BMXGUY Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I am putting a tele style guitar together but cant decide on which pickups i should get if any one knows of any pups that have a vintage sound but can still be used for many types of playing let me know, i was looking at some fender vintage noiseless and emg-t but have never heard them and cant decide any help would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I am putting a tele style guitar together but cant decide on which pickups i should get if any one knows of any pups that have a vintage sound but can still be used for many types of playing let me know, i was looking at some fender vintage noiseless and emg-t but have never heard them and cant decide any help would be great ← Check out harmony central and look for reviews on pickups. There are a ton on there. Most users of Fender Vintage Noiseless seem to be in agreement.. that they don't like them.. that they are sterile and uninspiring. It all depends on your style. Rio Grande has some great tele pickup options. If you want powerful, the Muy Grande line is the ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suregork Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Sorry for the hijack, but thought it was unnecessary to start a new thread. My friend was wondering if tele covers fit on normal single coils. Aren't tele pickups much smaller than normal single coils? Would appreciate if someone could answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Sorry for the hijack, but thought it was unnecessary to start a new thread. My friend was wondering if tele covers fit on normal single coils. Aren't tele pickups much smaller than normal single coils? Would appreciate if someone could answer. ← Yes tele neck pups are much smaller than a standard single coil. If you want a similar looking single coil size you'd have to buy a lipstick tube style pup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 The tele neck pickup covers don't fit normal single coils. EDIT: beaten to it as usual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Lindy Fralin makes some wonderful sounding tel type pickups. Not cheap but really jangly. He's a working guitarist who is really particular about sound quality. I had them rewind a dead Mosrite pickup and it is as close to perfect as you could want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Personally, I like the lipstick for neck and SD HotRails for the bridge. You need a little more tone control with the Rails but they sound a WHOLE bunch better than the noisless, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMXGUY Posted April 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Yah ive given up on the noiseless a telecaster distinct tone comes from the twang and feedback and someohow i think the noiseless will cancel out this classic sound, ive been looking on ebay for some lindy fralin but they were a little over my budget im willing to pay about 100.00 for a set, if any one has some suggestion in this price range it would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 ...a telecaster distinct tone comes from the twang and feedback and someohow i think the noiseless will cancel out this classic sound... Would you mind explaining what you mean by that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMXGUY Posted April 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 yah i kind off wrote that a little to fast i just mean that the sound wont be a natural tele sound more of a clean tone with no distinct features Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 yah i kind off wrote that a little to fast i just mean that the sound wont be a natural tele sound more of a clean tone with no distinct features ← Right.. the noise is part of the sound. I thinnk the flock to noisless has people realizing that the little bit of hum you get out of the old fashioned single coils is kind of like vinyl noise is to LP afficionados.. It's the soul. Anyway.. an unsolicited recommendation.. I bought a set of premium boutique overwound tele pickups from GuitarFetish on ebay. They are absolutely top notch in every way. They are wound overseas but designed by this dude and the build quality on them is absolutely amazing. I have tested them some in the sound department and the sound very nice.. Haven't done any full out playing of them yet.. I've heard nothing but good things about his product though. I think I gave 85 bucks for the two. The i30 model and the i31 model Ask the guy questions.. he's very helpful. I'd experiment with these any day over paying 300 bucks for a custom set. Unless you just have that kind of money to burn. The bridge pickup is built like a freakin tank.. They are extremely high quality construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Anyway.. an unsolicited recommendation.. I bought a set of premium boutique overwound tele pickups from GuitarFetish on ebay. They are absolutely top notch in every way. They are wound overseas but designed by this dude and the build quality on them is absolutely amazing. I have tested them some in the sound department and the sound very nice.. Haven't done any full out playing of them yet.. I've heard nothing but good things about his product though. I think I gave 85 bucks for the two. ← Man, I've been going back and forth trying to decide whether to take a chance on the GFS pups. You just made my day. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMXGUY Posted April 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Yah i bought all my hardware from them its great stuff, and pretty decent prices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Right.. the noise is part of the sound. I thinnk the flock to noisless has people realizing that the little bit of hum you get out of the old fashioned single coils is kind of like vinyl noise is to LP afficionados.. It's the soul. I disagree - the noise is noise, and interferes with the reproduction of any vintage tone your Tele may be producing. That's like saying the squeaking of the leather strap on that bass drum pedal is what gave John Bonham his distinctive drum sound. There are plenty of vintage-style single coils that don't hum or buzz if they're installed correctly. I'm not a big fan of Fender's Noiseless pickups, but it's because they don't really sound very good, not because they're quiet! Life is too short to play a noisy rig! (As always, feel free to ignore anything in the above that makes you feel uncomfortable.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Right.. the noise is part of the sound. I thinnk the flock to noisless has people realizing that the little bit of hum you get out of the old fashioned single coils is kind of like vinyl noise is to LP afficionados.. It's the soul. I disagree - the noise is noise, and interferes with the reproduction of any vintage tone your Tele may be producing. That's like saying the squeaking of the leather strap on that bass drum pedal is what gave John Bonham his distinctive drum sound. There are plenty of vintage-style single coils that don't hum or buzz if they're installed correctly. I'm not a big fan of Fender's Noiseless pickups, but it's because they don't really sound very good, not because they're quiet! Life is too short to play a noisy rig! (As always, feel free to ignore anything in the above that makes you feel uncomfortable.) ← LOL.. hey.. to each their own. I am a freak about shielding. I dont' like excessive noise.. but to me it's kind of like when you throw noise reduction (i'm showing my age here) on an audio track.. You lose some of the dimension. Digital is great but there was a warmth to analog that had a lot to do with the peripheral noise.. It's just a personal preference. I never play my strat in hum canceling position. I love the overwround neck pup. Noise is bad.. but a single coil sounding like a single coil should is all i'm talking about. Most folks seem to think that in the effort to make the VN pups noiseless.. they lost a lot of tone along the way. I guess they were whittling away components of the sound that weren't noise after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 (edited) I'll be looking for some pickups for the maple tele I'm building, when I get the dough. I've checked at local music stores, can't seem to find the best of both worlds. One place offers brand new pups but for ridiculous prices. They have to order from the states and then tack on their profit/shipping charges, huh, I may as well cut out the middleman and order them myself, if I go that route. Another place showed me a box of "previously enjoyed" pickups. No idea where they came from, what kind of outputs they have, resistance ratings or even if they work for that matter! Since this is an all maple guitar I might be looking for something a bit unusual in a tele pickup. Edited April 6, 2005 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburncustomguitars Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I'm probably sounding like a broken record, but I have to say that you should check out Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars. www.vintagevibeguitars.com He will voice your pickups exactly to match your woods and playing style. Great guy and a great price. His e-mail is cynpete1@earthlink.net Of course if you have unlimited funds, go for Harmonic designs. They are fantastic!I am putting a tele style guitar together but cant decide on which pickups i should get if any one knows of any pups that have a vintage sound but can still be used for many types of playing let me know, i was looking at some fender vintage noiseless and emg-t but have never heard them and cant decide any help would be great ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburncustomguitars Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I'm probably sounding like a broken record, but I have to say that you should check out Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars. www.vintagevibeguitars.com He will voice your pickups exactly to match your woods and playing style. Great guy and a great price. His e-mail is cynpete1@earthlink.net Of course if you have unlimited funds, go for Harmonic designs. They are fantastic!I am putting a tele style guitar together but cant decide on which pickups i should get if any one knows of any pups that have a vintage sound but can still be used for many types of playing let me know, i was looking at some fender vintage noiseless and emg-t but have never heard them and cant decide any help would be great ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 The other option is to just wind your own It's on my list of things to do.. i have all the parts for my winder.. but i haven't invested in the startup supplies to get going.. i.e. wire and bobbins, mags, etc.. Wire is EXPENSIVE and people want you to buy 5 lbs of it if you want the good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 LOL.. hey.. to each their own. I am a freak about shielding. I dont' like excessive noise.. but to me it's kind of like when you throw noise reduction (i'm showing my age here) on an audio track.. You lose some of the dimension. Digital is great but there was a warmth to analog that had a lot to do with the peripheral noise.. I agree that the noiseless pickups aren't great, but again, it's the implementation, not the idea - analog warmth is about bandwidth limitations and dynamic non-linearities, not hum and noise. And good noise reduction doesn't take anything away from the "dimension" of the sound unless it's set up incorrectly (please note that a Boss NS-2 doesn't qualify as good noise reduction). All this neo-Luddite proselytizing tends to obscure the fact that we have made a few improvements in technology since 1956, and very few of the mojo-based claims about vintage sound will actually pass a double-blind listening test. But as you (almost) said, to each his own - I just wasn't that impressed with my 1967 Strat when I was playing it in 1973, which is why I threw those Bill Lawrence's in it. Too bad, I could have sold it to some VG reader for a couple of grand if I'd held on to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I'll be looking for some pickups for the maple tele I'm building, when I get the dough. I've checked at local music stores, can't seem to find the best of both worlds. One place offers brand new pups but for ridiculous prices. They have to order from the states and then tack on their profit/shipping charges, huh, I may as well cut out the middleman and order them myself, if I go that route. Another place showed me a box of "previously enjoyed" pickups. No idea where they came from, what kind of outputs they have, resistance ratings or even if they work for that matter! Since this is an all maple guitar I might be looking for something a bit unusual in a tele pickup. ← Here's a guy up north of the border. I bought some strat pickups from him last year. Reasonably priced and they sound decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 (edited) I have heard this so often from so many customers that I am beginning to think I am missing something when they talk about "noise" and "vintage sound". There may be a sound, PARTICULARLY from TELEs, that they keep telling me about that must be interference, distortion, whatever that is not included in the 60 cycle crap we all try to rid ourselves of. Warmth? Could that be the term? Don't know but I have been told it is there when a guitar is to their satisfaction. As far as the double-blind test that would define it, who can get someone to stick around long enough to endure one? Kids these days! "neo-Luddite proselytizing" LK! YOU THE MAN!! Edited April 6, 2005 by thedoctor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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