American Telecaster...what do i do:S

[mrgrinch_2000]

hey, im about to order in an american telecaster, vintage white and i ahvent decided on a maple or rosewood fretboard. But, i do know thati want to replace my pickups with something that'll let me play to hard rock i want to while still being able to maintain that awesome clean telecaster sound. Is the Seymour Duncan STHR-1 Tele Hot Rails Pickup the best way to go? Any other suggestions....and how much do these go for in stores in US dollars??? Thanks!

 

[zak]

Re: American Telecaster...what do i do:S

i have just bought a vintage white american series tele myself - great guitars.
In the end i opted for a maple fingerboard. I tried several examples of both. I found the maple to be brighter, a bit thinner sounding, with slightly better note separation. The rosewood was warmer and rounder. From a tonal point of view i actually slightly prefer the rosewood, but i prefer the feel and look of the maple.

As far as pickups go, do some searches. There are so many threads from the last six months about tele pickups. Personally i am going to stick with the stock ones for a while. I actually think they are quite good, though you may want something a bit thicker sounding with more output for the bridge. The common suggestions on the past threads seem to be the Jerry Donahue and Antiquity. The Donahue is apparently higher in output, more mids and less bright, so may suit your style a bit more. But I havent tried either so wont comment any further.

 

[zak]

Re: American Telecaster...what do i do:S

Just noticed you mentioned the tele hot rails. As this is a high output humbucking pickups you will almost certainly have to change the neck pickup as well to maintain a good output balance between the two. It will certainly give you a good hard rock sound, but presumably you will lose a fair bit of 'teleness' from your sound compared with buying a genuine single coil. Your clean sound will also then presumably not what you are looking for.

 

[Curly]

Re: American Telecaster...what do i do:S

I use a JD bridge/ Hot neck, but it sounds like you want a rails combo, so I'll defer to Stevo on this one

you might also check the reviews in the Vault

 

[Robert S.]

Re: American Telecaster...what do i do:S

Anytime you change away from a traditional single coil Tele pickup you lose a little of that "Tele" tone. The Hot Rail for Tele is a very big departure from all that is Tele but the resulting tone is killer none the less. If you want a tele that crunches and cranks out rock like nobodys business then the HR is your pickup. The cleans aren't nearly as bright and twangy as a Tele usually sounds but they are still very useable. It's almost more of a Les Paul type of tone with a heavy dose of Tele vibe thrown in. It really is the best of both worlds.

If you want something a little less aggressive but still very simular, go for the lil59 for Tele. I've never heard this pickup but it gets rave reviews from Jeremy and others that I trust on this board.

As for the neck pickup, I'd swap that out with a Vintage Stack for Tele neck model. Same great Tele tone, no hum. If you are running enough gain to rock out with the HR, you'll want a hum free neck pickup.

IMHO............rosewood.

 

[Kelsey]

Re: American Telecaster...what do i do:S

If you want to retain more of the Tele tone but with more push and mid-range, check out the STL-2 Hot Tele lead. You can mate it with the STR-2 Hot Rhythm, a Phat Cat, a vintage PAF-style HB, or a Firebird-style mini-HB (SM-1 or SM-3) neck pickup. For the Hot Rails, I would go with either a mini-HB or regular HB at the neck; otherwise, you'll likely get a drop in volume when you switch from bridge to neck.