GFS Lil' Punchers?

[andy__woods]

Anyone try these pickups from GuitarFetish? They look cool, and the audio clips for the "cool vintage" set sound pretty good too. Your thoughts?

[pfflam]

I have a lil Puncher Vintage Barden clone in the neck of an MIM and all I can say is WOW . . . . Its a strong, clear, quiet pup with a good sound - solid. Really well made.

I am not the most experienced with Pickups, but it is not just good for the price, AFAIK, its really a good Pup . . . I'll go play it more and get back with further descriptors.

[guitarzan13]

I have the 13k modern version in this one.........
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne...7626974&size=l

I LOVE It!!!!! The others are a lil Killers..........I also have one in my sons Tele. With a 6K killer and a cool vintage puncher in the neck. Again....awesome!!! This is his:]
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne...7153458&size=l

[rocknroller]

I have the Lil Punchers in one of my teles. Great pups, great price!! You definitely can't go wrong.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...leclose-up.jpg

[andy__woods]

guitarzan you dog! Those Tele's are hot looking. Wow, thanks for the replies to guys, I've always heard good things about GFS pickups, but theres nothing like more praise for them!

[Home Grown Tele]

I've got one of the 13k models in the bridge position on this one and a Retrotron Memphis for the neck and couldn't be happier. Great tone and NO hum! Love em!!

[johnnelles]

Outstanding pickup. Clear as a bell - very close to a classic Tele tone when single-tapped, and you can overdrive with the best of them with both HB coils.

[spankdplank]

I have a 10k modern vintage in the bridge and a 6k cool vintage in the neck of a partscaster. The sustain is amazing and they really drive an amp. The tone is as advertised--classic tele with a little LP thrown in. HOWEVER--the rails are too short for an American or vintage spaced bridge and they cause the high and low E's to sound weak. The rails are also curved a lot--good for a 7.25 or 9.5 radius necks but not good for anything flatter. GFS has acknowledged this problem and has a new set with longer rails that you can get from their web site, but they are not available with the long rails on Ebay. Just make sure you get the set that fits your bridge and neck. I liked the tone and sustain, but can't live with the E drop outs, so I am going to pull mine and put in some Keystones.

[Ringo]

I've tried the Lil Puncher bridge pickup twice, it was just ok IMO.
On the plus side, it is very quiet pickup, it sounded good but not outstanding, not at all like a traditional Tele pickup, more like a humbucker, which it is.
If you are looking for something other than the traditional Tele sound it might be ok, otherwise I'd pass.
GFS pu's are cheap enough but they have no resale value if you don't like them.
If you want to try them , look for a used set, I saw a set somewhere the other day for something like $35 shipped.
YMMV etc....

[Rob DiStefano]

I wasn't much interested in these pups at first, but reinstalling a Tele set for a customer yesterday using 500K pots instead of 250's made a Huge difference in tone and attack. Snap and Twang. Quiet. Keepers.

[guitarzan13]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

I wasn't much interested in these pups at first, but reinstalling a Tele set for a customer yesterday using 500K pots instead of 250's made a Huge difference in tone and attack. Snap and Twang. Quiet. Keepers.

Same here.....500K pots and a .02 cap....Major sweet....I even have to roll off the tone sometimes

[mark norwine]

If you like the tone you're getting, then nothing more needs to be said.

Just don't for a moment think that these sound like Bardens......they don't.

[spankdplank]

With the 500K pots in mine they were definitely more in the tele tone zone than in the LP zone. I think a 250 pot would be a mudfest, but I haven't tried it.

[guitarzan13]

Originally Posted by spankdplank

With the 500K pots in mine they were definitely more in the tele tone zone than in the LP zone. I think a 250 pot would be a mudfest, but I haven't tried it.

I did...... Mudfest.....especially the neck pup. I even added a cap to my mid and neck pups to cut the bottom end. Read my last post here.....
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pick...up-needed.html

[andy__woods]

I'm really not too happy with my sound. I've always thought the neck was ok, but the bridge just didn't do it for me, really nasally almost. Hah, and believe me, if I liked them, I wouldn't think of spending ANY extra money. I like those cool vintage, I'm not much for high output, so I think I'll give them a try.

[david henman]

...the lil puncher in the bridge of my tele sounded cool through an o/d box, and i had no problem with dropout, but in general it was just too muddy and dark.

-dh

[andy__woods]

well, I got some in, Cool Vintage Lil' Punchers. I'll post a review in a bit

[sl1960a]

Originally Posted by spankdplank

I have a 10k modern vintage in the bridge and a 6k cool vintage in the neck of a partscaster. The sustain is amazing and they really drive an amp. The tone is as advertised--classic tele with a little LP thrown in. HOWEVER--the rails are too short for an American or vintage spaced bridge and they cause the high and low E's to sound weak. The rails are also curved a lot--good for a 7.25 or 9.5 radius necks but not good for anything flatter. GFS has acknowledged this problem and has a new set with longer rails that you can get from their web site, but they are not available with the long rails on Ebay. Just make sure you get the set that fits your bridge and neck. I liked the tone and sustain, but can't live with the E drop outs, so I am going to pull mine and put in some Keystones.

I have the new Lil Puncher XLs in my "66 tele. I ordered them straight from Guitar Fetish and received them (modern vintage neck and modern lead bridge) in less than a week. Currently I'm using the original pots which are 1 meg pots - I remember reading where in the mid to late 60's Fender would somwetimes use 1meg pots instead of 250k pots. I'm still thinking about going to 500k pots, but not yet. The bridge pickup rocks, but still has spank, too. I also use a 5 way switch to get a coil tap on the bridge pickup - it's sounds really cool too. I did have a bit of an issue with the neck pickup (almost too tall with the magnet in the bottom - I wish I could get it lower, but I' not going to start rounting on my '66. The neck pickup is really fat - I was looking for a neck humbucker tone without putting in a real, full sized humbucker - THIS IS IT!!. It also sounds great with the bridge pickup, humbucking and single coil. I may try the cap in series trick though, because it's almost too bassy (wish I could lower the puckup height a bit more) - I stll haven't got the chance to really gig with it a lot, but will this weekend for sure.

Also, the XLs work GREAT fro both E strings on both pickups - they really POP when they get smacked. I am so happy the XLs came out before I bought the Lil Punchers. They are well worth the extra few dollars.