Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

micp33

New member
Currently looking to replace a hi-output Tele pickup with something less "overwound" sounding. Play both Country and Rock and want a solid all around pickup that'll cover both bases with clarity and punch (thinking Stones, Crowes) but clean up nice while rolling back the volume.

Any thoughts?? Thanks in advance!
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

i like the vintage whatever neck model. its a production one, not a CS one.
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

I've been here a long time, and have seen this question pop up hundreds of times. The most 'straight up the middle answer' has been the Jerry Donahue model. And many of those posts resulted in a follow up post of THANK YOU. Jerry Donahue is one of the greatest tele players in the world, and his opinion isn't to be taken lightly.
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

Another vote for the JD, a good balance b/w traditional tone and slightly higher output
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

I loved the JD when I had it, but to be honest, skip the Duncans (production models, at least) . I love Duncan, but if you want the best tele lead pickup EVAR, contact Zhangliqun and have him wind you an alnicoV Paul Bunyan lead. Mine sits right at 9k and it's great for everything. Seriously. Play lightly, your guitar sounds almost acoustic. Dosome chicken pickin' and it's balls to the wall Bakersfield. Dig in and it'll get big, fat, and squacky, like a cross between the old, overwound Broadcaster pickups and an excellent P90.
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

My pick is a bit of an oddball but it is the hot lead stack. Its a stacked hb'er - I wired mine up to be series or parallel and it covers a lot of territory like this. Series is quite thick - great rock n roll sound but I still get some nice twang out of it (depends a bit on your amp though). The parallel setting is really nice - glassy twang or in a slightly overdriven mode a nice RnR sound.
 
Re: Best all around Duncan Tele pup???

For me, it's the Duncan Custom Shop Alnico 2 Tele Hot Tapped. Put a 5 way Strat switch in a Tele and get:

Hot bridge pickup
Hot bridge pickup & neck combined
neck pickup
Vintage bridge pickup & neck combined
Vintage bridge pickup

I love Jerry Donahue's playing...been a fan of his since his days with Sandy Denny & Fotheringay. But I like the CS Tele Hot Tapped better than the JD and it's the one I use. Both are strong alnico 2 bridge pickups.

I also like the Alnico 2 Antiquity Tele neck & bridge pickup set a lot.
 
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