What is a Gold Foil pickup exactly? Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer because the only feature common to all Gold Foil pickups is a layer of textured-foil covered paper or cloth beneath cut-out metal covers. It serves no sonic purpose and is merely there to smarten up the look and keep dirt, sweat and debris away from the coil.
‘Gold Foil’ is really just a catch-all term for a range of pickups that often differ significantly in looks, construction and tone. They weren’t all produced by the same company and vintage examples were made in the US and Japan simultaneously and independently. As a result, there is much confusion about Gold Foils, compounded by relatively little in the way of historical documentation. Hot on the heels of our review of Fender’s new Gold Foil Telecaster (see page 8), we decided it was an opportune moment to take a deep dive down the Gold Foil rabbit hole.
Toledo Gold
During the 1950s in Toledo, Ohio, a company called Rowe Industries was
