Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

[Rich_S]

I'm working on my MIM Nashville Tele. Already decided to put a SM-1 Vintage Mini HB in the neck position, and keep the Tex-Mex strat pu in the middle.

Now, what about the bridge? I actually kinda like the existing Tex-Mex. As far as vintage sound goes, it's okay to my ear, and the price is right. For someone who never plays out anymore, I'd really need something other than just a minor tweak in tone to make spending $$$ worthwhile.

Noise-cancelling. Now, there's something worthwhile. I considered the Vintage Stack. I know it's supposed to sound vintage, but all the samples sound more like a Hot Lead to me. Does anyone else share this impression? If Seymour's Vintage Stack doesn't sound "vintage", what hum-cancelling tele bridge pickup does? Are we allowed to say the B-word here?

In the realm of hotter pickups, I'm also thinking about the 1/4 Pound Tele bridge, with a tap. Tele purists will probably cringe, but I owned one of these years ago. Yes, the full coil gets muddy, but I always reserved that for single-string solos. Most of the time I used the tap, which I recall had a pretty good Tele sound, not truly vintage, but a bit smoother.

I'm leaning toward being a fiscally responsible parent of four, stop spending money on my silly hobby , and just sticking with the Tex-Mex for now. Talk me into something better.

P.S. - I'm a rocker, not a country picker. Think Andy Summers, Robbie McIntosh (Pretenders), Johnny Marr, but also classic rockers like Page, Blackmore.

[BS123]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

Rich, if you like the 1/4 pounders get a tapped model. You can use a push/pull pot to tap and uptap it. That way, you don't mes with the 5-way switch. A Broadcaster would be another option or even a tapped Hot model. I use a Vintage Stack and it isn't a hot pickup. It has vintange character and no hum...

[mrfjones]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

listen to butch, he knows his teles.

it depends on which b word you are talking about. if ou want to say barden, then yes, you can. if you want to say broadcaster, of course you can. feel free to talk about any pickups and most anything you like here, you can even say dimarzio.

on a more serious side, i think a tapped qp would sound good with a mini bucker. you may have to reverse the wires on your strat pickup though if you put a duncn in the bridge. they will probably be out of phase. I think personally though you should get a classic stack strat pickup and a vintage stack bridge pickup and have a silent tele, with not phase problems and a great tone.

[brisk]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

I am a rocker who happens to have a tele. I don't and can't do pure tele stuff. So I went with 1/4 lb bridge and minibucker. 1/4 lb isn't a traditional tele pup but it's great up for rock! I feel that sm-1 is kinda boomy with too much bass but YMMV.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

I'm a rocker too (kinda ) and I've had great results with the Jerry Donahue Lead paired with an SM-1 in the neck. The only beef I have with the JD is the noise when I turn up the gain.

[Rich_S]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

Brisk: I think that's what I liked about the SM-1. One of my favorite all-time sounds is Terry Kath's neck-pickup lead sound. On Chicago at Carnegie Hall, when his solos get down onto the low E-string, the amp just sort of shakes. It's not real dirty, and the amp doesn't fart out.... "boomy" is a good word for it. I've never heard a full-size HB do it, but I hear a bit of it in the dirty SM-1 sample. The mini's seem to do that whooomph thing without getting muddy. Kath was using an LP Professional with those weird low-impedance pickups and all the tone switches, so it's not something we can buy off the shelf today. I'm going to give the SM-1 a try.

Benji: I listened to the samples a LOT, and I liked the JD and the Broadcaster more than the Vintage '54. If I was going to upgrade to "just" a vintage-sounding single-coil, it'd be one of those two. But I'd probably just keep the Tex-Mex instead.

Now, humcanceling would be worthwhile improvement. Butch: OK, since I get the (wrong) impression from the sample that the VS sounds "hot", then what does it really sound like? JD? Broadcaster? Vintage 54? None of the above? (I realize we're splitting the hair pretty fine here.)

I wish they had a sample of the QP tapped to compare to the vintage pickups. The tapped QP has one major advantage; by flipping a switch, I can temporarily reduce my desire to go out and buy a Les Paul. I'm just afraid that even the tapped position would compromise the guitar's Teleness.

[BS123]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

All great replies for you Rich. A few more might chime in too. As far as Bardens? I saw a set on eBay go for $675. Don't believe me?

Barden Auction

I think the tapped Quarter Pounder is what you're after....

[Rich_S]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

What's up with Barden? I've been away from playing for ten years or so.

[Hellion]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

I'll second that motion for the Quarter Pounder. I dropped one of those into my Bastardcaster first thing (It's also a MIM Tele, by the way), although I got a nontapped model, but I use that guitar for everything. It twangs hard when it needs to, and if I back off on the volume it doesn't mush up. It's definitely my favorite Tele pickup.

[BS123]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

What's up with Barden? I've been away from playing for ten years or so.

A while back, he was having some health problems; severe enough that he took some time off. He left the produciton and financial end of the business to his employees. The story goes that when he came back, he was on the brink of bankruptsy. Bills weren't paid and so forth. He said that he would get the pickups that were ordered in his absence out to the customers. From what I have read, he either is still very far behind or he isn't doing it anymore. Fener makes thr Danny Gatton signature Tele and it had Bardens in it. No more.... Bill Lawrence is designing them and Fender will produce the pickups.

It's a really weird situation that I don't know very much about. What I do know is that Joe isn't making pickups and his website is down...

[Rich_S]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

Too bad - he was one of the good ones. Oh,well... a retired old hack like me doesn't need 'em anyway.

[Rich_S]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

I think I'm gonna order my 1/4 Pounder and new pickguard this afternoon, but there's something else I forgot...

I expect I'll use 2 volume pots. Never turned a tone pot in my life, so I'm better off without. I'll divide them up with the neck HB on one pot and the bridge and/or middle on the other.

I'm guessing a 500K is best for the mini HB, but what about the others? Is a 500K the better choice for a 1/4 Pounder?

[Kelsey]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

You might also consider the STL-2 Hot Tele tapped. It's not overly hot -- a nice boost in output but still cleans up well. It has more mids and low end than vintage Tele pickups with smoother highs. It reminds me af an alnico 2 pickup like the JD, although it feels different to play and has a much more solid low end. The lower output tap on the tapped version should put you right in vintage territory when you want it. It has no baseplate, but it sounds great and that makes wiring simpler when mixing SD and Fender pickups (you might have to switch the wiring of the Tex Mex Strat pup to keep it in phase with the SD pickups).

BTW, I haven't heard the Tex Mex Tele lead pickup, but I remember liking the middle Tex Mex Strat pickup best in my California Strat (since replaced with SSL-1's and Twangbanger).

[Hellion]

Re: Upgrade MIM Tele Bridge PU?

I think probably whatever is in there now is fine for the QP. Seems like mine is a 500K and it works fine. I like your thinking about the tone pots! Some of my guitars have dummy knobs, too. I just bypassed them.