GFS Pickups Alnico Boutique Strat Pickup

GFS Alnico Strat pickup, single coil, passive unit for Strat guitars. measures out at 5.11K

I installed this in a Fender Classic 50's Stratocaster in the neck position to replace a defective stock unit. The other two pickups are the stock Fender alnico pups.

The output matches the other 2 units well, and retains the vintage output of the guitar without being too hot or loud. The pickup has a vintage, clear tone with a bright sound. It has a nice clean tone, but also works well with some gain. It is a little too bright if you crank up the treble, but it is easy to cut back on the tone control a bit.

I was pleased with this pickup, as I was looking for a low output, vintage style pickup that would match my stock Fender 50's style units. It has the staggered pole pieces, and fits the stock pickup cover well. Visually, you cannot tell it from a stock unit. I bought it cause it was inexpensive, and if it sounded bad, it was no big loss. I think I will keep it, because it fits the bill, and sounds good. I was skeptical about it at first, but now am glad I bought it.

5.25K model. Passive single coil pickup designed for a stratocaster. As the name implies, it uses alnico magnets. Has cloth leads and a white pickup cover. These are the only strat-designed single coil pickups that GFS makes that you can buy outside of a full set.

Using it in a Fender Stratocaster. Neck position, 500K pot. Replaced the standard neck pickup with this piece of crap and I regret it. I didnt really like the original neck pickup, but this one is worse.

It makes my upgraded strat sound like a piece of garbage. The sound it makes is thin and empty; it has absolutely no bass and ridiculously high treble and mids. It has a low output compared to other pickups, I had to raise it up pretty high which hurts my sustain. I plan on switching it next time I change strings; it would be better for the overall sound if it just wasnt there at all. I can't even combine it with other pickups; it makes everything else sound like crap. Even if I run this thing through my pedal chain (which consists of three different distortions, a pitch shifter, acoustic simulator, and reverb) I still can't get a decent sound for it.

This is absolutely the worst pickup I've ever dealt with; period. If your guitar has stock pickups, keep them rather than buying this thing. I've had great experiences with other GFS pickups, so I have no idea why they are selling this junk.