Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

canbaz

New member
I decided to install a telecaster bridge pickup to my Fender American Deluxe strats bridge. But i am confused about which tele bridge pickup suit best to my strat. Neck and middle pickups are SCN's.

I heard that tremolo cave loses bass and the strats bridge pickup position is closer to bridge than teles. So this makes strats more trebleish. I like high-end detailed , shining sounds like STL-1b. But do you think this pick up will sound too ice picky on a strat? I dont like dark and heavily boosted sounds.

Which pickup do you recommend Alnico 2 or 5? And what do you think about Jerry donahue APTL-3JD on a strat? Little bit dark?

Thanks. Waiting your comments.
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

I use a Duncan Custom Shop Tapped Tele Hot...alnico 2. It's the best Strat bridge pickup I've ever used. Is your guitar routed to accept a Tele size pickup? Mine was routed for a bridge humbucker and the Tele pickup fit right in. You'll need a new pickguard. Lew
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

Hi canbaz,

Welcome to the forum. Like Lew said, you'll need to modify your pickguard to accept a Telecaster bridge pickup. They don't mount the same as Strat pickups. Telecaster bridge pickups mount with three screws as opposed to a Strat's two.
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

Thanks for welcome and comments Butch and Lew.

My guitar is routed for humbucker and i will drill holes to my pickguard to install tele bridge pickup. But before doing that i want to find the best option.

Lew can you tell me the sound of Duncan Custom Shop Tapped Tele Hot in a strat and compare it with STL-1b. I dont like dark sounds ;). I like fender original vintage tele sounds like broadcasters. Do you think Alnico 2 sound better than 5 in a strat? Do you think alnico 5 pickups sound too ice picky, and shines too much in a strat?
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

It's fat and full. Plenty of highs but not the steely annoying kind. Pretty high output but when I tap it it's more like the Broadcaster in terms of output. You'll need a new pickguard to do it right. The Tele bobbin is bigger than a Strat pickup and won't fit through the hole.

If you want a more steely twang, go for the standard alnico 5 version of the Tele Hot. I like it tapped so I can get vintage output as well as hot output from it.



I use a push pull tone pot.

Lew
 
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Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

Contact Zhang here on the forum. He re-wound an alnico V MIJ tele bridge pickup to his Paul Bunyan specs. it sounds fantastic in my alder/rosewood parts strat. It's punchy and full, but it retains the highs of a good vintage style tele lead.
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

I would go a different way.
if youre looking for a tele sound I would go for a neck on switch,
I have that on my strat with a push/pull to keep the vintage look, and it sounds great!

the pups i use for this is a ssl 5 bridge and aps1 alnico 2 neck and both sound very twangy and telecastery.

plus u have the advantage of all 3 together (i personally rarlely use this combination), but the "tele mod" definately brings u into chicken pickin territory!

yaron
 
Re: Best Tele Bridge Pickup For Strat

Yes my guitar has S-1 switch so it will be great to have combinations with tele bridge and neck and middle pickups. But im still undecided about which tele bridge pickup will sound better on a strat body. I will go for a real tele bridge not rewounded or anything.
 
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