I have a Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus – it's the model with the bridge humbucker, Strat middle, and standard Tele neck – that I bought a couple years ago, and I've never really been satisfied with the stock pickup sounds. The neck is dull even for a Tele neck, the middle's kind of wooden, and the bridge 'bucker is kinda loud and kinda fat but fails to really come alive in any context - although it doesn't help that the stock pup is a 3-wire set in parallel. (Fender, what are you doing?) Because of this, I want to do some pickup replacements.
Before I discuss my planned replacements, I should talk about wiring. Since I'm changing out the pickups anyway, I've decided to do a couple wiring mods (primarily based on this mod) designed around not having to buy another guitar for quite a while (since I'm a poor college student). They are as follows:
1. Swapping the stock toggle for a DPDT on/on/on switch to enable either series/split/parallel or slug/series/screw for the bridge pickup (I'll decide based on whether I really want the parallel wiring option).
2. Swapping the stock tone pot for a 500k push/pull pot that functions as a "neck on" switch - enabling the classic Tele middle position as well as all three pups on.
I've already pretty much decided on the bridge replacement – I'm going with the 59/Custom Hybrid, a fun little experiment that should give me the richness and power that's missing from the stock bridge position. For the middle, after talking to one of the SD guys, I've pretty much settled on the Vintage Flat Strat, since I'll mainly be using it to blend with the other pups, although I am considering an Alnico II or a Five-Two. It mainly depends on what will bring the best warmth and fullness, since the stock sound is pretty sharp and hollow.
The main thing I need help with is the neck. I honestly have no idea what would be best for this. I want something that'll give something of the traditional Tele middle position sound when paired with the coil-split 59/Custom (which I can wire for either coil), but will still sound good on its own and clean – I don't expect I'll be dirtying it up much by itself. I want to have hum canceling with the coil-split bridge and the middle selected, as well as with the split bridge and neck; I'm less concerned about it between the neck and middle.
Has anyone else done pickup replacements on this model or similar and can offer me some advice? I'm kinda new to this specific world but I have a very good general understanding of music, acoustics, and electronics, so advice at any level is helpful.
Before I discuss my planned replacements, I should talk about wiring. Since I'm changing out the pickups anyway, I've decided to do a couple wiring mods (primarily based on this mod) designed around not having to buy another guitar for quite a while (since I'm a poor college student). They are as follows:
1. Swapping the stock toggle for a DPDT on/on/on switch to enable either series/split/parallel or slug/series/screw for the bridge pickup (I'll decide based on whether I really want the parallel wiring option).
2. Swapping the stock tone pot for a 500k push/pull pot that functions as a "neck on" switch - enabling the classic Tele middle position as well as all three pups on.
I've already pretty much decided on the bridge replacement – I'm going with the 59/Custom Hybrid, a fun little experiment that should give me the richness and power that's missing from the stock bridge position. For the middle, after talking to one of the SD guys, I've pretty much settled on the Vintage Flat Strat, since I'll mainly be using it to blend with the other pups, although I am considering an Alnico II or a Five-Two. It mainly depends on what will bring the best warmth and fullness, since the stock sound is pretty sharp and hollow.
The main thing I need help with is the neck. I honestly have no idea what would be best for this. I want something that'll give something of the traditional Tele middle position sound when paired with the coil-split 59/Custom (which I can wire for either coil), but will still sound good on its own and clean – I don't expect I'll be dirtying it up much by itself. I want to have hum canceling with the coil-split bridge and the middle selected, as well as with the split bridge and neck; I'm less concerned about it between the neck and middle.
Has anyone else done pickup replacements on this model or similar and can offer me some advice? I'm kinda new to this specific world but I have a very good general understanding of music, acoustics, and electronics, so advice at any level is helpful.
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