Lawrence or Kinman? GFS distant 3rd

[horrible]

You can go ahead a shoot me first, but if I am not DOA help me in my final breaths with this small dilemma. I have a b hefner custom parts tele with all kinds of wierd stuff on it. The pickups blew chunks and I changed them out myself (very fun) and put in Fender vintage tele PU's. It fixed the HUGE "no tone" problem I had with the initial pickups, but the fenders are NOISY.

I don't want to step too far away from twang, but want quiet pickups. I don't want to go much above 120.00 for this, so bardens and fralins are out. The BL pickups are in the game and (big time) so are the GFS pickups. Kinmans are more expensive, but I would maybe go for them.

In order I want:

1. tele twang
2. quieter
3. a bit more balls in the neck pickup.

The only other confusing thing is that I would be willing at some point to even go to a three pickup configuration, but I want help solving this first.

Im nuts enough to buy both and try them, but the time and aggravation doesn't justify.

Thoughts?

thx guys. amazing forum. I will post pictures of this damn plank when I am done.

JUD

[jpervin]

If you don't mind an open coil neck pickup, the Bill Lawrence Keystones are just what you're looking for.

[spankdplank]

+1 for BL Keystones.

[Tony474]

Kinmans are the first choice by a million miles, but if budget is an overriding consideration, the combination I have in one of my Teles is outstanding: GFS I37 Fatbody at the neck with I29 Alnico Vintage 50 at the bridge. Regular single coils, but reverse wound so that the combined position is hum-cancelling (connect neck white to ground, black to switch). For bridge or neck selection alone, reduce noise with good shielding. Low cost, terrific sound, especially the neck pickup, which is what you're after.

This setup also has the benefit that as the neck pickup is coverless, there's no problem about grounding if you fit a 4-way switch as I have. In this case both combined positions (parallel and series) are hum-cancelling. The best part is that you could fit both pickups and the new switch for well under your $120 budget.

[Darrell]

I bought my first GFS pickup last week. It is the neck pup as mentioned above. And all I can say is that I have spent more, with much lesser results in my past. It was everything I was expecting and more. This is a fine pup and it has me looking into their bridge models.

I had my doubts. We are all sold on more money is better. This is the one of the few occassions, that it doesn't hold true.

[horrible]

yes this GFS route sounds good. The kinmans are expensive, but if a lot better probably worth it.

but if the GFS's sound as good as it sounds they do, then it is probably a home run.

[boneyguy]

Originally Posted by Darrell

I bought my first GFS pickup last week. It is the neck pup as mentioned above. And all I can say is that I have spent more, with much lesser results in my past. It was everything I was expecting and more. This is a fine pup and it has me looking into their bridge models.

I had my doubts. We are all sold on more money is better. This is the one of the few occassions, that it doesn't hold true.

I just installed a GFS Fatbody in the neck and a GFS Alnico '62 in the bridge of my Tele Thinline. Absolutley fabulous. The neck is spanky, warm and ballsy and the bridge is bright with no icepick. Not wimpy pickups at all. Excellent value.

As far as the 60Hz hum you can get rid of 95% of it just by properly shielding your guitar. It's a sad fact that most guitars come with little to no shielding at all. Follow the directions at http://www.tdpri.com/forum/guitarnuts.com
and you will be pleasantly surprised. I have almost no hum from my single coils. This is a very simple mod to a Tele and the results are amazing.

Also I came across this quote from Bill Lawrence just today concerning the unique shielding propertes of aluminum.

The quote is extracted from http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pick...awrence-2.html

Aluminum has some strange properties, and it’s the only commercially available metal I know of that can eliminate the buzz caused by light dimmers. An inch thick copper or brass shield cannot reduce the buzz caused by light dimmers but .003 thick aluminum foil can! This is known some thirty years and the reason why Belden introduced double shielded cable ( Copper braid plus aluminum foil). There is one problem for guitar cords -- the double shielding makes the cable too stiff . It helps quite a bit when you shield your guitar with copper and aluminum foil.

Try this one-- wire a single coil to a jack and plug it into your amp. Put the pickup on a table next to your amp. Take an aluminum pan from your kitchen and put it slowly on top of your single coil and watch the hum disappear.

Bill

Every guitar should be properly shielded. You won't regret the short time spent doing it.