Best Scooped (ish) Telecaster Bridge

[SimpleT]

Looking for a Scooped (ish) pickup that will fit into a telecaster bridge route. Seymour Duncan or not, prefer lower output but if only hot works I will take it. Just looking to have a little more low end (not a ton) without adding a bunch more mids and still having plenty of high end. Not looking to break the bank on some boutique pickup.

Thanks!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

So, any references you want it to compare to? Because I mean, for the fact that it's a single coil, almost any standard Tele pickup is more scooped, than say, an average humbucker. And compared to a Strat pickup, a Tele pickup is usually fatter and beefier by default. So... more scooped and bassier than what?

I would personally look into A5 opions slightly overwound, but not massively overwound so that it doesn't become all mids. But it would be hard to point at an exact recommendation if there aren't any more specifics.

 

[SimpleT]

So, any references you want it to compare to? Because I mean, for the fact that it's a single coil, almost any standard Tele pickup is more scooped, than say, an average humbucker. And compared to a Strat pickup, a Tele pickup is usually fatter and beefier by default. So... more scooped and bassier than what?

I would personally look into A5 opions slightly overwound, but not massively overwound so that it doesn't become all mids. But it would be hard to point at an exact recommendation if there aren't any more specifics.

I guess I have tried a bunch of different tele pickups and they either seem to not have enough low end or have too much midrange for my taste and sounds for lack of a better word "congested". I tend to like bright pickups but I would like just a little more low end. When I eq my rig for my bridge it sounds the closet to what I want when I scoop the mid range. Problem is I mostly play on the neck and it does not need anymore low-end and I am not looking to adjust eq every time I switch pickups.

 

[Mincer]

Honestly, I'd ask the Custom Shop to wind an SSL-2 or Scooped Strat onto a Tele bobbin.

 

[ToneFiddler]

Yeah it's hard to figure out from where you are coming from.

Bare Knuckle "the Boss" does what you want i think (i personally didn't like that PU).
Zhanbucker Paul Bunyan might be what you are looking for, but might be too high in output and expensive, highly recommended!
Maybe the Rio Grande HalfBreed?

 

[Chistopher]

Maybe the issue is partially in the neck pickup as well?

 

[marcello252]

I think every low impedance Tele pickup fit in the request, it's not a rock solid law but, generally, increasing the impedance brings mids in the eq

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I think every low impedance Tele pickup fit in the request, it's not a rock solid law but, generally, increasing the impedance brings mids in the eq

Yes, but lowering the impedance also brings out the treble, which is not exactly what the OP wants.

I'm thinking whatever the suggestion might be, it HAS to be A5. Maybe slightly overwound as well, but you're right, not superoverwound like the QP, for example.

 

[SimpleT]

Honestly, I'd ask the Custom Shop to wind an SSL-2 or Scooped Strat onto a Tele bobbin.

I think every low impedance Tele pickup fit in the request, it's not a rock solid law but, generally, increasing the impedance brings mids in the eq

The sound I was hoping for is something similar to the Scooped Strat but just in Tele form. I have been looking at low wind but the conventional wisdom seems to vary from 'more winds increase mids AND lows' or 'more winds increase mids'. If the second is the case then I should look at lower wind. I am just seen if there a way to get more low end (which I want) without having to add a bunch more mids along with it.

I just see a lot of other pickups been mid scooped (lots of strat pickups, humbuckers like the Screamin' Demon or the Custom 5) but just don't see it in Telecasters for some reason.

 

[Mincer]

The sound I was hoping for is something similar to the Scooped Strat but just in Tele form. I have been looking at low wind but the conventional wisdom seems to vary from 'more winds increase mids AND lows' or 'more winds increase mids'. If the second is the case then I should look at lower wind. I am just seen if there a way to get more low end (which I want) without having to add a bunch more mids along with it.

I just see a lot of other pickups been mid scooped (lots of strat pickups, humbuckers like the Screamin' Demon or the Custom 5) but just don't see it in Telecasters for some reason.

Don't worry about the construction, though- you can ask MJ to make a Scooped Strat in Tele form and she might even come up with an off the wall recipe, but it would be exactly what you want.

 

[Clint 55]

Hotter pickups have more mids, so you have to stay vintage. What I would do is either hardwire a bass cut on the neck or install a bass cut knob for it. Then you can set the eq on your amp or a separate eq as bassy as you want for the bridge.

Either stick with the pup you have or choose one of the vintage output A5 pups.

 

[ToneFiddler]

Hotter pickups have more mids, so you have to stay vintage. What I would do is either hardwire a bass cut on the neck or install a bass cut knob for it. Then you can set the eq on your amp or a separate eq as bassy as you want for the bridge.

Either stick with the pup you have or choose one of the vintage output A5 pups.

That's good advice! i do that regulary

 

[Clint 55]

Nice!

 

[Securb]

.

 

[Mincer]

Hotter pickups have more mids, so you have to stay vintage. What I would do is either hardwire a bass cut on the neck or install a bass cut knob for it. Then you can set the eq on your amp or a separate eq as bassy as you want for the bridge.

Either stick with the pup you have or choose one of the vintage output A5 pups.

The Custom 5 is hot, but doesn't have any mids, so I am sure MJ could come up with a formula that gives a scooped EQ and a little more power in a Tele format.

 

[Clint 55]

The Custom 5 is hot, but doesn't have any mids, so I am sure MJ could come up with a formula that gives a scooped EQ and a little more power in a Tele format.

I bet you're right.

 

[nienturi]

Some boutique winders like Fred Stuart and Don Mare winds that kindo tele pickups for bakersfield style. Lollar has ’52 T model that's scooped bakersfield tele bridge. As far as i remember Lindy Fralins Vintage Hot tele bridge was mid scooped, too but not sure about it. It's more then ten years.

 

[Clint 55]

Fralin's a beast for getting punch out of vintage wound pickups. The OP said he didn't want to spend boutique money tho so..

 

[Chistopher]

.

 

[freefrog]

The sound I was hoping for is something similar to the Scooped Strat but just in Tele form. I have been looking at low wind but the conventional wisdom seems to vary from 'more winds increase mids AND lows' or 'more winds increase mids'. If the second is the case then I should look at lower wind. I am just seen if there a way to get more low end (which I want) without having to add a bunch more mids along with it.

I just see a lot of other pickups been mid scooped (lots of strat pickups, humbuckers like the Screamin' Demon or the Custom 5) but just don't see it in Telecasters for some reason.

More winds might increase mids OR increase mids and lows, depending on the "magnetic profile" of a pickup. Schematically if not simplistically, one might say that high inductance and low Gauss readings = more mids and not more bass, like with A3 powered PU's. High inductance and high Gauss readings = more mids AND bass, conversely and statistically.

Now, it also depends on how the magnetic field spreads "laterally" (on the sides of E strings) and this factor depends itself of the design involved. It can even change according to the bar magnet used...

Furthermore, the magnetism of Tele pickup is "something special" because of the bridge plate. See there:

https://ironstone-guitar-pickups.co.uk/stratocaster-telecaster-comparison/

Regarding the fact that Tele PU's are rarely marketed as scooped: as you probably know it, bridge Tele PU's are often wound hotter, with therefore more inductance (and therefore more mids). Their steel/copper/brass baseplate also increases their inductance and causes eddy currents flattening their response.

Paradoxically, a cheap Squier Tele pickup without baseplate and with (not too charged) ceramic mags stuck underneath might be the answer here...

But there's also passive solutions like the Q filter: by lowering the inductance and adding its inert load to the game, a properly speced one would favor the bass and give "scoopier" mids without promoting too much the high range. The mid scoop and bass bump would become even more obvious with a cap+ inductor in series , possibly tamed by a resistor. But this last should should be carefully "tuned" of it would sound "artificial".

There's not many possible solutions without potential downsides, that said. Series caps are efficient but have potentially conflictual relations with tone pots and with some effects (like fuzz). Active EQ's do wonder with clean tones but become hissy with high gain... We are all limited by the laws of physics, here.

I've said my piece. Good luck in your quest.


EDIT - Below is a demo that I've just found on YT, with a Tele and a Bill Lawrence Q filter on the bridge pickup. FWIW. I've not checked how the guy has implemented it exactly but it gives a good basic idea of what parallel inductors can do (and such inductors haven't necessarily to be BL Q filters: any coil with enough inductance would be able to give a working circuit, including coils from old cheap pickups).

https://youtu.be/YnSX1Fyy7Oc?si=wayPxQpyQy51Ttvz&t=138