Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

[badco33]

A question for Lew or anyone else that has experience with Tele pups. I just got a Burton Tele and want to upgrade the pickups. The stock Fender pickups are pretty good but could use some help. I am interested in vintage type Tele pups. Based on previous posts that I have read I am interested in the Jerry Donahue for the bridge. It's sounds like it will give a warm tone but still have some good punch. Is this pickup good for pinch harmonics and how would it compare to the stock pup in output and tone?

I am undecided on the neck pup. The stock has a decent tone but seems a little too muffled and bassy. I can't see myself every turning the tone down on pup cause it is already real deep so seems like the tone control is useless. I would like a more crisp and open sounding neck pup that has the Tele tone but provides more range and will allow me to use the tone control a little more. Would this be the Antiquity, Vintage, or Alnico II?

I know Lew likes the middle position with the neck and bridge combined. I like that as well so I would also like to find a combination that brings that sound out as well. Based on what I have read towards the Donahue and the Vintage but let me know what you think.

[mrfjones]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

You might want to try a fralin blues special pickup in the neck. It uses A5 mags and from what i hear is more open than a traditional tele pickup because of its lack of a cover.

[Curly]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

badco,
well, Lew's off for a little while...

for an all around perspective on tele pickups, I'd take a look at the Ultimate Tele tone! thread, as well as Reviews of Duncan Vintage Telecaster Pickups in the Vault.

I started with a Broadcaster/ Vintage Rhythm set in my ash tele, but now have a set of Antiquities which is perfect for that guitar. A very well balanced set.
In my alder tele, I replaced the stock pickups with a JD/ Hot neck. The Vintage Rhythm may have been fine, but I wanted a little more output at the neck, so I went with the Hot. That set is fine for now. You can hear a couple clips here:
AS tele
and yes, I tried a Seth in the neck, but went back to the Hot, as I found the Seth overpowered the JD bridge.

I'd be interested in trying an APII neck with the JD, because at least on paper, it seems like a good match, although Lew commented that he found it to be a little low output. On paper at least, I would have thought that 8.1K specs wouldn't be low output, but sometimes I guess the resistance isn't the whole story

as far as the tone issues, that may be your cap value ... I find that I need to crank up the tone on the neck pickup, and crank it down on the bridge. I have a .02 cap in that guitar. So, it may be a matter of tweaking your cap value, but my experience is that it's partly just the way teles are.

[badco33]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

Thanks for the info guys. I may eventually get around to trying Fralins but I've always used Duncans and been real happy so I haven't seen a need to go that route. I have a feeling the Antiquities would be perfect but I'm sort of on a tighter budget with this guitar so I'm gonna start with the regular production pups. I definitely think the JD is the right bridge and I did look at the APII for the neck but as you suggested Lew's input kind of pointed me in another direction. I think I'm gonna go with the JD bridge and the vintage neck and play around with the cap value and see what happens.

I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks Again!

[Kelsey]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

I am on the hunt for a new set of Tele pickups for an American Series Tele with an alder body and rosewood fingerboard, which is a new Tele combination for me. I have had several email exchanges with Billy Gill at SD tech support, which have been very helpful, so you might try that resource. When I asked him about a neck pickup to go with the JD, he suggested the alnico 2 pro and the vintage rhythm. I found the a2p rhythm a bit dull and very weak in a Lite Ash Tele I demo'ed last month, so I would lean toward the STR-1. The Phat Cat neck sounds great with the JD lead, if you want to go a different direction. BTW, pinch harmonics are readily at hand with the JD. My only complaint about it is that it doesn't have a lot of high end bite -- but that's to be expected from its design, and I have another Tele with a Nocaster lead that has plenty of bite on tap for those moments.

I have a question for Curly. I really liked the sound of the STR-2 Hot rhythm pickup in those clips. How noisy is it compared to other Tele neck pickups? Sometimes overwound pickups mean more hum and noise, which I don't need, but I sure would like a bit more push.

[Curly]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

I have a question for Curly. I really liked the sound of the STR-2 Hot rhythm pickup in those clips. How noisy is it compared to other Tele neck pickups? Sometimes overwound pickups mean more hum and noise, which I don't need, but I sure would like a bit more push.

Kelsey,
I don't think it's any noisier than the stock pickups, or the Vintage. The Hot isn't really high gain, it's just not as low output as the Vintage - the Vintage is probably pretty faithful to the originals, but I think a lot of modern players prefer a little more juice.
The JD, for that matter is kinda hot compared to some of the other vintage type tele bridges, but I really like it.

it's been a few days since I've played that tele, so I'll try to play it and pay attention to the noise level to answer that question more accurately

[Kelsey]

Re: Pups for James Burton Tele (Lew?)

Thanks, Curly.