Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

[Butch Snyder]

I bought a new Fender James Burton Standard Tele. The guitar itself is absolutely killer. The only thing I might change is the vintage ashtray bridge with 6 steel saddles. I might install a 3-brass saddle ashtray bridge. Don't know yet. Anyway, that model of guitar comes stock with a set of Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. Are they nice? Yes, but I think I can do better; especially when I play my partscaster (my avatar) which has a set of Fender Tex Mex pickups and everybody, including me, likes their tone better. They really do sound good though.

So, I'm trying to think of what Duncan set I might want to replace them with. I'd love the '53 Tapped Tele® Model T "Guitar Shop" Set; but I can't swing $300 for that. So, I was thinking about either the Vintage Broadcaster set or a set like maybe the APTL-3JD with an APTR-1 in the neck. The APTR-1 can be really soft though.

The tone I'm going for is kind of on the border of vintage meets modern. I don't want a 1/4 lber or a Little 59. I want a tone that is genuine Tele but a little more....

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I bought a new Fender James Burton Standard Tele. The guitar itself is absolutely killer. The only thing I might change is the vintage ashtray bridge with 6 steel saddles. I might install a 3-brass saddle ashtray bridge. Don't know yet. Anyway, that model of guitar comes stock with a set of Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. Are they nice? Yes, but I think I can do better; especially when I play my partscaster (my avatar) which has a set of Fender Tex Mex pickups and everybody, including me, likes their tone better. They really do sound good though.

So, I'm trying to think of what Duncan set I might want to replace them with. I'd love the '53 Tapped Tele® Model T "Guitar Shop" Set; but I can't swing $300 for that. So, I was thinking about either the Vintage Broadcaster set or a set like maybe the APTL-3JD with an APTR-1 in the neck. The APTR-1 can be really soft though.

The tone I'm going for is kind of on the border of vintage meets modern. I don't want a 1/4 lber or a Little 59. I want a tone that is genuine Tele but a little more....

Not trying to steer you away from SD because of poor pickups (I love them,) but have you considered Bill Lawrence (Wilde) Tele pickups? Those seem to really captivate the genuine Tele tone to me...just a thought

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Thanks for the reply; but I never cared for Bill Lawrence pickups in the least.


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[treyhaislip]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Thanks for the reply; but I never cared for Bill Lawrence pickups in the least.


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Ha! That answers that suggestion then! lol

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

My general take on Bill Lawrence pickups is that in general they favor accuracy over enhancement, if that makes sense. Bill's philosophy and goal was to build pickups that delivered the guitar's natural tone uncolored rather than having a personality of their own. He did this very well and the whole industry owes him a debt of gratitude I think, for advancing the frontiers of pickup design. Yet the result of this accuracy was a sort of clinical dryness that has to be taken into account when choosing. Great pickups for an axe with really good wood, but not the best choice to make a just-OK guitar sound larger than life. That said, the Wilde Keystones are dirt cheap for the quality of sound they deliver, and the ones I bought certainly do sound 100% Tele. Plus you can get the neck with a white cover which I really dig. (White pickguard on my green sparkle Tele Custom.)

I wouldn't be so quick to write off the QP if you're looking for vintage-meets-modern. Despite the fact that it's way hot it is a genuine singlecoil, and I think the big poles save it from sounding overwound. Girth? Yes, absolutely. Dark? Nope, and it cleans up quite well when you roll back the volume. Maybe not the best choice for old school twang, but it can snarl & spit as well as any. And better than some. A very different animal from the Li'l59 by all reports.

Have heard nothing but good things about the Duncan Broadcaster, but don't have one so I can't speak from experience.

If you're willing to spend more you might check out the Harmonic Design Vintage Plus or the Klein Broadcaster. Those are the two I'm looking at as eventual replacements for the Keystone bridge.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Great pickups for an axe with really good wood, but not the best choice to make a just-OK guitar sound larger than life. That said, the Wilde Keystones are dirt cheap for the quality of sound they deliver, and the ones I bought certainly do sound 100% Tele.

This was my thinking for it...

but I don't really dig the Tele personally so I can't really contribute other than the Keystones were what I would call 100% Tele

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I want to stay with Seymour Duncan on this venture. It's either going to be the Broadcaster set or an APTL-3JD/APTR-1 set.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I want to stay with Seymour Duncan on this venture. It's either going to be the Broadcaster set or an APTL-3JD/APTR-1 set.

Absolutely nothing wrong there! Wish I could be of help but I really don't do Teles. I had one and loved the tone by itself but couldn't incorporate with my band.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Keep the texas specials in there for at least a month before you pull them. Give yourself a chance to get used to the sound.
Having said that....I have read that the OEM texas specials in some fender axes and the "custom shop" texas specials that you buy as a set are different pickups- different dcr etc. I have no idea why fender choose to have different sets with the same name, but ive recently been on the same pickup hunt as you - new vintage pickups for a tele - and kept coming across people saying that in various forums. Anywyas...the non OEM texas specials are great tele pups....if that is actually what fender put in your axe.
I've eventually chosen a set of fralin "blues special" 5% and 2% broadcaster style pickups, but i've not installed them yet and the choice was really because all of my axes have seymours and i wanted to try something else for a change, so i cant say if they are good or not (yet).
However - if you want duncans, i cannot say enough good things about the Jerry Donahue bridge. Its gutsy, twangy and gives you that "vintage but more" sound that i think you are after.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I have read that the OEM texas specials in some fender axes and the "custom shop" texas specials that you buy as a set are different pickups- different dcr etc.

These are the Custom Shop Versions, not the "designed" versions.

I have used the Jerry Donahue many times. It's a fabulous pickup for sure.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Yeah hard to beat.
The last tele partso build i did had a JD in the bridge and a pearly gates humbucker in the neck.
This new one is going to be a regular SS tele. My first choice was going to be JD again but i have no idea what would be good in the neck to pair with it, so i guess I'm in the same boat as you. This was part of the reason i went the fralins because it is a set that is a good balance.
I will keep my eye on this thread to see how things work out for you, and i'll let you know how the fralin set goes once i finish the build.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I will keep the CSTS' in for a bit longer. I think I might raise them a bit. I have always heard that the Texas Specials are very sensitive to pickup height. I have them set pretty low. I have also read that they are sensitive to the wood material they are installed in. Last Tele I had them in was a really heavy ash body. This particular body is alder.


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[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Well, after A/B'ing last night, I have decided to pull the Texas Specials. I compared them with my partscaster that has a Nashville pickup set (Tex Mex Tele set with a Tex Mex Strat pickup in the middle). My wife, daughter (who plays too), and son all said the Tex Mex's were better. Why? Clarity... I can hear it too. The Texas Specials have this middy, woofiness to them that, to me, isn't appealing. The Tex Mex pickups have punch, clarity, warmth, and smoothness that's not in the Texas Specials. Could be the guitar makeup. The partscaster is poplar with a rosewood fretboard. The bridge assembly is ferrous ashtray with 3 brass saddles. The Tele with the Texas Specials is alder with a maple fretboard and the bridge assembly is ferrous ashtray with 6 steel saddles.

With all that said, I will try the Duncan Broadcaster set.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

If you have the route for it I'd suggest a Quarter Pound Lead for Tele in the bridge and a Phat Cat in the neck. You said something about vintage meeting modern & those puppies are definitely that! The Q.P. Has plenty of Tele Twang but it's also very ballsy so you can get away with playing country or hard rock, even metal is no problem!!! The Phatty is a lot like a Tele neck pickup, if you feed it other Tele neck pickup's it's whole life!!! It's big & beefy sounding, not thin and nasally sounding @ all? Beautiful bell like tones come shooting out of your guitar, very, nice I.M.H.O.!!! These pickups also work very well together, almost like they were a matched set? Pos. 2 on the switch will give you this really nice, almost Straty sound but with more bite & sparkle! Also that Twangy sound from the bridge comes through just enough so you know you're playing a Telecaster but it's not overwhelming ...

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

If you have the route for it I'd suggest a Quarter Pound Lead for Tele in the bridge and a Phat Cat in the neck. You said something about vintage meeting modern & those puppies are definitely that! The Q.P. Has plenty of Tele Twang but it's also very ballsy so you can get away with playing country or hard rock, even metal is no problem!!! The Phatty is a lot like a Tele neck pickup, if you feed it other Tele neck pickup's it's whole life!!! It's big & beefy sounding, not thin and nasally sounding @ all? Beautiful bell like tones come shooting out of your guitar, very, nice I.M.H.O.!!! These pickups also work very well together, almost like they were a matched set? Pos. 2 on the switch will give you this really nice, almost Straty sound but with more bite & sparkle! Also that Twangy sound from the bridge comes through just enough so you know you're playing a Telecaster but it's not overwhelming ...

Very nice idea, but I want to stick with a standard Tele pickup config. I might try that in another Tele I have....

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Very excited to hear your impressions of the Broadcaster set.

 

[elelpe]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Vintage meets modern? You owe it to yourself to get Hot for Tele. To me, Broadcaster sounds thin and QP sounds thick while the Hot is a happy medium.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I'm also thinking about a DiMarzio Twang King set. I know I said I wanted to stay with Duncans; but I can't discount the Twang Kings. I've used the neck pickup before and it is one of the best Tele neck pickups I have ever used. I have also heard that the bridge model isn't as good for its position as the neck model is for its position.

 

[DKSEARS]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

I'd vote for the Broadcaster lead pickup, too. It's got some snarl to the low end, but stays clearer in the treble. I can't comment on the neck, because I have it paired with a SD vintage mini humbucker. But, I thought the Broadcaster has a good balance of attitude and clean for my parts built Tele with a swamp ash body and 24.75 scale maple / pao ferro neck.


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[Butch Snyder]

Re: Got Me a New Tele and The Pickups are Meh....

Very excited to hear your impressions of the Broadcaster set.

Broadcaster set has been ordered. I'm also replacing the bridge assembly (6-saddle ashtray w/steel saddles) with a Wilkinson Compensated Tele Bridge w/Brass Saddles.