Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

H

HerrFlick

New member
I'm looking for kind of a sound like this one in the intro;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpxYAfyoiKU

that is (very likely) a Fat Telecaster in middle position..so my question would be;

what kind of neck pickup should I get in my Telecaster to achieve this?should I go with the standard Wide range humbucker or if I get a Seymour Duncan which one should I get for a similar sound?!?!
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

I'm building one around a '59n and a Vintage Stack bridge, with the 4way wiring and a phase switch.

Umm... Don't wait on me, it'll be a while.
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

How do you know it's a fat tele? Does the guitarist use that? What bridge pickup do you have in your tele?
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

yeah he has Fat tellys..the other guitarist uses Gibson SG's

I'll have a Van Zandt Vintage Plus in bridge position (the guitar's not ready yet,it's a project)
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

HerrFlick said:
yeah he has Fat tellys..the other guitarist uses Gibson SG's

I'll have a Van Zandt Vintage Plus in bridge position (the guitar's not ready yet,it's a project)
Click to expand...

I guess you'd better find a very low output hb you can find so it's not gonna overpower Van Zandt Vintage Plus (I don't know the spec but judging by the name, I guess it's just slightly hotter than a vintage '60 tele bridge pickup). A '59 would overpower the Van Zandt. Seth Lover is great but might be dark with 250k pots. So from Duncan line, I'd say go with Jazz. It has lower output than '59 and go well with 250k pots. Zhangliqun Telebucker and Lollar Low Wind Imperial would be excellent for a fat tele too. I don't guarantee that the middle position will sound like the soundclip though. Honestly my impression was it sounds more stratish/jaguarish to me. Well, you can fiddle with tone knob and EQ. And nothing can't be played by a tele :approve:
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

hmm thanks for your suggestions,appriciate it a lot!think I go with the Jazz Pu then..

by overpowering do you mean only volume issues or would it also make the bridge pu thinner?

actually I can get a really similar sound from my Blacktop Jazzmaster in middle position :D,it's just not that fat..
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

i just built a fat tele. I installed a pearly gates in the the neck (cos its my favourite pickup) and a jerry donahue in the bridge. They are both A2 magnet pickups and the extra winds in the jerry donahue gives enough muscle in the bridge to complement the vintage humbucker in the neck. Wired up with 500k pots and a 500k resistor for the bridge pickup so both pickups saw the volume pot as 500k and 250k respectively. Winning combination.
DSC_0583_zpsb63e4ff6.jpg
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

HerrFlick said:
by overpowering do you mean only volume issues or would it also make the bridge pu thinner?
Click to expand...

Volume issue. Sometimes you can't get real balance, just 'acceptable' balance. Of course a vintage single coil will sound thinner compared to hb unless you use mean single coil like QP. But it's the mismatch that makes the middle position sounds awesomely unique. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if you could get that sound from tele bridge pickup.

gibson175 said:
i just built a fat tele. I installed a pearly gates in the the neck (cos its my favourite pickup) and a jerry donahue in the bridge.
Click to expand...

That's a nice tele, man! How does the PGn sound by itself and also blend with JD in the middle position?
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

all 3 positions are balanced and clear.

Pg by itself: warm, deep and creamy in a gibson, but more springy and aggressive in a swamp ash tele. I play mostly jazz so a killer neck humbucker was a crucial element for me. The lively spanky nature of the swamp ash in the body and the chunky brass bridge give it plenty of articulation and a different character to how it sounds in a les paul foe example. 500k vol/500k tone

JD by itself: the perfect tele pup (for me). Twang, growl, punch and enough grunt to hang with a vintage style neck humbucker no problems. 500k vol with 510k resistor to change the pot load to 250k. 500k tone.

Middle: this was a real surprise. I guess it has something to do with the way i wired the pots and load resistor, but the middle position seems to have some extra "sizzle" and bite. It is quite bright and airy, but due to the nature of both pickups it never gets harsh.

FWIW...a musical colleague played the guitar at a band rehearsal and within a couple of minutes made me an offer for it saying "he never liked teles before he played this one". He now owns it, and i guess i have to build another one for myself.

The pickup combination is killer, perhaps the only other pickup i might consider for the neck would be a seth or an antiquity due to their unpotted nature perhaps accentuating the open, lively and woody sound of the swamp ash, but never having tried either i cant comment on them.
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

so..let's forget that Idlewild sound

basically,if I want a decent Fat Telly tone eiher way I choose a low output neck humbucker (with the normal 250k/ wiring) or use that special wiring with the resistor and the 500k pots..

right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCL27Y-K_4k

(probably this is a similar example of the second version)
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

Yep - vintage style paf and hot(ish) tele bridge to match it.
500k wiring with the extra resistor is better if you want clear tones from both pickups. Regular 250k wiring will squash the high end from the humbucker too much.
It might be just my superstition but i reckon matching magnet types for both pickups is a good idea too.
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

HerrFlick said:
basically,if I want a decent Fat Telly tone eiher way I choose a low output neck humbucker (with the normal 250k/ wiring) or use that special wiring with the resistor and the 500k pots..
Click to expand...

gibson175 said:
Yep - vintage style paf and hot(ish) tele bridge to match it.
Click to expand...

Yep, and there's also another route: 375k pots. I found JD - SM1 or Jazz runs well with this middle ground. CS Nocaster - '59 set prefers 500k pots plus resistor. Even my friend is happy with APTL1 - Phat Cat set with 250k pots. Whatever the choice is, it depends on your taste and what works better for your application and whole rig. I'd been through experiments with some pickups, pots and caps (it was fun) and now I'm content with broadcasterish bridge pickup (Alnico5, 42awg, 9k ... pretty hot like that Lion pickup) and hb-sized P-90 with 375k pots in my #1.
375532_10151296735677593_1143303885_n.jpg
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

I've got two HS Teles. My '96 Tex Mex Tele Special (model only ran half a year, before the California series) has a Van Zandt Vintage Plus in the bridge with the factory Fender TexMex humbucker in the neck. The other has custom-wound BG-Pups, an underwound BG Bucker in the neck and a slightly overwound '60s style Tele pickup in the bridge. Both are set up with a 500K volume and a 250K tone and the pickups balance fairly well.
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

uh one more question:for that wiring would a Sprague Orange Drop 715P 0.047mf Condansator do fine?
 
Re: Fat Telecaster PU dilemma

HerrFlick said:
uh one more question:for that wiring would a Sprague Orange Drop 715P 0.047mf Condansator do fine?
Click to expand...

Yep. All depends on where in the frequency range you want treble to start rolling off.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
 
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