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Secret Tele Humbucker


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A friends band has just finished recording and I fell in love with the guitarist's tone. I want to develop a lead tone similar to his for some stuff, but he plays an SG which doesn't really compare with a tele. I am planning on building another tele within the coming months, and waned to put a humbucker in it but have it look like a regular tele. The plan is to put an extra route under the pickguard and place a humbucker under the pickguard. Will this work? I thought about taking off most of the thickness on the back of the pickguard at the humbucker to allow the smallest hight between the pup and the strings. Will the pickguard make any significant effects? Also, will this even work? for wiring, I'll just put in an extra switch, or try and find a way to use a push/pull pot to engage the hb.

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I have a humbucker that fits a normal tele plate -- I forget who makes it -- the sound is excellent. Perhaps not exactly a humbucker. Remember the bridge plate has a pretty big impact on the sound. Here's a similar pickupon Ebay UK

The position of the pickup also has a big impact -- it's not going to sound the same in the middle position as in the bridge or neck.

I've also done the 'hidden' pickup, with a P90. I can definitely recommend against using a metal pickguard! On the other hand, I had no issues with the pickup being too far from the strings (but a P90 has adjustable polepieces).

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Not a good idea trying to hide the pickup...distance from the strings makes a big difference. If it is a lead sound, there are replacement bridges that hold an HB with not too much modifcation ( a bit of routing under that you would need to do anyway to install a pickup).

But also, a tele and and SG are completely different animals so not likely to be the same kind of sound at all. An SG typically have a smoother attack while a tele is generally the other extreme (very quick attack).

If it is the neck pickup, again you can get replacement scratch plates to do that. For a low mod HB tone...replace with a rail or pickup like duncan JB junior...as suggested earlier.

pete

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+1 PSW and foil1more. I've always treated mahogany as a "slow" sounding wood with a warm tone, and ash/alder as quick immediate snappy woods.

The wiring could be modified to have the usual Tele high-pass filter cap defeated when you activate the humbucker....for a live instrument, i'd be more inclined to achieve this with the switching, as opposed to a pull-pot. I prefer more reliable switches as opposed to potentially pulling off knobs in front of crowds.

*cough*

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Wow, thanks for all the input. It definitely sounds like the original plan isn't the best. The tone I'm going for is that smooth, warm hum-bucker sound. I would like to keep the tele looking natural, so putting a hum-bucker in is out of the question. But the single coil sized HB sounds like a good idea. I could just wire a switch in to do coil tap to get that traditional tele twang when I wanted and still have the option of the hum-bucker.

Where should I look for these single-coiled hum-buckers though? I know GFS makes them, but the price seems a little to low for some quality pups (although, I may be wrong). I know Seymour Duncan does too, but I've never been drawn to them as a pup manufacturer for some reason. Are there any smaller companies out there that do this? I'm looking for about 60-75 per pup, but would be willing to shell out a little more if necessary

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There should be a few around...but it still wont sound like an SG...

I've always treated mahogany as a "slow" sounding wood with a warm tone, and ash/alder as quick immediate snappy woods.

That's a perfect description of a tele.."snappy"...there are a lot of factors involved that makes a tele snappy (bridge style, bolt on neck, longer scale, lot's of maple in the neck). An SG is particularly "slow" (an SG was my first guitar)...not just the mahogany in the body and neck but the rubbery less supported neck, the shorter gibson scale, the thin body (not maple topped like an LP for instance)...

In short, there are some good sounds to get from a tele with an HB but it won't sound like an SG...pickups make a big contribution, but not as much as people sometimes think (especially when it comes to things as diverse as an SG and a tele)...

If emulating another players "tone" there are so many other factors of course...another players touch makes a huge difference...amps and such also a big part. But even with pickup choice, there are a range of different outputs and tones...some like pickups very hot, others like them with more detail and less mud. Perhps you might like to find out what kind of pickups this player plays.

Anyway...hope that gives you a bit of an idea about things.

pete

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While it's generally true that you get what you pay for, it isn't necessarily the case with pickups. Now, I'm not going to say that Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Lace, or any number of American pup companies are substandard in any way. They all make great pups. BUT they have a name, reputation, and production costs to consider, so you're partially paying for 1) the name and 2) American production. GFS pups are made in China by Artec. Many folks here have used them and nobody has had anything bad to say about them. You can find them on eBay from a number of different sellers cheaper than through GFS.

Just a thought. Personally, I have guitars with Artec, Bartolini, Bill Lawrence, Gibson, DiMarzio, and Gretsch pups, and they ALL have unique and desirable sounds.

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