Fender GoldFoil

[Chris P.]

First I thought: No, just no. After a week I thought: quite interesting, and now I like it a lot! Bindings, but no blocks, lollipops, matching headstock, one pickup. The blue one that is.

[morrow]

Back in the day there were quite a variety of pickups with similar foil covers , some sounded great , and many didn’t . And when the Japanese began to copy them they continued the tradition , and put out a considerable number of very so-so foil covered pickups , and some that were serious beauties.
Now many of the foils being made today are truly boutique pickups that have been lovingly crafted by expert hands (unlike many of the originals and many Japanese copies) Even DeArmond put out quite different pickups under similar foil covers. They were not all magic.
These have the cool factor Darkstars and BiSonics have had in the past. They’ll sell a pile of ‘em.

[gearHed289]

Man, that sure looks like a Rickenbacker pickup with gold foil on the top. Not saying that's a bad thing. I've been wondering what these are all about. Are they single coils?

[morrow]

Yes. The originals were by DeArmond , and found fame on various Kay’s and Harmonys.

[Pilgrim]

First I thought: No, just no. After a week I thought: quite interesting, and now I like it a lot! Bindings, but no blocks, lollipops, matching headstock, one pickup. The blue one that is.

I don't often listen to demo videos like this, but I'm glad I did.  I REALLY like the sound played finger style.  It actually puts out a sound I like with rounds on the bass - which is very unusual for me, as I usually dislike rounds.

I appreciated his playing about 7:00 when he moved while playing from above the pickup, to over the pickup, then down close to the bridge.  That is something that is seldom done in demos, and it was very helpful in hearing the change. 

I could easily get GAS for that bass.  I like the look and I really dig the sound. 

[morrow]

There’s a lot to be said for a single pickup in the classic sweet spot , and with just two knobs you don’t blow a lot of time dialling it in.
I’ve always used position to sharpen or soften the tone. Never understood why anybody would always play from one position.

[Alanko]

I've never understood the appeal of gold foil pickups. The originals were cheaply made to a range of specs in terms of output, single coil or humbucker, etc. As such I'm not sure what the Goldfoil Sound is that gets people to dig so deeply into their wallets. They look ugly, were made badly and are apparently totally microphonic. Take my money!!

I think we can blame Ry Cooder for their resurgence, but hipsters seem to try and bodge them into any guitar. This is why Lollar can charge $230 for a reproduction of a crap pickup.

[Dave W]

I've never understood the appeal of gold foil pickups. The originals were cheaply made to a range of specs in terms of output, single coil or humbucker, etc. As such I'm not sure what the Goldfoil Sound is that gets people to dig so deeply into their wallets. They look ugly, were made badly and are apparently totally microphonic. Take my money!!

I think we can blame Ry Cooder for their resurgence, but hipsters seem to try and bodge them into any guitar. This is why Lollar can charge $230 for a reproduction of a crap pickup.

Are you implying that Teisco and Harmony guitars were cheap? 

It's not just Lollar. There must be a couple of dozen pickup makers making them now, none of them are inexpensive. I think I saw that Serek Basses is now offering a model with Curtis Novak gold foils. Fender is offering a Strat, Tele and Jazzmaster with them as well as the J Bass.

I don't get the appeal either, but obviously some like the tone. Nothing wrong with that.

[Alanko]

It made sense when they were 'outsider' pickups. Putting an original Tiesco pickup in a beater guitar makes sense if you want an unusual or different tone. Putting an expensive reproduction in an expensive guitar seems the antithesis of this.


Because the specs of originals are so inconsistent you can't preempt the tone of any modern reproduction. "Gold Foil" describes the visual appearance and not much else.

[morrow]

I once considered getting a winder and doing some pickup experiments. For maybe ten bucks worth of materials you can charge several hundred bucks. And spin one together pretty quickly.
The basics are pretty straightforward.

[Alanko]

A few small scale pickup wonders seem to end up a bit bonkers. Maybe the lead solder fumes?

[godofthunder]

 A Jazz bass even I can love. This bass went right to the top of my FSO want list.

[Pilgrim]

That sounds like I wanna sound.

It also seems to be the complete opposite of Ric sound.

[Dave W]

Gotta admit, that sounds good.

[morrow]

The lobster didn’t like it.