Tele Pickups

[BMXGUY]

I am building a tele style guitar and cant pick which pickups to get without hearing them its a toss up between the duncan antiquity pups, lindy fralin stock tele set or vintabe vibe tele pups, just curious what everyone else prefers as the best possible pups for a tele also whats the difference between the hybrid and stock staggered poles, just curious which would be better for a allparts 22 fret tele neck.

Thanks any help would be great

[blackburncustomguitars]

Hi!

I like the Vintage Vibe pickups, but contact Pete and ask him to overwind both of them, especially the bridge. You will find him receptive to whatever you want as far as sound goes, and he makes them for your guitar, woods, etc.

Dave

I am building a tele style guitar and cant pick which pickups to get without hearing them its a toss up between the duncan antiquity pups, lindy fralin stock tele set or vintabe vibe tele pups, just curious what everyone else prefers as the best possible pups for a tele also whats the difference between the hybrid and stock staggered poles, just curious which would be better for a allparts 22 fret tele neck.

Thanks any help would be great

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[thedoctor]

In this world of stomp pedals, processors and effects I have found that the SD rail PUs with a lipstick at the neck are about as versatile as you can get. I shall now duck my head and shout IMHO!!!

[javacody]

I've heard great things about the Fender Nocaster pickups. Fender makes some pretty good aftermarket pickups.

[BMXGUY]

thanks for the help do you guys think a sd hot rails in the bridge and a antiquity in the neck would sound good, any suggestions on other combos would be great,

[Mickguard]

What about actual Fender telecaster pickups? No one uses these? (hiding under bed in fear 'cause he thought that's what a telecaster's all about)

[Devon Headen]

I'm using the vintage Fender set in my telecaster. I imagine it will sound just right. I mean, why wouldn't it? After all Fender does know what a tele should sound like . We'll see when I finally get it rubbed out I suppose.

[thedoctor]

idch, don't hide, for god's sake! I haven't run across very many people who want their Tele to sound like a Tele. That is why I made the comment about effects, etc. changing pickup selection. How many players go out with a Tele Standard and a ProReverb and nothing else? I personally like a raw, stock Tele. As far as the combo of a Hot Rail and a Vintage, sounds like a slice of teen-age heaven right here on earth (quoting Frank Zappa).

[Mickguard]

idch, don't hide, for god's sake! I haven't run across very many people who want their Tele to sound like a Tele. That is why I made the comment about effects, etc. changing pickup selection. How many players go out with a Tele Standard and a ProReverb and nothing else? I personally like a raw, stock Tele. As far as the combo of a Hot Rail and a Vintage, sounds like a slice of teen-age heaven right here on earth (quoting Frank Zappa).

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Actually, I'm planning on putting a set of Filtertrons into one of my tele clones!

[GregP]

I dunno about the rails. Not very tele-like to me. I've owned a Hot Rails and I now use a Little '59, and neither of them sound like a Tele. Luckily, I didn't particularly care TOO much about the Tele sound, as I just wanted a humbucker.

Greg

[thedoctor]

GregP, that is what I mean. Most people want a sound that is not really Tele. They want the HB sound, like you, or something they heard on another axe. That is why I recommend a diverse pair of pickups for variety. I do admit the rails are a little harsh but they can be tamed with the right passive muzzles. That and EVERYONE seems to be using a post-EQ or effect, anyhow. I applaude any and all attempts at reaching your "own sound".

idtch, I don't mind showing my ignorance. What are Filtertrons?

Edited April 14, 2005 by thedoctor

[jamesj]

GregP, that is what I mean. Most people want a sound that is not really Tele. They want the HB sound, like you, or something they heard on another axe. That is why I recommend a diverse pair of pickups for variety. I do admit the rails are a little harsh but they can be tamed with the right passive muzzles. That and EVERYONE seems to be using a post-EQ or effect, anyhow.  I applaude any and all attempts at reaching your "own sound".

idtch, I don't mind showing my ignorance. What are Filtertrons?

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Has anyone tried the fender "noisless" tele pickups? I am considering them....

[x189player]

I agree with the 'diverse pair' idea. In my tele I run a Fender tele pickup in the bridge, and a warm overwound humbucker in the neck (with coil tap). This gives me both tele clank and warm jazz tones, which are what i use most often.

Here's the problem though: most tele pickups are pretty low output, and so a tele pickup in the bridge spot is going to be really overwhelmed by a humbucker, especially an overwound one, and especially in the neck, which is always a louder position anyway. When I first went with this combination, the 'both' position on the 3-way might as well have been 'neck only' because it completely swamped the bridge pickup, and no amount of adjusting pickup height would compensate for this.

The answer is not only effective, but adds a much larger tonal range: use a blend pot instead of a 3-way switch. That way I can dial in just the amount of humbucker warmth I want- just a shade to add warmth behind the clank, or an equal output to allow phase reverse (I wire my pickups out of phase fulltime) when they're balanced. When I coil tap the humbucker it drops the output from it, and the blend pot allows me to compensate. I use a chickenhead knob on the blend pot, which allows me to set or recall a particular setting visually or by feel.

The other addition to this setup which I really like is an inductor-based passive tone control instead of the usual low-pass tone control. At the center detent it's normal; roll it one way and it's a notch filter that cuts out the midrange for an 'acoustic-like' sound; roll it the other way and it cuts the low and hi and leaves the midrange, which is especially good for distorted tone. People put down passive EQ, but it's plenty effective, especially when you step up to more gain at the amp.

Pardon my bragging, but all the above makes my tele one of the most versatile and useful guitars I have- not the narrow tone range sometimes associated with a tele.

Edited August 7, 2005 by x189player