Mean 90 on my Fouke (not as snappy as Lipstick on my Rondo)

Bob Borzelleri · Post by **Bob Borzelleri** » 20 Feb 2008 6:14 am

But certainly not ambiguous. On second thought, maybe the title is ambiguous. I meant to say the title is not as snappy as "Lipstick on my Rondo". The Mean 90 is quite snappy, thank you.

So my wife got me one of Chris Fouke's Industrial lap steels that Mark Van Allen has made up with dobro spacing. I'm very happy with the Industrial and particularly impressed with the quality of construction. It came with an OEM PAF humbucker that sounded acceptable up until the time that I started wondering what it would sound like with a P90 single coil in it.

The PAF had a certain muddiness (a harsh word perhaps because it didn't sound really bad, it was just that individual notes in chords seemed to sort of run together). I didn't want to spend the $80 to $125 or so for one of the standard P90 clone choices or the real thing so when I noticed that GFS had a P90 clone in a humbucker size that some folks were saying sounded more like an original P90 than any of the clones or the new version itself, I decided that $37.95 wasn't too big an investment, so I ordered one.

I left the stock Alpha 500K pots and capacitor in and just wired up the Mean 90 and the investment was well worth the effort.

Once again, I am impressed by the sound of the GFS pickups. I'm equally impressed by the value. Soundwise, it is clear, warm, bright and pretty much everything in between with a twist of the tone knob.

Obviously, this stuff is highly subjective and tone is in the ear of the beholder, but if you like a P90 sound and don't want to pay the P90 price, the GFS is an option to consider. Nope, not associated with them, only a satisfied customer.

Mark Mansueto · Post by **Mark Mansueto** » 20 Feb 2008 7:44 am

Very cool Bob, glad it worked out for you. So in both cases you liked the GFS better than what came with the guitar. Doesn't say much for the OEM pup's that came with the guitars that an inexpensive replacement sounds better. Makes me wonder how the GFS pup's sound compared to a more expensive lipstick or P90? I'd buy 'em in a heartbeat if I wasn't interested in noisless pup's but I really don't like the single coil buzz and I have had good results in the past with noiseless. However, if I don't find a noisless I like I'll try a GFS P90 in my SX.

Was the original Fouke pup a humbucker?

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 20 Feb 2008 9:28 am

The Mean 90 does have a nice tone to it.
I tested one out on one of my mahogany maple steels and liked it fine, though I ended up replacing it with a BG-Pups H-90.
The H-90 is another HB sized P90 type but is a hand wound unit with a bit more sparkle and note definition, with an open airy feel to it.

Another GFS pickup I like a lot is their Retrotron Liverpool.
Its a HB, but has some chime and is not muddy.
The split tones are nice as well.

Bob Borzelleri · Post by **Bob Borzelleri** » 20 Feb 2008 9:35 am

Mark Mansueto wrote:Very cool Bob, glad it worked out for you. So in both cases you liked the GFS better than what came with the guitar. Doesn't say much for the OEM pup's that came with the guitars that an inexpensive replacement sounds better. Makes me wonder how the GFS pup's sound compared to a more expensive lipstick or P90? I'd buy 'em in a heartbeat if I wasn't interested in noisless pup's but I really don't like the single coil buzz and I have had good results in the past with noiseless. However, if I don't find a noisless I like I'll try a GFS P90 in my SX.

Was the original Fouke pup a humbucker?

Mark...
I pretty much knew I would want to swap out PUs from the OEM PAF (humbucker) that came stock on the Industrial. Chris had all sorts of options in PUs, but this was a gift from my wife and there was a certain amount of non involvement on my part that I was willing to contribute and still sort of be surprised on Xmas. It's not really a bad PU, it's just not the sound I like to hear.

As for the GFS Lipstick and more expensive Lipsticks, I am aware of a S-D lipstick at $70, but the rest (Lace and a few others on ebay) seem to be in the same price range as the GFS. I've not heard any of the other currently available lipsticks.

The Mean 90, on the other hand, is quite a bit less expensive than all of the the other P90 types I have found and I think the sound is very comparable to the original. While I have not played with a new P94, I am under the impression that it misses the mark in recreating the original P90 sound.

Noise has not been a problem so far, but I don't play at super high volume so the noise might be in there somewhere, but I'm not getting it. OTOH, I have lost several layers of hearing so maybe it's there and I'm not hearing it.

If you want to go with a GFS P90 type in the SX, you will have to get the router out to hog out a humbucker sized cavity.

...Bob

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 20 Feb 2008 9:36 am

Mark Mansueto wrote:... Makes me wonder how the GFS pup's sound compared to a more expensive lipstick or P90? ...

My experience with GFS pickups so far has been very favorable. I've used their Mini Hum, Soapbar, FAT PAF, Mean 90, and Liverpool.

They are not going to compete with a nice hand wound from a talented winder, but, they do compare well to many of the mass marketed "boutique" pickups from SD, Duncan, etc.

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 21 Feb 2008 9:52 am

I also am a fan of GFS, I had a pair of Retrotron Nashvilles in an SG and it sounded great.