Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

[Kam]

So...I love my Tele and it sounds great. It has a Bare Knuckle Blackguard Series Flat '50s in the bridge and it's a really exceptional pickup. But lately I've been feeling that it just doesn't sound enough...Tele. It's definitely got that clarity and plenty of cut to the sound, but it seems a little too thick and fat. It's been sounding more like a P90 to my ears and I want it to sound more like a regular Tele single coil.

Lately I've been really in love with the music and tones from this band. As far as I know, it's all Telecaster into a Marshall but it sounds so great to my ears. I'd like my Tele to have more of that bright, twangy, almost metallic kinda sound. I'm playing post-rocky, punk rocky, alternative hard rock kinda **** and I sometimes use quite a lot of distortion, so any new pickup would need to have a bit of muscle to it as well. I don't need to nail the tone of Telkai (who? Click the link, ****ers) but I'd like to be in the ballpark. There's a song at that link called Carolyn McAdams, which is a great example of the kind of tone I'd like to get, especially the little short riff he plays at 1:04.

I'm just kinda thinking out loud here but anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Doesn't have to be a Duncan, either. I'm fond of the idea of sticking with Bare Knuckles. Like I said, the Flat '50 is a great pup. I just don't think it really fits me at the moment. I'll consider any brand, though. Maybe Zhang would have something that would work well?

It's for a Mexican Tele with an alder body, a maple neck and fretboard and a Wilkinson three barrel bridge.

Thanks for any input, fellas. :beerchug:

 

[sosomething]

Re: Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

Definitely sounds like an angry tele into an angry marshall.

I'm not hearing real high output from the pickup. There's a lot of low-pass happening on that guitar track, though. Keep that in mind. I'm sure the sound was way brighter coming out of the amp.

The Super Paul Bunyan that Zhang wound for me can do what you're hearing there and more.. it can twang, but there's a lot of muscle to it. Maybe a bit more than I'm hearing on this recording.

If you're worried about that, he makes the regular PB and a few other designs as well. From my somewhat limited experience, his winds suit themselves to this EQ tonality, so if I were you I'd be writing him an email.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

Zhang did a 50's tele rewind for a dude, spec'd 9200 turns of 42 PE, about 7.8K, ****er is badass for that sound.

 

[Kam]

Re: Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

Definitely sounds like an angry tele into an angry marshall.

I'm not hearing real high output from the pickup. There's a lot of low-pass happening on that guitar track, though. Keep that in mind. I'm sure the sound was way brighter coming out of the amp.

The Super Paul Bunyan that Zhang wound for me can do what you're hearing there and more.. it can twang, but there's a lot of muscle to it. Maybe a bit more than I'm hearing on this recording.

If you're worried about that, he makes the regular PB and a few other designs as well. From my somewhat limited experience, his winds suit themselves to this EQ tonality, so if I were you I'd be writing him an email.

Yeah, it didn't strike me as especially high output either. I didn't even notice the low-pass, though. Good ears, man.

I followed your adventures with the SPB pretty intently. It seems like a really awesome pup but I feel it may be a little hotter than I really need. Of course, I'm well aware that I'm just foolishly worshipping specs on the internet and I won't really know until I try. If I want to get something from Zhang, I'll probably just forward him that link and ask him to work his magic in whatever way he wants.

I did think about Emailing him, by the way, but I really am just sort of thinking out loud here. I didn't want to waste his business time with tirekicking. At least until I have a clearer idea of the direction I'm headed in and have some money around.

Awesome post, dude. Thanks. :beerchug:

Zhang did a 50's tele rewind for a dude, spec'd 9200 turns of 42 PE, about 7.8K, ****er is badass for that sound.

I remember you mentioning that actually. The specs on that pup look cool and the guitar seemed awesome.

I wish I had a buddy with a '50s Esquire.

 

[Kam]

Re: Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

Here's a video of the dude from that band playing through the song I mentioned, by the way. Absolutely HORRIFIC sound quality, but the bright twangy clarity I'm looking for is easy to notice.

Dude's a freakin' killer player...

 

[Kam]

Re: Considering A New Bridge Pup For My Tele

Bump.

I really gotta work on writing smaller OPs. I think a lot of people just opened this thread, decided they didn't have twenty minutes to waste and went back to talking about EVH.