Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

[Mick Corona]

Hi there. As you understand I like Albert Collins .
I want to built a telecaster as close as possible to his guitar. By saying built I mean to buy a cheap telecaster and transform her .
Fender's signature used Seymour Duncan 59 for the neck position and I think a Texas special custom shop for the bridge. I already own a SD 59.What alternative pickup could I install in the bridge. I want the sound to be more "up to date" but still lets say like something Mr Collins would accept?!
Besides that which guitar could be a good starting point.
Please consider that I don't want to completely imitate his guitar but mainly the sound and some basics of the look .
Money IS NOT an option but the guitar must be at least OK.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

ash body blonde tele. alberts was a '66. a bridge pup close to what he had is the antiquity II tele bridge. a big part of his sound is the quad reverb he used turned way the heck up and his odd open tuning with a capo

 

[Mick Corona]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

Thanks for the reply. The easiest thing to purchase of those you mentioned is a capo.:nervous:.
So ,antiquity ll pickup is what I must look for.
I know about the ash body, but which guitar could be my base. It mustn't be expensive. A cheap one so I could afford transforming it to something close to his.
Something that he could say: "hey son ,this guitar is cute " or "hey ,this is a nice little thing".
Thanks.

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

Ran monitors for one of his live shows back in the 80's.... Albert is one of my faves, and he played louder than ****. My god, the treble would just slice you in half. Pretty sure that amp was dimed.

 

[Mick Corona]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

So ,here we are again.
I bought a tele.
Nothing special. Although it wasn't in ny plans, it was rather cheap about 70$ (60€ actually), so I got it for modifying.
It's a Harley Benton Te20.
The seller had already installed a dimarzio fast track on the bridge and a Fender affinity one on the neck .
I already have a Seymour Duncan 59 neck.
What do you think, is it going to match with the fast track?
Or could I take off the neck pickup and put a blank pickguard so the guitar look like Esquire (fake I know), and keep the 59 for a better guitar?
Come on, vote

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

Like they said above, the Fender amp cranked to weapons grade volume is gonna be pretty important.

Try the pickups you have, but worry more about the amp.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

Are you pretty new to modifying guitars, Mick?
My advice is try it the way it is. If you like it, great. If not, then start changing pickups. The thing about pickups is they can always be taken back out so they are never "wasted" on a cheap guitar. I have moved the same pickups into 3 or 4 guitars before.
I assume buying an amp like Mr Collins played is out of the question, but what the others are saying is the amplifier is a big part of "that sound." Plenty of smaller/cheaper amps can get some of those qualities and plenty can't. You will need to get one that can get vaguely similar tones to make your ears happy.

 

[Bowtomecha]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

That’s a dangerous tone to go after lol.

 

[Mick Corona]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

I'm quite new in modifying. Lets say I am a handyman that I really know where to stop. Besides the guitar doesn't worth much and I'm not scared to ruin it. I already cut a new black 3ply pickguard from scratch without hole for the pickup but kept the neck pickup hidden underneath.
It works, probably not as loud as it would be in the right distance from the strings but it still works. And looks awesome. I will try (for a while) the guitar as is and then I'll install the 59 SD.
Thanks for the advices and your time.

""The point is that I didn't like the white pickguard on the black body so I had to try to cut the new black.
Maybe I'll cut a new black one with pickup hole on and keep the one I already cut as is.

 

[Mick Corona]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

That’s a dangerous tone to go after lol.

Dangerous?
��

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

Frank Zappa described Albert Collins tone as "an ice pick in the forehead".....

 

[jeremy]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

he was the iceman so...

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Albert Collins's guitar pickups?

I would go with antiquity II bridge and a Seth Lover neck.