Great review. I added surf 90s to a double humbucker tele that sounded dead and I couldn't be happier... It now has a nice resonant twang with Gretschy flavor - it has me reaching for a Bigsby that is not there! Great pickups that I would buy again... though I would get the slightly hotter version for the bridge. My tones are very similar to the tones depicted in the video. Well done
I put a set of surf 90's in a gretsch 5120 and they sounded amazing when playing clean or slightly overdriven. They sound muddy when you drive them too hard with a pedal though. In the end, I swapped them out for a set of TV Jones pickups. To be honest, the surf 90's seem to have a little more character in the clean sound than the TV Jones pickups, but the TV Jones pickups sound infinitely better when you crank up the amp and add some distortion. If you only play clean, I would probably go with the surf 90's and save yourself a few hundred bucks.
I put a pair into a Washburn WI-64 (Korean with Buzz Feiten system from years ago) that is somewhat like a nice SG feel. Cheap enough pickups and both are nice into a '73 silverface Princeton Reverb clean.
Doug H. in VA i have the same guitar, and came here looking for something for it, can you tell me you experience with it and the surf pickups? Thank you.
thank you! this was a much better demo than GFS had provided for their own pickups. i can hear the articulation from one note to the next. not just chucka chucka cowboy chords
Great video...Love the Surf 90s...I bought one of the first sets about 6 odd years ago...You can hear them in my ES 350T Gibson on my Rockabilly bands video clip "HATS TOO TIGHT The Memphis Suns"..Can I ask did you keep the original 500k pots?..Cheers Frank THE MEMPHIS SUNS.
Thank you for the comparison. I'm trying to decide on pickups for my Jay Turser deep body jazz guitar, and this was very helpful. Trying to tame the upper midrange bark of the stock humbuckers.
I bought a Squier Bullet Mustang with really hot humbuckers that are great for metal and grunge but don't do clean tones too good. It's a really cheap guitar and even though they're humbuckers, it has 250k pots in it. The cheap small kind. If i put GFS gold foils in it, i want to replace the pots as well. Should i go with 500k, or 250k?
I have both and just recently installed the foils in a mahogany body jaguare shaped body but flat face and back IE a Charvel am very pleased withem have the surf90's in a reverse jag body fender supersonic it has the tremelo so that works out nicely. Just wondered if you ever tried combining them and tried a little slide. Thats what I"m looking for is a good slide tone and may puchase one of each and put in a epi lp just not sure which should be neck pickup etc and which best in bridge. Hate to pull the other guits apart now I got to lucky with my solder jobs lol. Anyway nice demo enjoyed it and thanks for any feedback LD near Nashville tn
Nice. ..Surf 90s...I installed them into my $8000 Gibson ES 350T. .You can hear them in my Video Clip "THE MEMPHIS SUNS Hats too tight"...I am a Rockabilly player and the Dynasonics are my favorite pickup but alas at the time the Surf 90s were the only decent sounding Dyna typ ouckup on the market...They are a lot of twang for the money..
So with both pickups on can you get that twangy in between sound? We heard that the pickups are reverse wound and reverse polarity so would that sound more like a humbucker in the middle position? Is the solution to reverse the wires so they are same polarity?
Nice demo! Is your offset with the Surf 90's standard Fender scale or short scale? The Gold Foils sounded much darker in the Les Paul. I have two strats that I may do a similar comparison with. One has the Surf 90's and the other has the alnico single coil humbucker sized gold foil set.
Great demo! Both pickups sound great. I do love the sounds from the Surf 90. How satisfied were you with the overall quality of the pickups? Worth it? I'm thinking of getting some of their Alnico II's or III's (humbucker) for my epi. Thanks!
***** The picture you show in the inset on the video is of the humbucker version, and the ones in the LP Studio look a lot like the humbucker version from the alignment of the holes, etc. Also, are you playing flat wounds on BOTH guitars, because you only popped up the string title when you were playing the LP. Doyou have flat wounds on the Fender as well?
If you don't like the ferrite magnets you could always swap them for alnico, or ceramic if that's what you want, and tailor your humbucker or P90 to your taste. It's a fairly easy mod to do and is often overlooked by a lot of guitarists who are quick to swap out the pickups, there are plenty of videos showing how, and it's much easier and cheaper than buying new pickups. 👍
I put some of the alnico gold foils in a rather odd build that I did.... those things had some SERIOUS spank to them! But they were also in a mahogany Warlock body with a walnut neck with a maple fret board.....
I bought a pair of surf 90s a few years ago and never installed them in anything. I am motivated to use them now. Thanks. Great demo.
That was a fantastic demo! I actually really liked both sets, the Surf 90's in particular.
Thanks for watching!
For me... Surf 90's for the win. Really like the sound of them.
I agree
Is it my imagination or at about 3:15 - 3:30 did the surf 90 neck have a real soulful wail to it? Or was it just great playing?
Great review. I added surf 90s to a double humbucker tele that sounded dead and I couldn't be happier... It now has a nice resonant twang with Gretschy flavor - it has me reaching for a Bigsby that is not there! Great pickups that I would buy again... though I would get the slightly hotter version for the bridge. My tones are very similar to the tones depicted in the video. Well done
Jagmaster w/surf 90's is really nice! Great video!
it seem that Surf 90's has more clearer output... I am thinking about getting a set sometime.. thank for demo...
I put a set of surf 90's in a gretsch 5120 and they sounded amazing when playing clean or slightly overdriven. They sound muddy when you drive them too hard with a pedal though. In the end, I swapped them out for a set of TV Jones pickups. To be honest, the surf 90's seem to have a little more character in the clean sound than the TV Jones pickups, but the TV Jones pickups sound infinitely better when you crank up the amp and add some distortion. If you only play clean, I would probably go with the surf 90's and save yourself a few hundred bucks.
Humbuckers are way better for distortion. Single coils are best for that clean sound, I agree.
I put a pair into a Washburn WI-64 (Korean with Buzz Feiten system from years ago) that is somewhat like a nice SG feel. Cheap enough pickups and both are nice into a '73 silverface Princeton Reverb clean.
Doug H. in VA i have the same guitar, and came here looking for something for it, can you tell me you experience with it and the surf pickups? Thank you.
surf 90 or nashville? I am a a rock guy. From soft rock to metal. I have always liked the gretsch sound. Loathe, black keys, QOTSA, Jack white
Thanks for this demo. Very informative.
thank you! this was a much better demo than GFS had provided for their own pickups. i can hear the articulation from one note to the next. not just chucka chucka cowboy chords
Brendan McCusker, what's wrong with cowboy chords? You are a snob! cowboys have feelings too, you know?
@@davisworth5114 the next thing you know, he'll be down on yodeling. Lol
@@charlie-obrien Watch yourself, Charlie
Great vid. Couple questions- are the gold foils single coil or humbucker? If single coil are you using 500k pots or switch to 250? Thanks!
Surf 90's all day
Great video...Love the Surf 90s...I bought one of the first sets about 6 odd years ago...You can hear them in my ES 350T Gibson on my Rockabilly bands video clip "HATS TOO TIGHT The Memphis Suns"..Can I ask did you keep the original 500k pots?..Cheers Frank THE MEMPHIS SUNS.
Thank you for the comparison. I'm trying to decide on pickups for my Jay Turser deep body jazz guitar, and this was very helpful. Trying to tame the upper midrange bark of the stock humbuckers.
The surf 90's sound great, the gold foils sounded lifeless , real gold foils have a scooped tone with a nice
Sizzle on top.
Output wise, how do these pickups compare? Is the Gold Foil single coil, hum bucker, ferrite or alnico?
Gold Foil is single coil ferrite in a humbucker size. The Surf 90s are a bit hotter
Brilliant demo
I bought a Squier Bullet Mustang with really hot humbuckers that are great for metal and grunge but don't do clean tones too good. It's a really cheap guitar and even though they're humbuckers, it has 250k pots in it. The cheap small kind. If i put GFS gold foils in it, i want to replace the pots as well. Should i go with 500k, or 250k?
I have both and just recently installed the foils in a mahogany body jaguare shaped body but flat face and back IE a Charvel am very pleased withem have the surf90's in a reverse jag body fender supersonic it has the tremelo so that works out nicely. Just wondered if you ever tried combining them and tried a little slide. Thats what I"m looking for is a good slide tone and may puchase one of each and put in a epi lp just not sure which should be neck pickup etc and which best in bridge. Hate to pull the other guits apart now I got to lucky with my solder jobs lol. Anyway nice demo enjoyed it and thanks for any feedback LD near Nashville tn
Nice. ..Surf 90s...I installed them into my $8000 Gibson ES 350T. .You can hear them in my Video Clip "THE MEMPHIS SUNS Hats too tight"...I am a Rockabilly player and the Dynasonics are my favorite pickup but alas at the time the Surf 90s were the only decent sounding Dyna typ ouckup on the market...They are a lot of twang for the money..
So with both pickups on can you get that twangy in between sound? We heard that the pickups are reverse wound and reverse polarity so would that sound more like a humbucker in the middle position? Is the solution to reverse the wires so they are same polarity?
AWESOME VIDEO AWESOME CONTENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the demo :-) I'm probably looking at a Surf 90 for the bridge and a Mean 90 for the neck of my Epi Dot.
Are you using 500k pots?
Nice demo! Is your offset with the Surf 90's standard Fender scale or short scale? The Gold Foils sounded much darker in the Les Paul. I have two strats that I may do a similar comparison with. One has the Surf 90's and the other has the alnico single coil humbucker sized gold foil set.
Sounds great, thanks
Great demo! Both pickups sound great. I do love the sounds from the Surf 90. How satisfied were you with the overall quality of the pickups? Worth it? I'm thinking of getting some of their Alnico II's or III's (humbucker) for my epi. Thanks!
Hallo, is this pickup humbucker based (hum canceling) or single coil? Thanks.
Humbucker
Single coil in a humbucker shell
Which Gold Foil models are these? Single-coil vs. True Humbucker? Ferrite or Alnico?
***** The picture you show in the inset on the video is of the humbucker version, and the ones in the LP Studio look a lot like the humbucker version from the alignment of the holes, etc. Also, are you playing flat wounds on BOTH guitars, because you only popped up the string title when you were playing the LP. Doyou have flat wounds on the Fender as well?
I think the Ferrite Magnets in the Foils just don't produce that THUMP.
Can't live without Surf 90's nowadays.
If you don't like the ferrite magnets you could always swap them for alnico, or ceramic if that's what you want, and tailor your humbucker or P90 to your taste. It's a fairly easy mod to do and is often overlooked by a lot of guitarists who are quick to swap out the pickups, there are plenty of videos showing how, and it's much easier and cheaper than buying new pickups. 👍
I put some of the alnico gold foils in a rather odd build that I did.... those things had some SERIOUS spank to them! But they were also in a mahogany Warlock body with a walnut neck with a maple fret board.....
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Surf 90 bridge, gold foil neck
Thanks for your opinion!
That was a note for myself to know which ones to buy! Thank you!