The Chetboard

I've recently acquired an old Epiphone - I'm not in the habit of setting up guitars or tinkering much with them, not being much of a handyman, but since this one cost me nothing and is quite 'beat-up', I intend experimenting with it and maybe learning a little about electronics - the point being that if I mess it up, I won't be much out of pocket anyway.

I was googling a bit to get some ideas about what kind of pickups to get for it when I came across references to 'Retrotron' pickups, made by a company called Guitar Fetish - they claim to sound like Filtertrons, and the price makes them very attractive since I don't want to splash out lots of cash on what will basically be a learning experience for me. They have on their website some sound-files of their Retrotrons but they are brief clips, not enough to really tell what they sound like, just a couple of short rock 'n' roll riffs.

I find it hard to believe that pickups in this price range really do sound like Filtertrons and I'd regard it as a huge bonus if they actually do - does anyone here maybe have some experience with this company and their pickups?

This is what's on their site http://www.guitarfetish.com/Nashville-V ... c_100.html

The humbuck ("filter" in filter-tron) is common nowadays.
Looking at their ad it looks like they may have 'beefed' them to be more like gibson humbuckers than gretsch meaning greetsch meter out at around 4k and gibsons I think are closer to 7 or 8 k

Broadly means the pickup gets louder quicker when you turn your volume up. As to whether it will sound like a gretsch or gibson, probably not because it's a different guitar. No idea what they will sound like or if You'll like the tone.

That's always to the ear of the listener

Thanks for that, it's helpful - I'm really ignorant about this whole area, I have some studying to do - right now I feel almost like I don't know enough even to ask a sensible question!

I have a set of Guitar Fetish Nashville Retrons pickups . I had them on my Gretsch 5120 but I changed them out again to a set of Gretsch Filtertrons . My G5120 sounds like a G 6120 now. The pickups your asking about are great for the price range . You won't get the real Gretsch Filtertron sounds but they do sound nice in there own way. They have a nice full sound . The full body of the pickups sound good the problem for me was I wanted much more sparkle on the high end so that's why I switched them out for the real Gretsch Filterons pickups. In a nut shell they sound good but just don't have that much high end. If you crank up the treble on your amp you will be okay. The price is okay but I went on ebay and bought a set of Gold plated Gretsch pickups for about 30 bucks more that what Guitar Fetish wants. Hope this helps you out. Take care. Joe

Thanks for that Joeb

Taking into account that I'm using this as a learning experience, I'll go ahead and fit the GFS pickups - since they're not too expensive, I won't be risking much if I mess up! Once I know what I'm doing, I may well get some Filtertrons and put them on later.

Thanks again to both of you who posted, I appreciate your input

Just remember that Gretsch tone is more than pickups. It's a combination of pickups, guitar construction and individual touch.

You could put the pickups used in the 6122-59 in an Epiphone guitar and it won't sound like a 6122-59. It will sound different than a stock Epiphone but it won't sound like a 6122-59

Norm, thanks once again for your input - I'll post again when I've put the pickups on to tell you what I think of the sound I get; I'm not expecting a sound like a Gretsch, but hopefully it wil have a decent tone. The Epiphone is very comfortable to play, so hopefully something good will emerge in due course

Should work well. Epiphone is a good guitar