The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm considering changing the GFI II pickup in my ULTRA S10. I find the stock pickup to be a little brittle to my ears in the higher registers - even with a Compressor.

Previous threads seem to suggest that the GFI III is a smoother, cleaner tone and is an easy install?

There's also threads that suggest that the configuration of the GFI construction makes it somewhat more difficult to simply change pickups to anything but a GFI branded version? String to pickup height seems to be different than most builders?

Some have said to 'just try it'. But I've already got drawers full of 'just try its' for other stuff and I've pledged to not just dive in without a little research.

I'm not familiar with the Return policies of any of the suppliers with the exception of AMAZON who list the Lace Alumatone pickup for steel guitar.

If I don't like it can I return it?

I'd appreciate your experiences...thanks!

I had a guy bring me his GFI for a pickup change with the same complaint.
I swapped the GFI lll for a 705. Not a notable change. Next we tried an E66, brighter but still dull and shrill on the high end. Lastly we tried a 12.5 Truetone single coil. It was about like the E66.
He opted to stay with the GFI lll and live with it. The GFI lll was the best sounding pickup in that particular guitar to me as well.

Good luck! Let us know how it comes out.

I've accumulated a small pile of pickups I was going to swap in/out but before you do that:

Ive spent a lot of time on varying tone on 3rd string with 2 steels. I've tried string gauges (.011 and .0115 didn't sound different, i'm going with thicker one), picking at different places, pickup heights as variables on the steel, different fingerpicks /thumbpick. You also want to look at pots/caps if you have tone/volume controls builtin

Then I started listening to the output from compressors, and then volume pedal, and on down the line. Each time i plug that output straight into audio interface and listen with neutral headphones.

And then i added various clean boost pedals and preamps, tube and solid state.

Best p/u I've used in GFI's is the 10-1's. 10-1 is what I'm using in my Williams now.

My wife's S-10 Expo had the GFI II pickup. I was doing some tracking and my Franklin was at a location so I used the S-10 through a POD X3 for some slight reverb (no modeling) direct and I hate to say it but it recorded (sounded) as good as my Franklin that has Lawrence 710's.

We traded the S-10 Expo for a D-10 Ultra (the guy with the D-10 wanted an S-10 for less weight and he didn't play C6th). The D-10 Ultra is a 2000 year model and has an E66 on the E9th neck and the stock GFI II on the C6th neck. The E66 does not have as much on the lows as the GFI PUP but some of that may just be the C6th has lower register strings. I've used the D-10 Ultra on a couple jobs with my new Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb and I didn't change the tone settings (Bass 6, Mid 10, Treble 4) from how I have them set for the Franklin.

I have a GFI Ultra with Lace Alumitone pickups. I love 'em. but check the clearances on your guitar before buying.

Michael Lester wrote:I'm considering changing the GFI II pickup in my ULTRA S10. I find the stock pickup to be a little brittle to my ears in the higher registers - even with a Compressor.

Well, first off, IMHO you're shooting yourself in the foot using a compressor. The volume pedal is the ONLY "compressor" you need. If you don't have enough sustain, you're probably running the amp volume too low. Now, as to the tone of your GFI, I've never heard a GFI that sounded brittle or harsh. You may have the pickup too close to the strings, that will cause a brittle sound. Or, it may even be defective (open). Open pickups can sound thin and brittle. I'd check that stuff out first!

Also have an Alumitone pickup in my GFI and am very pleased with the change as well..Since the factory pickups in GFI guitars are solidly mounted to the cabinet and have no provision for height adjustment, doubtful that string proximity is the problem.

Michael Lester wrote: - even with a Compressor.

I'm with Donny, Ross type compressors generally don't help tone on steel, htey often degrade it. This is maybe half of the compressors I've tried, the only ones i liked for steel is the LMB3 and a Strymon optical, the others got sold or went away. I keep these mostly for Strats and Tele's.

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Justin Griffith wrote:I had a guy bring me his GFI for a pickup change with the same complaint.
I swapped the GFI lll for a 705. Not a notable change. Next we tried an E66, brighter but still dull and shrill on the high end. Lastly we tried a 12.5 Truetone single coil. It was about like the E66.
He opted to stay with the GFI lll and live with it. The GFI lll was the best sounding pickup in that particular guitar to me as well.

Good luck! Let us know how it comes out.

I heard this one Justin was working on and even after pup change there was no noticeable improvement.

As a guy who used to make and sell pickups to steel players my opinion is that if you don't already love the sound of your steel a pickup won't help. Pickups are like vocal mics. They can help capturing your voice in different ways but do not change the sound of your voice.


Before spending any more money or time tinkering make sure you are happy with your guitar. Sit down behind a couple other steels and see how you feel. You may find that your steel is just fine or maybe not.

Also get with some other players and have them play your guitar. It is very possible that they can get a tone you love out of your current set up. If that is the case then it's just a matter of proper practice to solve your tone problems.

BTW: Count me in on the people that think using a compressor to help basic sustain causes more problems than it solves.

if you don't already love the sound of your steel a pickup won't help

Bob is correct. My Franklin came with Lawrence 705 pickups, I changed to Lawrence 710 pickups. My Franklin still sounded like a Franklin. However the 710's seem to have a little more clarity.

What Donny and others have said........sort of.

Strip away everything else in the chain.
Start with guitar-volume pedal-amp.

If the basic tools aren't doing it then adding pedals probably won't help.

And since no one asked (or I didn't see it): What are you using for a volume pedal?
If it's a passive pot pedal, what is the value of the pot?
This one piece alone can make a noticeable difference.

By the way, in my limited experience, changing pickups can make a difference.
But a lot of times it's not a night/day difference, but more like a little bit more/less of this or that.

If you're using a suspect volume pedal, this could be the issue.

Bob Hoffnar wrote:As a guy who used to make and sell pickups to steel players my opinion is that if you don't already love the sound of your steel a pickup won't help. Pickups are like vocal mics. They can help capturing your voice in different ways but do not change the sound of your voice.


Before spending any more money or time tinkering make sure you are happy with your guitar. Sit down behind a couple other steels and see how you feel. You may find that your steel is just fine or maybe not.

Also get with some other players and have them play your guitar. It is very possible that they can get a tone you love out of your current set up. If that is the case then it's just a matter of proper practice to solve your tone problems.

Disagree.. I have had MSA guitars that came alive after the stock MSA humbuckers were replaced with Truetones, and have had Buds where the sound was ruined by using a humbucker, lost much of the Bud characteristic sound.

Pickups are not the only thing that determines tone but they play a big part...

I know this theory is not popular here, but its valid.. Think of a Les Paul with Tele pickups and vice versa..
The sound of those guitars would be strikingly different.


Over the years Gibson made LP's with Humbuckers, Mini Humbuckers, and P 90's.. Those guitars did NOT sound the same, although every aspect of the guitar was identical except the pickup.. bob

Bob...I agree completely. I wish the search for the 'perfect' tone wasn't so dependent on invest - swap - try again.

I like everything about the GFI ULTRA except the 3rd string. I've swapped strings several times using different 'packaged sets' with different guaged strings. .10 /.11 / .11+ -

3rd string still bugs hell out of me.

In my version of a perfect world, suppliers would eagerly ship me 5 different versions of their pickups, let me swap them around until I found nirvana and send the rest back.

Try a .012 for the 3rd string.

I'm using George L's strings on my GFI Ultra D-10 and my Franklin D-10. 3rf string is a .011 and I'm not having any mechanical or audio issues.

Billy Carr wrote:Best p/u I've used in GFI's is the 10-1's. 10-1 is what I'm using in my Williams now.

Billy is that the guitar I sold you?

That's it, still got it. Thanks buddy !!!

Gfi 2s are darker, warmer
Gfi 3s are a bit cleaner and clearer
Never tried gfi 1s

I have a brand new set of Jerry wallace truetones that I bought specifically wound for my ultra buy Jerry Wallace. I ended up selling the guitar before I could install them. I have them for sale if you are interested.

The pickups that I see most steel players are happy with in their gfis are true tones, alumatones, 710s and 705s.

If you do a youtube search you will some examples