GFS Pickups Retrotron Brooklyn

Single Coil Black Face Low-Med output. Humbucker size... fits in a les paul or most humbucker style guitars

I used this in a semi hollowbody Epi Dot Special Brown Satin finish in the Neck position...

Sounds ok in the neck position, too shrill-piercing sounding in the bridge position..!! In the neck, it sounds warm and wide open, very Bassy meaning it is a bit too much like a Hi Fi stereo,

Not alot of definition, no bite, maybe good for a few songs....good for some rhythms...records too VERY clean... ....but it has it's uses, Good for some Jazz... but it's in the guitar more often than the sound is needed....maybe good in a dedicated guitar-Very limited...

Buy it for Jazz

It has to go, I may get a dream 90 for the neck position as well, the epi has one in the bridge position already with the Brooklyn---tThe p-90's are a little bright too, but has some good definition and a poor boy can always use his tone control on his guitar...:-)

Single coils like this works well with Humbuckers, in the middle position, you may balance a great sound used with a humbucker..

I like it through some amps and for some jazz, but its not versitile for me.... if you like George Benson type jazz, it may work out for you, but there are MUCH BETTER pickups for his style that has a more versitile sound than these, these are very articulate and a bit punchy and clean...think of a stereo clean...

Bought this for the cool retro look. Single coil in humbucker form factor.

Currently using the neck pickup in a self-built tele (Fender USA in the bridge). I don't like the lifeless Fender tele neck pickups, so I decided to go for this, since I can replace it with a different humbucker or humbucker-shaped pup. I've also had both Brooklyns installed in a semi, but replaced those, then sold the guitar.

Output is quite high --stronger than the bridge, but not so much that they can't be balanced. Play through a Vox AC15, which makes all my other guitars sound great. The sound of this pickup is....well, weird in an unpleasant way. Kind of a bassy nasal sound, not much in the way of definition, flat, too much midrange, poor highs, boomy lows. Doesn't clean up at all with the volume knob, and jiggling the tone makes it worse. And trying to ride the amp's knobs doesn't help since that screws the bridge pup's sound. A real disappointment. I'd blame it on the guitar but I've had this pickup and its mate installed in another guitar, and I had the same feeling of disappointment with it. That one was a semi, and these pickups definitely sounded better in that, had more of a honky, retro sound. But still...as they say, hard to complain considering the price. But the fact is, this isn't the first or only set of GFS pickups I've bought, and they all pretty much suffer from the same things: they're "okay, not great," worth the price when you pick them up at the low end of an auction, definitely not worth the buy it now price. Look, GFS doesn't make pickups, they buy them from Artec. Nowadays, they handle enough volume to be able to stamp the pickups as GFS, but that doesn't change the fact that these pickups --like all of their parts-- are the same cheap Chinese-built (or at best Korean-built) mass produced crap you find all over ebay. To guitarfetish's credit, his prices remain in the reasonable range. But get over it--this ain't no fancy handmade boutique outlet, no matter how much he's pretending.

No, I'm finished buying pickups from guitarfetish. Nothing personal--their service is great, no question there. But his ads are just too full of hype and it just gets worse and worse, bordering on lying. They DO NOT build any of their parts, and if they do 'design' their pickups, it's only to choose 1 from column A and 2 from column B. I get a kick out of all these people claiming to be surprised by how good their GFS pickups sound--well, sure, if you're replacing the pups from a shitbox Chinese knockoff, why not? But otherwise, there's no 'magic' in any of these pups. Just reasonable prices and cool covers (for the Retrotron series). You can buy them anywhere, just look for Artec.

Single Coil
P90 style
Cool chrome and black appearance.

I installed these on a Mexican Fender Toronado in the neck and bridge position, to replace the terrible stock humbuckers. The stock pickups sounded lifeless and muddy.

These pickups really woke up my Toronado! The neck pickup is nice and bassy with crisp highs. The bridge position has a little too much mid-range for my taste, but is very nice for twangy stuff. I play indie-spacey-alternative-fuzzy rock and some blues. These pickups work fine for all of it. I think they work especially well with fuzz pedals as apposed to "metal" style distortion.

I was pleased with how little noise these emit. Compared to strat single-coils, these are almost silent.

I would definitely use this pickup again, but only in the neck position. I prefer a nice warm bassy tone, and the bridge pickup just adds too much mid. Then again, I am playing an amp that is heavy on mids (Pignose G40V tube combo). Perhaps I should try it on a different amp to benchmark.
I do not hate anything about these pickups. I believe that GFS pickups have to be the best buy out there.
I may try a retrotron humbucker in the bridge just to see how it sounds.

If you are thinking about trying these, do not hesitate to shoot me an email and ask any questions.

Pickup features: Single coil P-90 type in bucker clothing
Impedence or other specs:

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:

Perceived output level:
Tone:
Sonic evaluation:
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: A quick followup to my recent post since I've had a bit more time for evaluation it in a live setting.
The good: Once again, I'm pleasently surprised at how damn good this pickup sounds. The tone, clarity, punch, articulation and touch sensitivity are excellent. If you're looking to brighten up a dull sounding guitar, these would be a killer choice. Played clean and with a bit of overdrive, they delivered the goods and never got lost in the mix. As a matter of fact, they cut through with amazing clarity.
The bad: They do not respond as well as I would like when rolling down the guitars tone control. It was hard to get a warm, jazzier tone. I use my guitars volume and tone controls a lot.....so that was a bit of a dissapointment. Perhaps upping the cap to a .050 would help, but I did not find this to be a problem with other pups I've used. As a side note, the tone remained clear with no treble loss while rolling the volume ( sans treble bleed ) control down.
Depending on what your ears like to hear, this could be a good or bad thing. I realize this is all subjective, they may respond differently in different guitars and others may find the opposite to be true, but I wanted to pass on my findings.
I've been playing guitar for close to 40 years. Currently, I own around 20 guitars from vintage teles, 335's & strats to PRS and custom builds. I use a wide variety of pickups.....from stock 60's pat #'s ( no old PAF's damn it! ) and vintage tele pups, to Lollar and other botique winders offerings. I say this to let you know I have used and used wonderful pickups from many winders over the years. I know what I like and what I don't like tone wise. As stated in my previous review, I really want to find fault with these pickups. How can they sound this good for $20 a pop? While I still prefer the tone of my botique winds, these are certainly nothing to sneeze at. They are toneful, responsive and just plain good.

Pickup features: P-90ish style in bucker size
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Chambered tele
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Dimarzio VV PAF
Other pickups on guitar: Dimarzio Hot T VV
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change: Curiosity

Perceived output level:
Tone:
Sonic evaluation: As with the other GFS pickups I've tried, I was pleasently surprised at the tone quality. This pickup ( I have the bridge model also, but just using the neck right now ) sounds more like a big, fat strat pickup than a P-90 to my ears. That is certainly not a bad thing as it works very well in this guitar.
Very open, clear and articulate. I like the touch response of this pickup also. Quite a bit of tonal variety depending on how hard/soft you pick, pluck or strum.
I've been through a butt load of neck pickups in this guitar from botique humbuckers and single coils to Stew Mac Golden Agers, GFS Dream 180 and now this one.
Is it my favorite? No. Do I like it? Yes. It has provided me with a totaly new tone out of this already toneful guitar. All this for $20.00?? Man, I don't want this to sound as good as it does for $20.00 stinking dollars! But, it does. I have to be realistic here.
I have a custom made guitar with a set of beautiful, killer, tone monster, hand wound pickups from a respected winder. I may pull those out and pop a set of these in. While not in the same class, they are good enough for gigging, recording and general farting around.
I believe these to be ceramic mags. I have always had a prec-conceived notion that ceramic are bad and stuck to various alnico pups. A2, A3, A5 have been my favs. The tone and sweetness of these pups have caused me to re-thing the whole ceramic bias.
While these are not the end all, be all Captain Fingers killer pickups, they are an incredible bargain for an excellent sounding product. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a sweet, clean, clear sound. The fact that they are stoopid cheap is a huge bonus. Oh yeah...they look very cool also. At first, I was somewhat taken aback by the look. Once on the vintage, pearloid pickuguard, ( these are black and chrome ) the look is very, very cool.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play blues and everything else through a variety of tube and solid state amps. Clean and with a bit of dirt, this little gem does the job nicely.

Comments: Yes, I would buy them again...or try a different flavor of GFS pups. The reviews have mostly been good. Once in a while, someone will post..."What a hunk of junk"!! Seriously, I don't want to negate their opinion, but I have to question where they are coming from and what their expectaions were. So far, I've used the Dream 180, Brooklyn and Hot TC. With each, I've been rewarded with tone and build quality that far exceeds the selling price.
I have not dealt with GFS as the ones I've tried I have either traded for or bought used.....but from what I've read, they have a very good operation and the customer service is top notch.
I, for one, am very glad there is a low cost, great sounding option for pickups. Way to go GFS!

Pickup features: Single Coil sized to fit standard HB mount
Impedence or other specs: 8.3K according to GFS

Model of guitar or bass: Epiphone Sheraton
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Orig. Epi humbuckers
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Bought this for Beatles, 50's R&R, etc.
Reason for pickup change: Original Epi HB's (1995 model) were pretty crappy, these GFS's were cheap and I was looking for a single coil Dearmond-ish sound so I thought I'd give them a try.

Perceived output level: Reasonably strong, actually close to the orignal HB.
Tone: Bright & clear, lots of treble, but not "trebly" in a bad way
Sonic evaluation: A while ago I got a great deal on a used Epi Sheraton, which was an outstanding guitar save for really muddy, microphonic HB pickups. I really like a single-coil sound, and was looking for a Gretsch/Dearmondish tone. In my estimation, these pickups are outstanding for that role. They are definitely up there on the treble side of things but definitely give me the sound I'm looking for. The string-to-string definition is exceptional, when you strike a chord every string rings clear with no muddiness at all. They also are just amazing for fingerstyle playing. They are exceptionally quiet for single coils.
I originally just bought a neck p/u to try out, when I liked that I bought the bridge, mainly to have a matching set (they look kind of goofy in the pictures on eBay but actually look quite good on the guitar - I have the white/gold set which look great on the Epi). Both sound reasonably similar with the expected tonal differences, the pair together have a neat quack to them.
Down sides? There is one thing - these pickups have basically one sound (which they do very well), i.e. you probably won't hear someone say "roll back the treble and you get some great jazz tones", etc. Roll back the treble to about 5 on these and you get a slightly less bright pickup, anything more than that and there isn't much of any kind of tone there.
That said, perhaps the biggest compliment to this pickup is that I have had several unsolicited positive comments about the tone of these pickups from non-guitarists. People really notice the tone.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mostly jazz, wouldn't use this for that, but they are GREAT for T Bone Walker kind of stuff, 50's R&B etc.

Comments: I'd really miss this guitar, but don't know if I'd try to replicate everything again, probably just try to find another guitar. Still, I am really happy with the sound of these pickups, esp. for the price.
Giving them an 8 basically based on the fact that while they sound great they are pretty single-purpose.
Been playing many years, mostly jazz.

Pickup features: P-90 in humbucker form factor
Impedence or other specs: 8.3K Ohms

Model of guitar or bass: DeArmond S-73
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: DeArmond Gold Tone Humbuckers
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Americana - jazz, country, rockabilly, etc...
Reason for pickup change: The Gold Tones are terrific pickups and among my favorites. However, I had a pair of them in another guitar, and wanted something different with respect to tone...

Perceived output level: Relatively cool and clean...
Tone: Somewhere between balanced and trebly...
Sonic evaluation: What initially attracted me to these pickups was a chance to use a friend's Gretsch guitar while sitting in at a jazz gig. The Gretsch had one of the old DeArmond 2000 pickups, and the sound was absolutely wonderful, something like a brighter P90 or one of the old Charlie Christian type pickups. I was hoping to find the same sound with this set of pickups from GFS. When initially installed, they sounded good, but a little too bright and lacking in warmth. To get the sound I was looking for, I placed the pickups pretty high, almost even with the fingerboard, and there got a really great sound - the pickup was very transparent, with great separation, and some character of its own - somewhere between a P90 and a strat single coil. I've only had the guitar out a few times, but most guitarists who have heard it have been positive and enthusiastic, especially when learning of the price. There's a lot of "this pickup is the greatest ever" and I don't want to mislead you - there are lots of pickups out there, and many of them are very good. This pickup was designed to reproduce a certain sound, and it does a heck of a job. Considering the price, this is the first pickup I would recommend to anyone interested in capturing the sounds of the early single coil type pickups used in rockabilly or early jazz, although I like the tone well enough that I would consider it for any kind of music except high-gain metal type stuff. I bet it would sound terrific in a hollow body...
(Installed in a mahogany solid bodied set neck with 24 and 3/4 scale mahogany neck. Pots and capacitors were OEM 500K and polyester. Primary impressions taken from a Vox Pathfinder practice amp.)

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Excellent match for early electric guitar sounds, and good for others too...

Comments: Would I buy it again? If I didn't already have a pair, yes, without hesitation. In fact, I am thinking of buying a second set as a gift for a local singer I sometimes perform with. However, there are lots of other pickups and sounds I'd like to try. But I would definitely recommend these for people seeking this specific sound.

Pickup features: single coil P-90 type/ fits in a humbucker rout
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Artcore AK85
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Kent Armstrong P-90
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): jazz, pop
Reason for pickup change: was looking for more clarity and high end

Perceived output level: moderate output
Tone: trebly
Sonic evaluation: I play through blackface Fender reissues (Fender Deluxe Reverb, Super Reverb) These pickups seem like an exact clone of the Kent Armstrong pickups I was replacing. Made in Korea just like the Kent Armstrongs.
Something tells me it's the same pickup. Just a different look on the covers. They sound o.k...Not the rockabilly twang I was after. More smooth and trebly without a lot of tonal character. Alas the search continues.....

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Better as a neck pickup than the bridge. The bridge has a little nasal quality.

Comments: Just a typical Korean made P-90. Nothing special