animalfarm Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Or dealt with them? Kind of FITS RIGHT IN with the Misinterpreted Post titles popping up today. It's a legit question. Cheap prices, but what their rep? Quality of product? Etc, etc....... (yes, I've done the internet searches for reviews, just wanted "live" feedback vs Text on a page from last decade....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Norm Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Bought pickups from them for a Tele. Great customer service, fast shipping and very good quality pickups. They first forgot to send the screws with the pickups, I emailed them and received an instant answer and the screws 3 days later ( In Canada ). Only good things to say about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyscaglyc Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 All good, everything I've ever done and/or heard about them. Matter of fact, going to be ordering a mean 90 PU from them. The ones that fit the HB size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabar Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Many favorable posts about GFS pickups (in particular) on this and other guitar forums. Quite a few players have rated their '59 Classic humbuckers as close to Gibsons, Seymour Duncans, Kent Armstrongs in tone and quality, but much less expensive. Their RetroTrons are praised by Gretsch and Rickenbacker aficionados, and lotsa folks here have used their Dream 90's, Mean 90's and Dream 180's and seem happy with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Dean Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 But what about the quality of their guitars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I just placed an order with them for the first time. Delivered within four days and everything was correct, so no complaints here. One of the items I bought was the GFS VEH "Brown Sound" Pickup. As far as quality for the PUP goes, it sounds pretty decent, but it's not quite as hot as I'd hoped for an overwound. Also, its hella noisy at full tilt...especially compared to my DiMarzio X2N that is dead quiet when cranked. Yeah, I know...Not remotely the same PUP, but I figured the X2N would be noisier by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epirat Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Check with Wang he puts his in dresses all the time for his parties....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Check with Wang he puts his in dresses all the time for his parties....... Click this link, then press red dot that appears. Goes with your joke! http://www.instantrimshot.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 animalfarm, i laughed so hard my wang started to hurt.:- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floydpink7 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Click this link, then press red dot that appears. Goes with your joke! Nice one! Gotta remember to lower my speakers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canine Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Bought from them myself, recommended them to a friend too. Will again buy from them in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyushPresley Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I have heard about them in this forum and other forums as well that they sell quality products even guitars, haven't yet tried them though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 I'd say that 95% of what I've read and heard here has been positive regarding this company, so I chanced it and bought a bridge and neck set of GFS Alnico Fat Pat Humbuckers at $32.95 Ea to replace the G and B pups in my Raven. Also bought miscellaneous body hardware to replace the sucky-looking "satin" gold with shiny gold. Also a set of regular - sized 500K pots to replace the "dinky" ones from the factory. The prices are Loooooooowww!!!! The factory G and Bs just don't produce. They WORK, but.... Hell, upgrading is half the fun, lets you put a bit of yourself into the guitar, and the GFS pups are inexpensive enough to try out. If you don't like 'em, sell 'em to your bud, buy the "name-brand", I suppose.... Shipment arrives Friday, soldering iron on hot standby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffy Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I have bought great upgrade stainless steel bridge saddles for strats from them, Wilkinson style inexpensive locking tuners that work great, pickups that are single coil humbuckers, 'lil killers, that are completely silent and well liked by everyone I've put them in for including myself. I want to try some power rails, HB's, some texas style single coils, some Dream 180s, and some others, as the appropriate anticipated need arises. People report that the guitars are great, expecially the semi hollow tele's. The solid body LP's and strat types are also supposed to be quite nice. They even make a Xavier semi hollow strat style with f holes. I haven't tried one yet but the solid body tele's have been catching my eye, especially some of those cool colors like the racing yellow and the fiesta red with the maple fretboard. The LP semi hollow ones also look quite appealing. I helped rebuild an "old" Gibson Les Paul with parts from GFS: everything electronic was replaced with good level stuff from them, the switch, even top of the line Agile series chrome humbuckers stoptail and tonepro type bridge. We salvaged the old tuners but they looked in really poor shape and we left the finish alone. After all the other retrofitting with non gibson parts I thought we should have gently sanded the very worn and no very appealing finish with some really fine sandpaper and lightly stained and protected the surface of the wood, even if we had to take it to an auto body paint supply house that I know will custom spray small items for you. They could even get in nitrocellulouse or use a high durability urethane and do a pro job. We could have prepped that up and that guitar would have come out looking incredibly astounding. As it was the owner was extremely happy even without the beautifying of the finish. I doubt the refinishing would have lowered the value of this old gibson because of the other parts and the fact that it would have been a pro job. I think it would have enhanced it's value, considering the substitutions already made. It looked and sounded astounding even though, using only GFS and rondomusic.com Agile top of the line LP covered HB's. It was kind of an unexpected and probably unusual request but we did it and the customer couldn't have been happier. It was relegated to the closet and was unplayable. We transformed it into a beautiful work of art that had really great playability and did it for a cost that had the owner very happy. Around here, Central Pennsylvania, there are not many people rolling in the dough. Saturdays look like wagon train: Amish day of worship. Not many people around here know about GFS or rondomusic.com . People with a lot of cash on hand buy a lot of nice Fenders and Gibsons locally at price matched prices from some good shops, only a couple shops though and the rest will not price match, period. They also sell a lot of nice ESP's, Ibanez's, Taylor's, etc. More people would get stuff from guitarfetish.com and rondomusic.com if they knew about the places. Don't think I've ever seen a local band use an SX or Agile guitar. When I sit in with my friend's band I'm going to purposely use a SX. I'm sure I'll get a lot of questions about that. My SX's are mostly stock "looking"; all of them have the stock pickups on them right now. The strats use hot ceramic pups and the P nineties are plain. These SX guitars are prime subjects for experimenting with some very inexpensive GFS pups. I have done a lot of hot rodding on other guitars to great effect using real Seymour Duncan pups, but I want to use some more GFS pups just because of the reputation and the economy of it. One of my SX strats I'm going to try to go for a certain type of sound on and will be able to do it thru GFS and will always be able to keep the pups for something else if they don't produce the desired effect. GFS is the type of thing that I have to think about using. If I think the guitar project I'm working on should have real Seymour Duncan's with sounds that have been proven to me that I really like, I will be partial to the SD items and pay the premium price. Relatively, I do really good amateur jobs of replacing pickups and have seen my improving applications. I think GFS pickups can be used to really great effect by amateurs with a little talent and practice and there are plenty of people on these forums to help you out. I really enjoy hot rodding inexpensive guitars and transforming them into really great sounding, feeling, and looking guitars. I always start with a guitar that doesn't have any outstanding issues and plays great, within reason and withing the scope of the deterioration or brokenness of the components, to begin with. I never try to hot rod a guitar that has what I consider really hard to deal with problems like twisted necks, incorrectable action, greater than very minor cracks, cracks in the neck or headstock, or other eliminating factors. Starting with a cheap basically well playing guitar to begin with has always resulted in an awesome completed project. I took a twenty five dollar Squire that had some really nices things going for it and rebuilt it into a mind blowing guitar, fitted with top of the line Seymour Duncan pups, an new high quality pickguard, Fender locking tuners, GFS stainless saddles, new knobs and plastic, a good tremolo arm, great pots and a great switch, and some quality workmanship, and produced the resultant "Black Pearl", one of my best sounding and favorite guitars. Part of it is psychological because there is a incalculable value to experiencing the reward of producing a great guitar from meager beginnings. I think even the tone takes on a special warmth or bite that would be missing if you didn't attribute it at least in part to your own hand, heart, and soul, including burn marks, string jabs, etc. A long post, I know, but hopefully it will fall upon the open mind of someone who can appreciate something of the worth of it. Contact me anytime if you have any specific questions from an amateur who has some skill and talent. Duffy Winfield, Pa. mjbolduc@dejazzd.com Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Duffy, excellent post. You've taken my brief statement "Upgrading is half the fun, etc", and expanded upon the thought in a well-spoken line of thinking. I have owned Gibsons, Love 'em, would have them exclusively if the cash flow would allow it. However, reality has led me in it's own way to Epiphone. I once considered Epiphone to be one of those cheap second-rate guitars that people who couldn't afford the real stuff bought. I NOW see that I WAS WRONG! I think EPI Guitars are the greatest thing since the fat wallet. Took a long time to see that EPIs ARE a Stand-alone brand. And now, like you, I am discovering the joys of taking the decent-playing, inexpensive knock-off/copy guitars and putting a set of headers and a high-rise intake manifold on one to produce better than when started result. Which knock-off/brand to Mod/play around with? Who knows, I'm here to learn. My tastes may change as I become more experienced, but we all start somewhere, eh? "Welcome to the Doctoral Thesis forum...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I e-mailed them with some product questions and got some pretty rude/mean responses. Won't shop from them now; they aren't the only people that have the stuff I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffy Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Actually they are very good people running GFS. Sometimes their emails are very brief because you can't call them and they have a whole S*** pile of emails every day but they answer them immediately, sometimes even over the weekend. I'd give them a second chance and reword some of your questions and do it again. Really, they have a great reputation. Try to find a phone number. Return policy is unsurpassed. Duffy Animalfarm: Great to hear that someone else likes to hot rod some decent cheap guitars. I now always start with a good playing guitar with something that makes it special; usually cheap models, neat strats like SX strats with solid alder bodies SST57 or SST62's for 109 new and great colors, sometimese even mahogany strats. Other times I pick up a used Squire that has something nice about it and might be really cheap and then turn them into awesome axes. I like to get Standard series Squires at least. I want to find a semi hot rodded super strat type Ibanez or something even nicer, used, cheap, and put in some great pups. I'm thinking these modern hot rodded guitars will be collectors items years from now, times will change, the old timers will want the guitars of their heros, dimebag type guitars, etc. The only even close to heavy metal guitar I have is my Viper - 50 stock; maybe my Schecter Omen six with hot rodded pups is heavy metalish, and maybe my Schecter C-1 dual HB semi hollow w piezo pup saddles, stereo, with hot hot rodded pups and upgraded pots. Definitely not a cowboy guitar. Anyway it's fun but I always start with a decent playing guitar to begin with, zero string buzz or other disqualifying defects. Then the guitar comes out great. Check out rondomusic.com , n/affl. Cheap hot traditional and metal looking guitars. Duffy Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjones200x Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I just placed an order with them for the first time. Delivered within four days and everything was correct' date=' so no complaints here. One of the items I bought was the GFS VEH "Brown Sound" Pickup. As far as quality for the PUP goes, it sounds pretty decent, but it's not quite as hot as I'd hoped for an overwound. Also, its hella noisy at full tilt...especially compared to my DiMarzio X2N that is dead quiet when cranked. Yeah, I know...Not remotely the same PUP, but I figured the X2N would be noisier by comparison.[/quote'] The brown sound by mr halen in my knowlege wasnt that high of an output pickup, his amp was the main factor. I find that my hotslag pickups are to hot for his sound and i have to back off the volume on the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The brown sound by mr halen in my knowlege wasnt that high of an output pickup' date=' his amp was the main factor. I find that my hotslag pickups are to hot for his sound and i have to back off the volume on the guitar. [/quote'] Yeah, I'm starting to get it figured out. The excessive RF noise is killing my signal. If I shut off EVRYTHING in the house the output isn't drowned out as much and comes through much better. Still get too much noise though. I think that once I get my RF noise under control, the pickup will sound about where I expected it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Actually they are very good people running GFS. Sometimes their emails are very brief because you can't call them and they have a whole S*** pile of emails every day but they answer them immediately' date=' sometimes even over the weekend. I'd give them a second chance and reword some of your questions and do it again. Really, they have a great reputation. Try to find a phone number. Return policy is unsurpassed. Duffy [/quote'] There is a difference between quick and professional and rude. Guitar Fetish was rude. Flat out. I didn't ask anything extraordinary or anything that would require a lot of research - I couldn't find an answer on their website so I e-mailed and asked and got a rude response. They don't offer anything I can't get other places for similar prices with similar return policies so they won't get my business and when other people ask me 'where should I get x item' or 'what do you think about Guitar Fetish' I will share my experience, flat out. The e-mail response I got from a competitor who is just as busy (if not more so) was friendly, courteous and while they didn't answer what I was asking right off the bat they at least offered some guidance as opposed to a rude 'no, we're too busy.' A few people locally have asked me about parts and sites as I have begun to rework my new Epi and I've made it a point to not bring up GFS. I personally work a job where I am paid as an expert to answer questions to a large client base in a technical field populated by a lot of highly strung non-technical folks. If I would have answered or approached my correspondence like GFS did I would have the same result GFS did; the loss of a customer. I don't care how busy you are or high your e-mail inbox pile is - rude treatment of a customer that might or is actively purchasing for you is not acceptable. I don't care if you have to come up with some BS boilerplate you can paste into your e-mail if you are having a hard time keeping up - making a customer feel put off for asking a question before or after a purchase is just bad news bears. I get ridiculous requests all the time that amount to 'can you do my work for me?' and the rule that seems to work the best is that even though its so easy to say 'No, we can't' (which is what GFS did) it's way better to say 'if you help me figure out this out, then we can say 'Yes we can provide you with whatever solution/part'. Just my $.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I e-mailed them with some product questions and got some pretty rude/mean responses. Won't shop from them now; they aren't the only people that have the stuff I need. The #1 electronic component supplier in New Orleans is filled with some of the rudest, loudest, most hostile people I've ever heard, but they are still the go-to guys for a capacitor or potentiometer. The fellow at rondomusic.com (Kurt) lives up to his name sometimes (he can be abrupt and rude), but one has to ask oneself if it is worth putting up with the rudeness if they have something you need. I could boycott Kurt at Rondo, but not being able to buy another Agile, well, that's too much to ponder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 The #1 electronic component supplier in New Orleans is filled with some of the rudest' date=' loudest, most hostile people I've ever heard, but they are still the go-to guys for a capacitor or potentiometer. The fellow at rondomusic.com (Kurt) lives up to his name sometimes (he can be abrupt and rude), but one has to ask oneself if it is worth putting up with the rudeness if they have something you need. I could boycott Kurt at Rondo, but not being able to buy another Agile, well, that's too much to ponder.[/quote'] Agreed; I've gotten a message or two from (I think it was) Kurt and they were... abrupt. Here's the difference between Kurt's and GFS's responses: Kurt answered my question. GFS did not, I just got some general rude static and a general dressing down for wasting their time. I am agreeing with you to a certain point: I am willing to put up with a certain level (though my margin for it is decreasing) of lack of social graces when a company provides a unique product (like an Agile) or where the expertise is beyond reproach. A good non-guitar example: I would rather deal with a rude mechanic that really knew his stuff than have my car butchered by a pleasant moron. Genius and awkwardness seem to go hand in hand. The main argument I'm making is that GFS is on a roughly equal playing field with the heretofore unnamed competitor in levels of expertise, product selection, prices AND return policy. They do not offer anything to compensate from their trashy treatment. The competitor has a much better website and way better customer service. GFS loses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron G Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Intellivised, please copy your original email, with GFS' response. I'd be interested in the actual exchange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 There is a difference between quick and professional and rude. Guitar Fetish was rude. Flat out. I didn't ask anything extraordinary or anything that would require a lot of research - I couldn't find an answer on their website so I e-mailed and asked and got a rude response. They don't offer anything I can't get other places for similar prices with similar return policies so they won't get my business and when other people ask me 'where should I get x item' or 'what do you think about Guitar Fetish' I will share my experience' date=' flat out. [/quote'] Sorry to hear that. I have NEVER had a rude email response from Jay. He is to the point, and oftentimes that point is not expounded on. Sometimes a response may sound rude, although that wasn't the intent. I have had to return one item and had no problems with Jay. Sure there are many other places to go to, but I will be back, I'm a satisfied customer. I have GFS pickups in several guitars, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Much better than the stock Epi pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I don't know about you, but their Epiphone Genesis copies are pretty tempting for the price. Even the Japanese Epis need new pots and tuners, if you can find them anywhere not seriously hacked up. In the meatime I could order one of these from GFS for the parts cost I'm putting into the one on my bench: I'll try one next month and report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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