So my understanding is that goldfoils were a pickup made with cheaper materials and construction. Instead of your usual alnico bar or strips of magnets they are made of rubberised magnets (the same type that fridge magnets use). Wire was then wrapped around this magnet and et voila you have a pickup. The gold foil was put on top of this and then the casing put on purely for aesthetic purposes. There are a few different types but this is generally what is meant when talking about gold foil pickups.Downsman wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:37 amI've tried watching a bunch of video demos, and explanations of Gold Foil pickups, and I'm not any closer to figuring out what they are. It seems that the only thing they all have in common is the cover is a gold coloured grill. Which as far as I can tell has no tonal impact. One guy said they're basically a way for pickup companies to experiment.
Or do I have this wrong and there is indeed a particular Gold Foil tone that people would expect a guitar like this to have? And if so, any links to a guitar being demoed that has that?
They are relatively low output and so I usually use them with an always on boost to make them a bit livelier.
A lot of production gold foils are just standard pickups with a gold foil aesthetic. This new Fender guitar has mini humbuckers that look like gold foils, completely different.
This video is what made me try some out for myself. Without going all buzz wordy to describe their sound I would say they are clear sounding with no scoop or boost across the frequency range. Good note separation.
https://youtu.be/l2E_HCaW1Js