G&L MFD S-500

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs: 4.71K

Model of guitar or bass:
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change: These are the stock PUs

Perceived output level:
Tone:
Sonic evaluation: This is a follow up to my earlier review (I gave the PUs a 4). I am playing this guitar (S-500) more lately and it's because I'm growing to like these PUs. They have a very pure tone, beautiful really, it's just not a Strat tone, not as woody. I have a '64 Strat with very nice PUs, took me 20 years to find this lefty instrument, but I'm finding I play the S-500 almost as much. The clean sounds are amazing. No, you can't get a SRV tone out of these MFDs, but you can get an airy tone that hangs out there like nothing I've heard. I had to play an extended solo at a wedding to fill up some time, and something happened there that couldn't happen with the Strat. The sound took everyone by surprise, including me. These are very good PUs, they just take some getting used to. In a very short time, they are beginning to sound better than the pre-CBS stuff for clean sounds. Keep an open mind, and give these a try!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues, country, folk, rock...

Comments: I would have to have a guitar with these in it, they have a sound I have to have, and I don't hear this sound from anyone else (everybody plays Fenders and Gibsons). Been playing 25 years now...

Pickup features: single coil/passive/bassplates/adjustable polepieces
Impedence or other specs: Unusally low ohmage reading

Model of guitar or bass: G&L S-500
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: Hellecasters at one point.
You musical style(s): Classic rock/Fusion/Prog
Reason for pickup change: n/a

Perceived output level: high output in the single coil realm
Tone: trebly/ low midrange - * see description why this is o.k.
Sonic evaluation: I felt compelled to defend these pickups after reading the negative reviews here. At first I thought the pickups were too cold, but with time I have grown to really appreciate their design. They have a certain "zing" not found in other pickups. Here's the deal. These pickups come stock in the G&L S-500 which have controls for volume treble and bass with a resistor on the volume pot to control tone loss when rolling down the volume. Yes, they are colder and more powerful than G&L's alnico Strat pickups that come in the Legacys, as well as other single coils, but with the treble and bass controls that come equipped on both of these guitars the MFDs can really work for you. If you have a really good tube amp and a warm sound to begin with you should like them. I'm using a VHT Pitbull 45 with a Stamps Drive-o-Matic overdrive and this setup with MFDs will get a warm overdriven Eric Johnson type tone when needed. Their design is similar to a p-90. They have a massive ceramic bar magnet underneath with a metal bassplate and use chromed allen screws for the pole pieces. This helps reduce the magnetic pull on the strings because the pole pieces are not the actual magnets, although they do relay some of the magnetism. However, not nearly as much as magnetic poles. Hence the name, "Magnetic Field Design". The bassplates add bass to all three pickups. Now you've got a pickup that is both bassy and trebly but with a good mixture. I typically don't like pickups with extreme highs and lows but these work. If I could only use pickup for the rest of my life it would be these with their treble and bass controls. They cover so much ground, from chicken pickin' to almost humbucker. They lose just a tad of quack on the in-between postions but not nearly as much as with hum-cancelling single coil style pickups. In regards to tone and volume they fall in between humbuckers and single coils(more towards single coils), much like a P-90 but a little sharper and with less midrange. In fact I like the bottom end of these much better than humbuckers even with the treble rolled off to about 4. It's tighter with less mud and less mids. Check the reviews here for the S-500 guitar. You'll see that the owners really do like the MFDs!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: The S-500 with magnetic field design pickups is a great all-around guitar

Comments: Needless to say, I'd buy another MFD pickup equipped guitar. I've been playing for more than 25 years and own seven guitars including Strats with alnico single coils and humbuckers, Les pauls with humbuckers, Dearmond Starfire with Dearmond 2000s, EB Axis w/ p-90s etc., but if I could only have one for the rest of my life it would be the G&L S-500!

Pickup features: passive, ceramic.
Impedence or other specs: way too hot.

Model of guitar or bass: G n' L ,S-500
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Classic rock, blues & soul.
Reason for pickup change: These pu's CAN'T STRATIFY MY NEEDS!

Perceived output level: very middy, actually very versatile in that you can get faux L.P, HOLLOWBODY,TELE, etc
Tone: middy.
Sonic evaluation: I play through a HR deluxe , these pu's cause the clean sound to be very flabatatious! I thought it was the amp which is very bassy. I now turn the amps bass knob way down, that sort of rectified the problem. I find that by using the mid knob as a bass control I can get a tight bottomend which is still very PHATT!. the big difference came when I replaced the MotherF******Design pu's and replaced them with Alnico pu's . Alnico is the "musical magnet". people have tried to make ceramic(much cheaper than alnico) sound like a alnico,NO ONE HAS EVER SUCEEDED!. You can put a dress on a pig but it's still a pig!. These pu's can however be very versatile, you can go from faux L.P to RIC' to TELE to FAUX STRAT!!! they are to pu's what RP-7,ZOOM,etc are to ANALOG STOMP BOXES . BUT They CAN'T STRATIFY!!!.I am usually not fussy when it comes to gear I try to make the most of whats available to me,but I just could not tolerate these pu's any longer. I do however love the guitar they came in.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: rock, soul , blues.

Comments: VERY SUCKATATIOUS!