesting. I've been wondering when they would offer these.

[aunchaki]

Hello Birthday wish list...

There's a good in-depth review of the Strat NeoVins by Rob DiStefano. It's not the same thing, of course, but some of his thoughts probably apply to these as well.

[Doug 54]

just ordered a set of the Hard Power Vintage

[SpinWheelz]

GFS seem to be making a really big deal out of this "get it as close to the strings as humanly possible" setup. What's this about? Is this about compensating for a design intricacy/flaw? Is this a feature of all/most noiseless single-coil pickups? Is it possible that one might need to get the pickups so high that it's the guitar becomes "unplayable" (silly question probably, but I thought, what the hell)?

[SatelliteOrders]

The closer to the strings, the closer the strings to the magnet, the more the pull of the magnet saps sustain. Yes, it is possible, even not at "touching the strings" height.

[Ringo]

depends on the type magnets used, vintage single coil pu's w alnico magnets will cause problems if the pickups are adjusted too close to the strings, but some other designs don't do that , noteably the Bill Lawrence noiseless, Lace Sensors and others.

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by Ringo

...some other designs don't do that , noteably the Bill Lawrence noiseless, Lace Sensors and others.

Exactly. Lace Sensors need to be VERY close to the strings. They don't use six magnets, but lots of smaller, weaker magnets (or something like that).

I'm not worried and am starting to work my brain into ordering a bridge pickup for my new Esquire project (hmmm... Pure Vintage or Hard Vintage??).

[GhostofJohnToad]

Well, just ordered a vintage set today. So I'll let you all know when I get them and get 'em in.

[blingdogg]

I can't wait to hear from you guys who ordered a set. Yes, keep us posted!!

[SpinWheelz]

My pickup arrived today, and I had everything lined up to install the pickup tonight. Alas, it was not to be. The plate beneath the pickup isn't aligned to the bobbin, which means that the mounting screws will not fit into the holes. I'm really bummed, but I've written GFS and hopefully I'll hear back about an exchange.

[Uma Floresta]

I had the same problem with my GFS Tele lipstick bridge pickup. I ended up redrilling one of the holes so it would mount correctly.

[GhostofJohnToad]

Originally Posted by SpinWheelz

My pickup arrived today, and I had everything lined up to install the pickup tonight. Alas, it was not to be. The plate beneath the pickup isn't aligned to the bobbin, which means that the mounting screws will not fit into the holes. I'm really bummed, but I've written GFS and hopefully I'll hear back about an exchange.

Huh, I received mine but didn't look close enough. Mine are for a build not quite ready yet. I'll have to see if that is true with my set as well.

[SpinWheelz]

GFS customer service? Second to none. They sent out another pickup after I contacted them about the misalignment, and I got it over the weekend.

This may be a production problem here because the second pickup was misaligned as well. Upon closer inspection, here's the deal - the base plate is glued to and aligns perfectly with the bobbin; problem is, the holes in the bobbin and the holes in the plate don't line up. So to make the second pickup work, I took the mounting bolt and screwed it in from the bottom up and it "forced" a wider - and aligned - hole in the bobbin. Thankfully, it didn't cause the plate to detach from the bobbin.

I'd be curious to know if I just got super unlucky and ended up with two unfortunate pickups, or if others are having the same issue with this first-run.

My other gripe is the springs and the mounting bolts themselves. Compared to my old pickup, these mounting bolts are narrow, which meant there's a very small amount of play in the bridge because the bolts don't fit snugly in the holes in the bridge. To make matters, the springs are as soft as tofu. Which mean even more play when mounted to the bridge. However, when I replaced the springs with my old, harder springs, the pickups became more securely fastened to the bridge, despite the narrower mounting bolts.

So, it's a 5-conductor pickup. Five! Last time I had a five-lead pickup was pair of Bill Lawrence L-500 humbucker pickups!. I didn't even know that 5 leads was possible in the single-coil pickup. And the poles are flush to the bobbin, they don't stick up.

Soundwise? I seem to get the twang only when I pick really hard. To be more precise, I feel like I have to pick a bit harder than my old pickup to get that twang. I do have the pickups set fairly close to the strings, per the instruction, but when I pick harder, I do get some nice twang for it. When I pick more gently, I'm getting a slightly squawky tone, which I quite like. Noiseless? Absolutely. Now, this is only about a half-hour's worth of playing, so I feel like I've got lots more to test out and optimize.

[Uma Floresta]

Thanks for the review. I look forward to reading your thoughts after you've had more time with it.

Which flavor did you get?

[SpinWheelz]

The Hard Vintage pickup. Seemed to be the right match for the humbucker in the neck.

[blingdogg]

Anyone else tried them yet? I'd like to hear more opinions on how they sound.

Originally Posted by SpinWheelz

Soundwise? I seem to get the twang only when I pick really hard. To be more precise, I feel like I have to pick a bit harder than my old pickup to get that twang. I do have the pickups set fairly close to the strings, per the instruction, but when I pick harder, I do get some nice twang for it. When I pick more gently, I'm getting a slightly squawky tone, which I quite like. Noiseless? Absolutely. Now, this is only about a half-hour's worth of playing, so I feel like I've got lots more to test out and optimize.

How do you like the tone of the neovin after a few more days with it?

[Derek Kiernan]

Originally Posted by SpinWheelz

I didn't even know that 5 leads was possible in the single-coil pickup. And the poles are flush to the bobbin, they don't stick up.

They're bladed dual coil humbuckers, and the poles are part of the ground array/don't sense the string.

[DavidP]

Especially the vintage strength models? I'm thinking of trying one in the bridge position of my Reverend Buckshot--its fully exposed in the route so noiseless may be worth trying out. It also has to balance the (excellent) Revtron mini HB in the neck.

[dadawads]

I put the power rock overwound bridge neovin on one of my tele copies. The neck pickup is a GFS p90. This particular neovin has a great sound, but not really a tele sound. I call it a Les Paulicaster. If you want that sound get it. I prefer the sound of GFS fatbody pickups, which is a traditional tele sound but with more guts. I'm debating changing the neovin for an overwound fatbody. My other tele copy has GFS fatbody pups on the neck and bridge and sounds great.

Dadawads

[boris bubbanov]

The fact that there's no Rob DiStefano review of these pickups is, IMO, a very ominous sign.

I wish you guys the best of luck.

[dadawads]

Just to reply to Boris,

On my tele copy with GFS fatbody pups, I had replaced Fender Japanese tele pups that came from a Fender Antigua Telecaster. The GFS were bigger and sweeter in sound. I don't care whether Rob ever reviews them. That logic does not stand up for me. The fatbody pups are truly excellent.

Dadawads

[Fajah]

Originally Posted by DavidP

Especially the vintage strength models? I'm thinking of trying one in the bridge position of my Reverend Buckshot--its fully exposed in the route so noiseless may be worth trying out. It also has to balance the (excellent) Revtron mini HB in the neck.

I can't help you with the bridge pickup, but I just received 3 Neovin (NeoTN7) neck pickups which will be installed in 3 STL-50's. The physical installation is complete so they just have to be soldered, hopefully today. Once done, I'll post my thoughts.

[blingdogg]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

The fact that there's no Rob DiStefano review of these pickups is, IMO, a very ominous sign.

I wish you guys the best of luck.

I never knew Rob DiStefano is the ultimate judge of what is good or not for everybody...

[Derek Kiernan]

Originally Posted by blingdogg

I never knew Rob DiStefano is the ultimate judge of what is good or not for everybody...

I think the comment was made because Rob did the Neovin review for the Strat set, and it seems like he hasn't investigated the Tele offerings.

[blingdogg]

Originally Posted by Derek Kiernan

I think the comment was made because Rob did the Neovin review for the Strat set, and it seems like he hasn't investigated the Tele offerings.

Oh, ok, I didn't know about that.

[Fajah]

So I just finished the installation of GFS' Neovin neck pickups in three STL 50's. The physical installation was straightforward. On one of the three guitars, the bottom edge of the hole in the pickguard needed to be filed down a bit so the pickup would sit straight up and not on an angle. The pickup on my guitar is on a slight angle but barely noticeable and the third guitar was fine.

Wiring it up was also straightforward although if you follow the included diagram, it will be out of phase with the STL's stock bridge pickup. This was consistent with all three guitars. The "out of phase" sound is very interesting when in the middle position, but a tiny bit of hum comes through at higher volumes. The hum does get picked up when you record. I found this out when I did a recording with the pickups out of phase before correcting it.

I find that the Neovin is cleaner and brighter than the stock neck pickup while still maintaining some warmth and bottom end. Most important for me.....it's dead quiet. When in the middle position, it cuts down the single coil hum coming from the bridge dramatically.

Here a link to the sound sample I recorded for your listening pleasure:

http://www.box.net/shared/nyk74y8q87

First sample is the stock STL neck pickup, followed my the Neovin neck pickup, and then both the Neovin neck and stock bridge pickups together. My guitar was plugged into a Cube 60 set on JC Clean with a bit of reverb. Tone controls on my amp were set flat with the volume and tone controls on my guitar wide open. My strings are Ernie Ball Slinky 10's and I used a medium pick. Lastly, I haven't changed my strings since the summer.

One last thing on the setup. The neck pickup's height is set very close to the strings (as per GFS' instructions). The bridge pickup height has to be adjusted for tonal taste and balance for when in the middle position, it can overpower the neck and lose some warmth. It's personal taste of course.

All in all I'm really happy with it. Like all GFS pickups I've used so far, it's great value.

[Uma Floresta]

Sounds very nice