GFS Pickups Power Rails

This is the bridge model. Humbucking and passive, with Seymour Duncan 4-conductor wire for coil splitting. Around 15.7 ohms DC resistance on my multimeter.

I'm a bit of a cheapskate (can't afford high-end stuff, being a teenager in this economy) who builds frankenaxes- I don't own one stock guitar. Origianlly, I put it in the Toastmaster, which is a single-humbucker basswood OLP body mated to a '70s harmony all-maple strat neck along with a GFS SRV "Exiter" active circuit, wired with 250K volume and tone pots and a cap-only bleed mod. It was preceded by a pair of RW/RP singlecoils glued and wired together (which didn't sound bad at all) and was since replaced with a 4-rail ceramic superbucker of unknown origin.

Now, it's in the bridge position of my more recent frankenaxe, along with the original neck humbucker (temporary) of an old Cort "Effector" superstrat I am gutting and remodeling. Floyd Trem, more conventional 500k dual independent volumes and no 3-way switch. I plan to add a 3-way, new neck pup, master series switch (like the popular j-bass mod) and individual coil taps.


No major artists that I know of use this.

I originally dropped it in the Toastmaster because the stock pickup sucked. The RW/RP single coils I wired and glued together were temporary, but were too bright and had no balls. I put in 250K pots to accommodate this and never changed that.

I liked the lead tone this gave me, but wanted a bit more 'cut' to it, so I put it in the new one with 500K pots.

This thing is HOT.
I play through an '89 Peavey Transtube Express 112 combo, recently fitted with an Eminence Black Powder speaker after the original Sheffield speaker gave up on me. I also use a Behringer Hell Babe wah, modded Digitech Death Metal (for a more recto-like sound) Seymour Duncan Lava Box, and a Blackstar HT Dist-X tube pedal.

Clean, with 250K pots, it's a very warm yet still suitably cutting sound. Not too bassy, very bluesy. Every nuance of your articulation comes through, especially when I'm plugged into the high gain input on my amp. It's VERY loud. Tapped, you could swear you heard a Strat bridge pup. I know the old "half a humbucker does not a single coil make" rule but nonetheless it's very chimey with a lot of bite, it actually sounds like a decent single coil albeit with more lower-mids.

With some respectably thrash-y distortion, with 250K pots, it makes a very good "Slash" rhythm sound, but does not really have enough bite for my soloing needs. This is to be expected though.

Clean, with 500Ks and no bleed mod, it's also great. There is a lot more jangle to it when wired this way. When it was alone it was versatile, but as solely a lead pickup I can use it for its intended purpose. Tapped and swept notes come out very well and every nuance still shows through. Still not too bassy, though the added brightness is a very noticeable difference. With the neck pup, which sounds like like a Duncan Jazz or PAF Joe, or similar "sweet" it has a very delta-bluesy/jazzy character depending on how you balance the volumes.

However, (still the 500K axe) toss in some crunch and you get what this sucker was REALLY built for- to ROCK. Still not too heavy on the lows, but with respectable ker-chunk. Lots of body to the tone, (think
the crunch tone on "Images and Words." At maximum gain, it produces more of a Slayer tone than Metallica tone. Plenty of cut and harmonics come through nicely. (I might up the pot values to 1M ohm, for kicks) Very versatile. It also sounds good with less distortion too, for blues, hard rock, and classic stuff.

I deal mostly in thrash, speed, prog and other classic metal genres, as well as blues and hard rock. For that and more this would be fantastic- even country twangers will respect the tapped mode on this baby. It can't do a sucked-mids death tone too well though, because like most GFS pups it's quite fat and just beyond the cut range of my amp's and effect's mid knobs. For that reason I wouldn't recommend this one for the hardcore/nu/death metal kids- they should pop for GFS's fabulous Crunchy Rails or maybe a (ick) Dimebucker.

But overall, I LOVE the way this thing sounds- though it does like to feed back a bit if you're not mindful.

If stolen:
First, I would set the a-hole who jacked the thing on fire.
After that, I would definitely replace it. It's that good. Maybe I'd buy a set of Crunchy Rails for experimental purposes at first, but I'm sure I'd go back to these. I might get the matching neck one for this guitar, though I dunno yet.

I've been playing for real about 5 years. All my gear's been mentioned previously.

I love its versatility and value. I love the b.s I get from schmucks who blow 120-140 bucks on name-brand pups when GFS sells a set of these for the price than ONE Seymour Duncan- yet sound as good if not better.
My only beef is the minor feedback issue.

I'd liken this thing most to a Dimarzio X2N and a Duncan Invader, soundwise. It's a little more midsy than an X2N and more midsy and less woolly than an invader though. I like the inveder's crunch tone a smidge better but it sounds like doo-doo in clean mode. This one does it all, and for 32 bucks.

It's pretty much all I need in a bridge pickup- great for Priest/Slayer/Megadeth/Exodus/Dream Theater stuff- unless I go insane and get into "grindmetalalternadeathcore" or whatever they call it these days. I use it in what is now my main shredder axe (complete with self-scalloped fretboard, and it is great for that too.

Guitarfetish'com's customer service is as fantastic as their goods. Ask Jay anything at all and he'll respond very well and in a timely fashion. Very honest folks. I am going to be doing a lot of business with them in the future.

Humbucking Power Rails pickup set. Neck and Bridge. 10+ in the neck and 16+ in the bridge. Passive design.

Put into a 2007 Fender Squier Jagmaster.

Put in bridge and in neck position.

Removed the stock Duncan Designed Humbucker pickups.

The reason I went to this pickup was I was looking for a hot pickup that would allow the guitar to show it's true character. Had always had trouble with the original pickups losing strength when the guitar was turned up to 10. I play on 10 alot.

I was very pleased with the output of these pickups. They brought an immediate difference to the guitar. Most alder body, 4 bolt neck Fenders don't have a good solid tone to them. Mine does now. Not like a Gibson, but not like a Fender either. More mellow and powerful.

I use a Crate 30 watt Palomino and a Behringer 212 100 watt. So far I've played it in the Behringer and let me tell you, it makes that digital amp sound like a tube amp. Much more harmonics and a meatier sound.

The tone is not muddy at all. In fact, the neck pickup has a clear tone to it even though it is a neck location. I always liked playing in the middle position for clean rhythym licks. The Power Rail neck pickup is cleaner than the Duncan designed pickup and allows me to play more in the neck position in rhythym mode.

My style is good old rock and roll, blues, rock a billy, contemporay praise and worship. I am an overall good technical picker with that enjoys "fooling around" riffs. The pickup allows me to try new styles of playing as it gives such a strong bottom end allowing each string to sing on it's own.

I honestly can't find any issues with this pickup's sound, style and performance. It says what it does and does what it says.

I would definitely buy again from Guitar Fetish. GFS pickups are truly made for guitar players. I have ordered other items from them and they cater to us regular guys who enjoy playing and building guitars. They are good guys.

I have been playing for over 30 years. Since Junior High.

No hate here. As far as love, well let's just say this is my favorite player now and I have top end Stratocasters, Telecasters and S.G.'s. This Jag is now quite the tone monster.

I didn't compare it to any other pickups. I did my research, read alot of reviews, talked to the GFS guys and found, hey this is what I need and the price was too good to pass up.

No wishes for any other features.

I am very satisfied with this pickup.

If you have a guitar that just doesn't sound like you wish it would, buy a set of the Power Rails from Guitar Fetish. Put 'em in and look forward to a total transformation in your sound.

Humbucker with large rails and 5 wires for coil-splitting.

Mine reads 15.42k

Not sure of the purpose of the extra long wires attached, I cut off over half of it, I don't need extra wire cluttering things up.

Put this in a Floyd Rose DST-3 because I wanted the be able to split the coils. It replaced a rediculously hot slock pickup.

Output level is good, I used to use the various Dimebag pickups in the bridge and this one has similar properties to me. Individual string definition isn't great but I haven't determined whether that is because of the guitar or the pickup. The other pickup was like that too (couldn't hear inidividual chord notes very well).

People say that the single coil sound (of slpit humbuckers) is usually not good or something but on this pickup I like it alot actually. It sounds very good on its own and sounds really really good combined with the middle single coil.

I give it a 9 because there might be a better pickup out there. The price of these, though, is quite a bit less than most others, so I would say a 10 on value.

As I said value is a 10 although strictly on sound maybe there is something better. I don't what that is, but it is possible. This pickup sound very similar to the Dime-style pickups I've used, with maybe a little more midrange. Perhaps because of the high impedance it sounds (to my ear) very nice with the coils split.

Back Wide Flush rails humbucker with five wires, two connected for humbucker in phase or can be unsoldered for a phase switch or kept together and through a switch to ground for single coil, insulated and kept connected in my case. One large and one small ground, and green small power wire. Brass bottom with GFS stamp and sticker with GFS. Plastic top and sides covered with black fiber type tape. I believe they are wax potted. Mine read 16.45 to 16.56 Ohms. Came with bridge angled black plastic ring and 4 black screws for it. Two black machine screws and stainless steel springs mounting the pickup. About 18" of cable. Only about 3/16" stripped on the black and green, so I had to strip another 1/8". The thick main ground, I covered with electrical tape except the last 5/16", and of course a piece of tape over the N/S soldered wires. About 2 1/2" of wires exposed out of the main bundle to work with. All possible options are there for a humbucker. No adjustment for the rails or individual string response, but didn't need that feature anyway. My Tony Iommi pickups on his signature Epi SG are 15.12 and 14.98, and they also cook metal alchemy.

I bought a B.C. Rich WMD Warbeast with the 12.3 Ohm Rockford Fat Ass in the bridge and Mafia 9.87 Ohm in the neck. This replaced the bridge pickup because I was having problems with an interior short of one coil. It turned out to be the switch was messing up with too short a strip on the wires from the power and ground from the volume pot. I wanted a hotter bridge anyway, and I sure as hell got it!! I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked with the pole adjusted lower power Rockford Mafia neck. Minor height changes brought about a great blend. Too high up the strong magnets of the Power Rails will cause too much feedback. I've got the closest poles of the neck 3/16 down and the Power Rails the same. The clean articulation of notes with a little more treble and power give a good lead to the Mafia neck rhythm which is just as smooth with a little more bass and crunch.

The output is plenty for a one pickup guitar. I used it through a EX7 wah and the effects on the Behringer GH100 half stack, and straight into an Orange Tiny Terror on max volume and gain with 7 watts and two 4x12s. The GFS Bridge Power Rails MAKE this guitar into the WMD Warbeast it was meant to be. The tone is great and well matched with the Rockford Mafia, with even better balance without having to do all the pole adjustments. I play rock/blues/metal and this pickup is best on the metal end of the palette. It is very sensitive to raising the height to 1/8", turning into a roaring inferno of power, punching on the edge of feedback crushing mayhem. While at lower volume and slightly lower down away from the strings it can produce very clear beauty. Carry a little screwdriver with you.

If this pickup were stolen, it would be with the guitar, and I would track down the scum and butcher him. I would have to turn vegetable to let that happen, and I would get more of these pickups. I've been playing over 40 years and these are right up there with the Iommi and clearer and more powerful than the Invader or the BL500XL. Blows away the EMG 81. Crushing power, killer tone--just like they say. I am very satisfied with this pickup, and also all the pickups I've gotten from GFS which are a Loudmouth Max neck, a pair of Hot London Retrotrons, and the Crusader(not made anymore, why?). They make a slightly more powerful Crunchy Rails, but this is the tone/power tops. Great people, too.

Dual Rail Humbucking Pickup
Impedence- 10K
Can be wired for coil tapping
Will make a fan of GFS

Guitar- OLP Petrucci
Position- Neck
Replacing stock pickup
Bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom
I'm not aware of any major artixtsa using GFS pickups, but I sure as hell like em'
I installed this pickup because it was a project guitar

Medium output w/ balls
I am feeding it through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe into a Line 6 POD
Ah, the tone. I am in love with this pickup. There is no mud at all! I can get a real eddie Van Halen VH1 Brown Sound out of this pickup. It has soaring mids, a nice bass, and te trebble is just right for finger tapping leads. It could be compared to a gibson burstbucker 2, but is not muddy whatsoever. I coued even compare it to a Vinnie more like sound, when the bass is rolled back. Ot is very smooth.
I think this pickup is good for just about everything. It is what i've been searching for!

If lost I would definitly buy one again. It only cost 37 bucks new.
I've been playing for about 9 years and have 10 working guitars, both high and low end.
I love the fantastic tone of the Power Rails. It can give me a classic chunk, the brown sound (even in the neck), and wail on lead work. The only bad part about this pickup is that i did not come across it sooner.
The guitar i put together was an OLP Petrucci. I put in locking tuners,and a bone nut. I wanted good, cheap pickups. I looked at Mighty Mite Motherbuckers and heard they were muddy at volume, so thoes went out the window. I considered DragonFire active pickups, but with my past experience w/ EMG's (i think they have no soul) I skipped them and bought what I thought would be a good neck pickup for a cheap price. I have been completely blown away. I am going to sell the Custom custom on ebay, and buy another GFS, eaither a Power Rails Bridge, or maybe even a crunch rails.
I am absolutley satisfied.

Four Conductor Wire Humbucker. Passive. Ceramic Magnet. About 16.8k resistance. Two Thick Rails, similar in looks to the Dimarzio X2N. This is the Bridge version.

This pickup has been in several guitars of mine, but mostly in a EVH styled strat. It is installed in the bridge and is the only pickup. This guitar is more or less my test guitar. I install most new pickups I get in it, but this one has stayed.

I'm not aware of any major artists using GFS pickups. Except for myself of course, and I'm a bad mofo.

I like changing pickups. I like have the corner of my eye burnt by some piece of solder that was somehow flicked off the wire I was working on. It turns me on.

It is a very high output pickup. I've never heard it perfectly clean. Not once. Ever. It's probably possible if I would just lower it a little, but if you're looking for clean, this is not it.

I've used it through a handful of rigs. Digital to low-tech. I've learned to not write a review of something until you've tried it in as many scenarios as you can. It is a great pickup when used through a digital processor, and I've used it for direct recording with outstanding results.

But the real beauty of this thing doesn't show until the volume starts to go up on one of my big, old solid state Peavey amps. It is very direct and quite evil in my hands.

Visceral would be a good word. It can be very metal. Not a scooped sound, but the other way. Massive mid range, with a resonant bottom end. Great picking dynamics. It is a little short of "sizzle" but I suspect moving the pot value to 1Meg could help. Not that I plan on it, as I like it the way it is.

I'm not suggesting that it's dark, because it isn't. It has plenty of top end and the harmonics are strong. The big mid range of this thing, along with a healthy bit of overdrive can give harmonics that same volume as any other note.

I would estimate the EQ as Bass: 6 Mids: 8 Highs: 5

To be real honest, it looks like an X2N and it sounds similar. I love the X2N, but the Dimarzio is a little more sterile and compressed than the GFS. This is great for metal like late era Judas Priest and Death.

The GFS can do those things as well, but it has just an edge more dynamics, is a little more complex in the low to mid range and has a bit more output. Where the X2N would cover a minor mistake or mis-step in picking, the GFS glorifies it.

The extra dynamics make the Power Rails more versatile. I can use a very low gain on my distortion, say two or three and get a beautiful, well balanced classic 70's rock sound. I can run the coils in parallel or just split it to a single coil with just a touch of overdrive and some slap back and get a nasty country or SRV styled rhythm sound.

I play lots of stuff. I play in many different and some weird situations. The Power Rails is good weapon to have on your side in a bar fight. When you can hit a big dropped C power chord and turn some heads, your pickup isn't going to let you down.

I haven't actually tried this thing in the neck, so I couldn't honestly say. I think a pair of them is a fantastic idea, but I don't have a guitar that needs them. And I don't like having matched pairs in any guitar, just because it gives me an excuse to buy yet another pickup.

If I lost this pickup, I might not buy another one, but I would definitely get another GFS pickup, just because I want to try them all. I'm a fan of GFS and I shamelessly plug them whenever I can. For my style of playing, I have yet to find one that doesn't give me a world of different tones. When I see some fool drop 80-90 bones for a Seymour Duncan "Dimebucker", I giggle like a little German girl. No matter how much they spend on their gear, I will always sound better than them.

I've been playing thirteen years as of 4 days ago. My two other lead guitars are a 80's MIJ Strat and a BC Rich Evil Edge Mockingbird. I have a revolving door when it comes to guitars, so it's pointless to list beyond that. I've owned in the neighborhood of 45-55 guitars, basses and acoustics. I've bought a little over 40 aftermarket pickups ( counting sets as only one).

I love that this pickup combines the nature of the X2N with the quality and personality I've come to expect from GFS Pickups. If I had to hate something about it, I would hate that despite my constant plugging, I'm not sponsored by Jay at GFS and that I don't get to try his stuff for free. I used to say that I hated GFS for making my other stuff sound like crap, but I fixed that. By buying more and more.

I'm very happy with this pickup. But I'm a happy guy anyway. I don't have a sound in my head that I'm trying to capture. I have about 20 sounds in my head and if I can nail any of them, or better yet, find one I couldn't have hoped for, I'm pretty content.

I wish GFS would make a half poles/half rail pickup like the Dimarzio Megadrive or DropSonic. I don't know what it would sound like, but it would look great.

OVER 16K HOT HUMBUCKER...PASSIVE BUT DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU!!! THESE ARE GREAT AND CAN EASILY STAND UP TO EMG,DUNCAN ETC...MUCH MORE TONE AND CONTROL THAN SEYMOUR'S LIVE WIRES, AND MUCH BETTER TONE WISE THAN EMG...THESE HAVE A SIMILAR APPEARANCE TO DIMARZIO'S X2N BUT ITS WAY DIFFERENT TONE AND THE OVER ALL FEEL ON THE STRINGS IS AWESOME!!! IF YOU HEAR WITH YOUR EYES...STOP READING NOW!!! IF YOU HAVE AN OPEN MIND THEN YOU HAVE MORE THAN LIKELY FOUND THE BEST PICKUP EVER!!!! I HAVE USED ALL THE OTHERS AND WAS STILL LEFT WANTING...BEEN PLAYING A LONG TIME 30 PLUS YEARS AND THESE ARE THE BEST PICKUP I'VE EVER PLAYED AND YOU DON'T NEED A BATTERY...THEY SLAUGHTER DIMARZIO'S DEACTIVATORS TOO!!!

I'VE STARTED TO CONVERT MY WHOLE METAL ARSENAL TO THESE!!! THAT SHOULD SAY ENOUGH RIGHT? GFS MAKES THEM FOR BOTH POSITIONS AND THEY ARE SWEET CLEAN TOO....BUT KICK IN THE DISTORTION AND MAN YOU'RE IN METAL THRASH HEAVEN!!!!MEGADETH TONE ALL THE WAY AND LOTS CHEAPER THAN THE OTHER OPTIONS OUT THERE...I CAN CREATE A CRUSHING TONE ON MY BEHRINGER GMX1200 FULL STACK WITH THESE THAT RIVALS ANY TRIPLE REC OR LINE 6!!!! I'M NOT CRAZY I'VE JUST FOUND FOR ME THE BEST PICKUP EVER MADE!!!!!

AWESOME!!! PERIOD I OWN A FULL MARSHALL STACK, A FULL MESA STACK, AND A PEAVEY 5150 COMBO AND THESE PICKUPS SHINE ON THEM ALL...I PLAY LIVE GIGS WITH AN INEXPENSIVE BEHRINGER GMX1200 FULL STACK...AND THIS IS WHERE THESE WORK THE BEST FOR ME...I NEEDED A PICKUP THAT MADE A MODELING AMP SOUND "LIVE" AND NOT PROCESSED...THESE DO IT WITH CONFIDENCE!!!! I HAVE A LIVE TONE THAT JUST KILLS!!!!AT 36 BUCKS THESE ARE A TRUE STEAL!!!!

GFS IS A GREAT COMPANY THEIR SUPPORT IS GOOD AND IF YOU NEED ADVICE THEY ALWAYS MAKE TIME TO TALK YOU THOUGH WHATEVER YOU NEED...THESE PICKUPS THOUGH MADE OVERSEAS ARE THE BEST I'VE EVER PLAYED!!! THAT INCLUDES ALL THE OVERPRICED DOMESTIC STUFF!!! FOR YEARS I USED DIMARZIO, GIBSON,SEYMOUR DUNCAN AND EMG....ALL GOOD BUT THE PRICES ARE BRUTAL...AND THE HAND WOUND STUFF...ALL YOU STUCK UP EFFICIONADOS CAN HAVE 'EM...THEY MAY BE GOOD BUT NOT 200 DOLLARS A PIECE GOOD...COPPER WIRE AND A MAGNET AIN'T WORTH THAT MUCH PERIOD!!!!TO ME NOBODY'S NAME IS WORTH 200 BUCKS ON A PICKUP...I PLAY ALL HIGH END AXES I HAVE COLLECTED OVER THE YEARS BEFORE THE PRICE INSANITY KICKED IN...NOW I PLAY SOME AXES MADE OVERSEAS AND THEY RIVAL THE USA STUFF IN QUALITY AND WITH THESE PICKUPS,WOW!!!..I NEVER PICKUP MY USA JACKSONS ANYMORE...I PUT A SET IN A PERFORMER JACKSON KELLY AND IT BLOWS MY USA KELLY AWAY THAT SAYS SOMETHING!!!!