MFD pickups. What do you think?

[Dan R]

I have always been interested in G&L but have never owned one of their guitars. Leo Fender was always inventing things and I am here to inquire about his Magnetic Field Design pickups. Any thoughts?

 

[brookdalebill]

I’m not a huge fan.
They kinda remind me of P90s.
Lots of people, probably even most people like P90s.
I don’t.
MFDs, and P 90s “bark” when you play them hard.
Perhaps that doesn’t make sense.
John Jorgenson sounds great on them, so it’s probably just me.
The MFDs are single coils, but they are fairly quiet.
They are quieter than regular Fender type single coils, and P90s.
Anyways, your results may vary.

 

[tah1962]

I had a G&L S-500 a few years ago and I just couldn’t bond with the MFD pickups. I thought they sounded good clean, but I didn’t like overdrive tones with the neck or bridge pickups. The guitar build quality was fantastic and it played like butter, but I didn’t like the pickups. I thought about replacing them but ended up selling the guitar. I can’t believe I still have a picture of it.

 

[ZenGuitarist]

I really like them but you need to adjust your volume and tone knobs to get the best sound out of them. If you're the type of player who just wants to set your volume and tone to 10 then they're not the pickup for you. They sound best with both volume and tone rolled off.

 

[surf_jimi]

I have an ASAT Classic and I prefer alnico to ceramic pickups. When I first got the guitar a few years ago I thought the MFDs were not bad for ceramics. I still have the guitar but I rarely play it because of the pickups. They seem bright and harsh compared to the fender alnicos I have in other Teles. I guess I’m not a fan.

 

[tonyw]

I have an ASAT special with the jumbo G&L MFD i bought it in 1995, have done heaps of recording and live work with this guitar, it can sound sweet as a nut or if i crank it up it howls.

No problems here with the MFD

I will quote Bill Lawrence here

"When I read that ceramic magnets sound harsh and alnico magnets sound sweet, I ask myself, " Who the hell preaches such nonsense?" There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa! A magnet by itself has no sound, and as a part of a pickup, the magnet is simply the source to provide the magnetic field for the strings. The important factor is the design of a magnetic circuit which establishes what magnet to use."

 

[telemnemonics]

I have some Leo era pickups and a Leo era G&L bass, also used to have a single pickup TV yellow early G&L guitar.
All are the MFD.
The Tele shaped bridge pickup I'd agree sounds a little like a P-90 and not as much like a Tele bridge sound, but I actiully like it better than a P-90 and it's a great Rock pickup in a Tele or Esquire.
The bass is a JB shaped SC and kinda noisy, don't really like that as much as his guitar pickups.
I don't use them, but I do have that one pickup in one of my Esquires and it's a good sound that no other pickup has.

 

[Bowpickins]

I used MFD pickups for a while in all my guitars (Fender MIM telecaster, and American Special Stratocaster) after playing my 2007 G&L Asat Classic S as my #1 guitar. I like the G&L MFD pickups as much as I like a good, traditional T-style pickup.
The G&L MFD pickup is different in tone when compared to a traditional pickup (as previously mentioned); there is a clarity and definition in them that is hard to describe, but you can hear every individual string as you strum a chord, and the adjustable pole pieces on the pickups mean that you are able to adjust/balance the individual output of each string far greater than just setting the overall height of the pickup.
Also, the Asat Classic MFD neck pickup has a touch more clarity than a regular telecaster neck pickup, but still gives a somwhat familar response and tone to one.
And yes, they are a hotter pickup compared to the standard t-style pickup. I think they work pretty well with overdrive, in my opinion. They can be a bit picky as to which overdrive pedal they're being run through, but they deliver a great tone when you get them through the right pedal!

Just a quick note: I have switched to using alnico pickups in my G&L, but the MFD pickups are still some of my favorites for a stronger pickup.

Hope this helps,
Joseph.

 

[telemnemonics]

I have an ASAT special with the jumbo G&L MFD i bought it in 1995, have done heaps of recording and live work with this guitar, it can sound sweet as a nut or if i crank it up it howls.

No problems here with the MFD

I will quote Bill Lawrence here

"When I read that ceramic magnets sound harsh and alnico magnets sound sweet, I ask myself, " Who the hell preaches such nonsense?" There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa! A magnet by itself has no sound, and as a part of a pickup, the magnet is simply the source to provide the magnetic field for the strings. The important factor is the design of a magnetic circuit which establishes what magnet to use."

Yeah I hear the MFDs as warm and fat, maybe growly too.
A P-90 is I'd say a less sweet fat tone, maybe less warm too.
Leo gave us a big gift in the late '40s but other later stuff was quite significant too, just his earlier work overshadowed the later stuff.
If anything the Leo era G&L guitar product was IMO a little better quality than the guitars he made as Fender.

 

[beyer160]

I’m not a huge fan.
They kinda remind me of P90s.
Lots of people, probably even most people like P90s.
I don’t.
MFDs, and P 90s “bark” when you play them hard.
Perhaps that doesn’t make sense.
John Jorgenson sounds great on them, so it’s probably just me.
The MFDs are single coils, but they are fairly quiet.
They are quieter than regular Fender type single coils, and P90s.
Anyways, your results may vary.

Wow, I think of MFDs as the exact opposite of P90s. P90s have that midrange push, and MFDs are more "hi fi" with extended top and bottom. They're really more like a Jazzmaster pickup. I also find them to be noticeably hotter than normal Fender single coils.

I will quote Bill Lawrence here

"When I read that ceramic magnets sound harsh and alnico magnets sound sweet, I ask myself, " Who the hell preaches such nonsense?" There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa! A magnet by itself has no sound, and as a part of a pickup, the magnet is simply the source to provide the magnetic field for the strings. The important factor is the design of a magnetic circuit which establishes what magnet to use."

I don't want to be in the position of disagreeing with Bill Lawrence, but I have noticed that alnico pickups tend to compress more than ceramic ones. I wouldn't want to venture a guess as to why, but it's a pretty identifiable trait. Also, ceramic pickups nearly always have higher output than alnico ones.

 

[tonyw]

Lets have a look at a 2 pickup a 57/62 strat bridge
and my G&L MFD bridge i have as a spare i measured up just now.

Fender 57/62 Bridge
DC Resistance: 5.94K
Inductance: 2.223 H
Gauss reading around 1100

G&L Jumbo MFD Bridge
DC Resistance:5.08k
Inductance 2.75H
Gauss reading 1100

I wont get into the old argument of which sound better, i can only rely on my own experiences with thousands of pickups over the years

Not much between them

 

[aerhed]

No experience with the skinny ones. Just the big ASAT ones. They're my faves. They about ruined humbuckers for me. Too blurry.

 

[elelpe]

Ceramic magnet has bad reputation because it's widely used in cheap pickup with poor materials and windings for cheap guitar.

MFD is a thoughtfully designed pickup for optimum adjustability. With this pickup, a player has less limitation to define his/her sound. It's hotter than '60s tele specs pickup, but '50s? Not necessarily. Somehow Leo decided that ceramic magnet is what the sophisticated design needs.

But we know the rest of the story: even Leo himself couldn't beat the tradition he started decades before. If you love Fender style guitars, you owe yourself to try these pickups. I'd say they're good upgrade for Squires and most Fender MIM guitars.

 

[DOC DYA]

I have a G&L S500 Tribute I bought many years ago (korean made) and I am still amazed at the sound of these MFD PUs. Different from "regular Fender strat PUs" but they combine (to my ears) sparkling highs and meat + the controls of the S500. I wouldn't change them for anything.
I have other guitars for different sounds though...

 

[That Cal Webway]

I like the adjustable poles too

Can raise the weaker D up and flatten /or lower more, the dominant G.

 

[harpdog]

I had a Tribute Legacy. It sounded good but not much like a Strat to my ear. Now I have a Tribute Kiloton bass and it’s a great sound. Not a bass expert and just beginning, but to me it seems to have PB and JB tones, according to my ear and the Fender basses I tried in my search.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Wow, I think of MFDs as the exact opposite of P90s. P90s have that midrange push, and MFDs are more "hi fi" with extended top and bottom. They're really more like a Jazzmaster pickup. I also find them to be noticeably hotter than normal Fender single coils.

+1. I have an ASAT Special with the jumbo MFDs and I call them "P90s with a college degree". I play jazz and I go for a clean sound. If people are saying they are harsh when going for a clean sound, you shouldn't be afraid to use the guitar's knobs. Don't that guy who turns his pots to 10 then soldiers them there!

 

[beninma]

I like them a lot in my Doheny.

But they definitely don't sound like traditional pickups if you leave everything on 10.

They have a lot more howl/scream for sure maxed out.

I think they benefit a lot from being in a guitar that has the PTB setup that Leo Fender designed to go with them. I don't think they can live up to their potential if you throw them in a Tele and it only has a volume + tone knob.

They have more extended lows & highs than a traditional pickup and more output, but if they're in a guitar with the whole PTB system then having the tone knob + bass knob + the good volume roll off behavior lets you dial them in to be more traditional.

I play my Doheny a lot of the time with the Tone & Bass both rolled off to like 6-7 and the volume rolled off to 7-8 and that makes it sound a lot more like a classic Jazzmaster type sound.

Rolling off the bass on the guitar when you're using a Bass-heavy effect is such a great trick.

 

[8barlouie]

I had an ASAT with the smaller sized MFDs in it and I would say they were more growling than a typical alnico pickup. Not better or worse, just different. One thing I liked was the ability to individually adjust each pole piece.

 

[Zepfan]

It all depends on the guitar, the pickup heights, amp settings and your ears.