Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

[Micawber]

Hello,

I own a Telecaster Vintage Reissue 52 (year 2001). I bought it a few years ago with an idea in mind : make it an hybrid between a Telecaster and a Stratocaster, by adding a strat pickup in middle position, and replacing the neck pickup by a strat pickup ; I would keep a neck Telecaster pickup.

I have been through a lot of questions : the combinations of pickups, the output, the DCR equilibrium between pickups, an HHH or SSS configuration ... My actual hesitations are mainly between those :

• A SSS configuration with for example two 'Classic Strat pickups' and a 'Vintage Stack Tele'. I chose these ones because they are noiseless, but I saw that the DCR of the Tele pickup is really high. Would it be a problem ?
• A HHH configuration with single-coil-sized humbuckers (possibly with a push-pull to split to a single-coil configuration). For instance, I'm thinking about two Strat 'Red Devils' pickups associated with a Hot Rail Tele or a Little-59. But here again, the DCR difference of the bridge pickup seems high. Also, would these pickups give me a sound more like a Les Paul ? Would I lose a lot of the Fender sound ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

DCR has no meaning when you take into account the wide variety of pickup manufacturing techniques in this day and age. Don't worry about it.

Single coil sized humbuckers would give you closer to a Les Paul sound (and further from a typical Tele or Strat tone) but it won't be exact.

 

[Micawber]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

Thank you . So, if I want to really have my Strat/Tele hybrid, I should stick to single-coils ?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

Yeah, if you want to be "correct", but given your screen name is Micawber, you might be alright with a humbucker in the neck.

Listen to some sound clips online and actually play a few models in the store to see what sounds you want, and which ones you could do without.

 

[Micawber]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

Fine guess, I indeed had a Telecaster with a humbucker in neck position. But I'm willing to try new things . Thank you for your time.

 

[Despair]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

The newer stacks, like the Stack Plus, or the Kinmans, sound much closer to a true single coil. I have no personal experience with Kinmans, and he has a LOT of variations. Probably the best option in noiseless tele pickups, from what I hear, though.

In Seymour Duncans, it depends on what you want. STK-S4 in neck and middle is great for an all-around neck+middle strat sound. Closest you can get to a noiseless SSL-2, which is an immensely popular single coil (being the flat version of the vintage stagger SSL-1).

And you can do the nashville tele trick where you either skip your least favorite position on the switch and put neck+bridge there, or a pull switch for neck+bridge. Or there's even a 6-way blade switch if you prefer that...

I've seen tele nuts go for tele pickups in neck+bridge, and just a strat pickup in middle. Neck+Middle is still pretty stratty that way, though not identical to a true strat. Depends on which sounds you most care about.

You could also go with a Keef-style neck humbucker, or minihumbucker. How about a Firebird neck pickup? Bright and tight, but not the same way a strat neck pickup is.

If clips of the Vintage Tele Stack sound good to you, and you want noiseless, I wouldn't be afraid to give it a try.

You can also go with a noise-cancelling coil in the guitar, like the Ilitch system. May cost more than noiseless pickups, and may not cancel noise quite as perfectly. But lets you use whatever conventional pickups you prefer.

[I don't tend to like to prescribe, hope I am not enflaming option paralysis, either, though: TLDR STK-S4/STK-S4/STK-T3B should be a great combo.]

 

[Micawber]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

Wow, I did not know about Kinmas, that looks sweet !

About Keef-style humbucker, I still own a Gibson BurstBucker (I got it back before selling my previous Telecaster). I have thougth about a SSH configuration, like Burstbucker - Strat Pickup - Tele pickup, that would avoid to buy a new neck pickup, but I'm afraid that the result might be weird.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

I think a humbucker in the neck of a tele is a beautiful thing, so long as the bridge pickup is hot enough to keep up or you're able to split the humbucker.

 

[Micawber]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

I think a humbucker in the neck of a tele is a beautiful thing, so long as the bridge pickup is hot enough to keep up or you're able to split the humbucker.

It is beautiful indeed . But the BurstBucker I already have in stock is not splittable.

 

[JesusCrisp]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

I would say if you want to make a Strat/Tele hybrid, go with all-singlecoils, either true or noiseless ones, but no humbuckers.

To me atleast, what makes a Tele is the bridge singlecoil and the middle-position tones.
On a Strat on the other hand I find the neck pickup and the inbetween-position sounds the most useful.

Ideally, I'd say go with an SSS configuration and some kind of wiring trick to get the neck and bridge position (maybe instead of the middle pickup on its own?).
But that's just my opinion. Split tones from an HHH configuration will never sound as good as actual singlecoils.

 

[Micawber]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

I would say if you want to make a Strat/Tele hybrid, go with all-singlecoils, either true or noiseless ones, but no humbuckers.

To me atleast, what makes a Tele is the bridge singlecoil and the middle-position tones.
On a Strat on the other hand I find the neck pickup and the inbetween-position sounds the most useful.

Ideally, I'd say go with an SSS configuration and some kind of wiring trick to get the neck and bridge position (maybe instead of the middle pickup on its own?).
But that's just my opinion. Split tones from an HHH configuration will never sound as good as actual singlecoils.

Yes, the more I think about it, the more I get close to this solution. I'll probably wait for a second guitar to have humbuckers then .

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Advice for an Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid

It is beautiful indeed . But the BurstBucker I already have in stock is not splittable.

Every humbucker is splittable. All you need it a soldering iron, a screwdriver, 4 conductor cabling, and a steady hand.