What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

[rze99]

What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

Looking to pair something bright and clear with my existing Seymour Duncan Broadcaster for a project build. Looking for something similar to the Fender Twisty Tele neck.

Ideally want a Seymour Duncan pair so not interested in suggestions for other brands or to go to winders. thanks all


R

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

So you're looking for a neck pickup? Can you use a Strat neck pickup or do you want to use a little Tele size pickup?

The cover mutes the highs a little on a standard Tele neck pickup.

So does the tone control even when it's turned all the way up.

You could use a pickup like the Duncan Vintage 54 neck (alnico 5) and then rewire your tone control so it's not connected to the neck pickup.

Connect the tone control to the same terminal of the 3 way switch as the bridge pickup connects to.

The tone control will still work with the bridge pickup and when both pickups are combined.

But will not be connected when the neck pickup is used by itself.

That will make the neck pickup clearer and brighter.

[ToneFiddler]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

duncan has no really bright tele neck.

duncan vintage 54 with the brass cover removed or changed to nickel silver is youÂ’re best bet.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

I agree...either the 54 without cover or go with a Strat pup.

[Mincer]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

The Rhythm for Tele with Strat Tone is the right one. Unless you use an actual Strat pickup, but that would require a different pickguard and some routing (maybe).

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

The Rhythm for Tele with Strat Tone is the right one. Unless you use an actual Strat pickup, but that would require a different pickguard and some routing (maybe).

I've used that pickup. It's not the same tone as a SSL-1 or Surfer but it's closer than any other Tele neck pickup I've tried.

But eventually I wound up ordering a new pickguard and putting a Strat neck pickup in that Tele.

Along with a CS Jerry Donahue bridge pickup.

[jeremy]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

evan had a tele with that pup i played for a bit, it did sound really nice. i still prefer a ssl2 or other strat pup

[Mincer]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

If I am going for a Strat sound in the neck, and I am going to switch to a Strat pickup, I like the Surfer or the Five Two. They aren't as bright as the SSL-1 or -2 which is why I like them.

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

Lindy Fralin makes a good one too. It's called the Blues Special Tele neck pickup.

It's uncovered, small Tele neck pickup sized and gets a sound that's warmer than a Strat but about the same output.

I used a set of the Tele Blues Specials for a couple of years.

Eventually I started to miss the twang of traditional Tele bridge pickups and stopped using the Fralin Blues Special set.

But that neck pickup is a good one!

[superpete]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

i know you said you aren't interested in other winders, but i was in your position a few years ago, and duncan just doesn't make a production pickup that does what you're asking. instead of paying custom shop prices, i went with the dimarzio twang king neck and it did exactly what i wanted.

[stevie_bees]

Re: What's the brightest most Strat like Seymour Duncan Tele pickup?

Lindy Fralin makes a good one too. It's called the Blues Special Tele neck pickup.

It's uncovered, small Tele neck pickup sized and gets a sound that's warmer than a Strat but about the same output.

I used a set of the Tele Blues Specials for a couple of years.

Eventually I started to miss the twang of traditional Tele bridge pickups and stopped using the Fralin Blues Special set.

But that neck pickup is a good one!

I had that paired with a Broadcaster in my old Tele. A great combination.

[Ewizard]

Duncan's custom shop has an option similar to a twisted Tele neck pickup. It has a higher output and is an open cover. I have not used it, but they seem to sell it as if it was a twisted tele type pickup. Duncans Tele neck pickups are all very muted in the high end otherwise. I got the Vintage standard version a while back and swapped the cover with an open one which helped a bit with brightness, but it didn't help with the output ( rather low ). Unfortunately, that pickup died on me after a short while. It pulled the winding somewhere near the start and was unfixable.....

I currently have twisted tele in that guitar and it is so far my favorite neck pickup for a Tele. Brighter, decent output and looks stock. I would still love to have one with a little more brightness and spank, but it is a very sweet sounding pickup.

As for other options? I couldn't say, I have not used enough to make an informed guess.

[Mincer]

If you are going to ask the Custom Shop, just tell them that you need a bright Tele neck pickup. Describe the sound to MJ, and she will build it.

[ItsaBass]

Just get a regular Duncan '50s styleTele neck pickup, and run it through an internally adjustable passive bass control.

You can experiment with cap and resistor values, but I might start by looking at the values used on the passive bass control in G&L's PTB system as it is used on the Legacy. I.e. 0.0022uF cap and a 1M variable resistor.

Use a trimpot in place of the full sized pot shown in the G&L diagram (it need not be a reverse taper trimpot like G&L uses). They are cheap, and very useful for things like this: giving you fine tunability in a tonal control that you don't need to adjust all the time. You use a small screwdriver to set the trimpot to the desired level of bass rolloff, and then you close it away in the control cavity. You can adjust it in the future if you want, but you don't need to dedicate an external knob to it.

This will allow you to use a relatively cheap and immediately available Tele neck pickup, but open up the low end a bit, i.e. make it sound thinner, closer to a Strat pickup.