Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

[henke]

Hi

I've played gibsons for the past years and I want to try the tele once again.

We tune down to B, drop A for a few songs. I play mainly through a Diezel Herbert profile on my kemper and so far I love the sound from my Les Paul traditional with a 59/Custom hybrid in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. My SG standard rocks a Custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck and it sounds great too.

I'm not into djent or similar shenanigans. More of A Perfect Circle-ish tone.

So, the tele I'm looking at is a fender American standard (HH configuration) with an alder body and a rosewood fretboard. I'm considering the Jb and 59 combo. But I'd like to hear from you guys if you've been in this situation and what your experiences are.

Have you tried the Custom, the Jazz, the 59/Custom or the Alternative 8 in an alder tele or similar?

Cheers

 

[stratguy23]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Since the Tele you're looking at doesn't have the traditional Tele bridge, where the metal affects the tone of the pickup it houses, it's essentially like any other 25.5" bolt-on guitar, e.g., a hardtail Strat. Alder body + maple neck + rosewood fretboard = neutral/balanced tone guitar, at least on paper. So you're starting with basically a sonic blank slate.

Assuming you're talking about bridge pickups, Jazz probably won't have the oomph you need. But everything else you mentioned - JB, Custom, 59/Custom, Alternative 8 - will.

Since you are using very high gain (the Diezel patch is doing most of the heavy lifting of your tone), arguably what you pick won't make that much of a difference. Whatever you settle on will likely be what you prefer most in terms of feel and frequency emphasis.

You probably know all this, but in a nutshell:

JB = high mid spike, smooth top end, not much low end, will probably sound juicy and focused in that Tele
Custom = slightly scooped, crisp attack, you will hear the scoop in the Tele more than in your SG, which is mids-forward
59/Custom = this is kind of intriguing, you might get good results in your setup, the combination of vintage and modern voicing can get a cool twang at high gain - I think Ola Englund has a good demo of this in one of his SD pickup shootouts
Alternative 8 = thicker, low mids emphasis, you will probably knock over a building or two when you combine with your Diezel patch

It's not quite A Perfect Circle, but Adam Jones from Tool uses the JB, I believe. It's easy to find JBs and 59 necks and Jazz necks used, so you might want to start there.

 

[stef89]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

I just put a 59 in the bridge of my tele hh sounds awesome for everything.

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Thanks guys.

The 59 and Jazz are destined for the neck in the occasion. I'm leaning most towards a JB or a 59/custom I the bridge. They are totally different pickups and a) I love the 59/custom in my Les Paul and b) I've never even really used the JB myself. I've never had it in a guitar. Strange right? But from what I've heard it's great in alder bodies.

And yes, Adam Jones is a favorite who uses the JB. But also Steph from Deftones used to have it in his alder 6 strings. Also a favorite.

But then again, I'm me and not them

I think that I will have a switch so the pickups can be used in parallel (or whatever it is - not split, but single coil). But mostly I will use them as humbuckers.

I've never tried the alternative 8 either. It might be a bit too much for me.

And yeah, the Diezel sound is great. I don't max the gain though. I like the tightness of a high gain amp with moderate gain and not too hot pickups.

 

[defspace]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

For what it's worth, Billy Howerdel used the Tom Anderson H3 pickups in his Les Pauls. I think the H3 would have been designed for neutral, bolt-on guitars. It might be a good fit.

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

I really like the JB for down tuning. It is my go to pickup for any situation. As far as the neck, I'd say the Jazz is your best bet. Less lows than the '59, alleviating another issue with down tuning. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Didn't Billy use Quarter pounds?

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

I really like the JB for down tuning. It is my go to pickup for any situation. As far as the neck, I'd say the Jazz is your best bet. Less lows than the '59, alleviating another issue with down tuning. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks!

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

And by the way, let's not talk too much about billy, Adam or Steph. Here's a soundbyte from the band. I'm using my les paul with 59/custom in the bridge.

https://soundcloud.com/turnintodust/thisishowitstarts

 

[elelpe]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Don't rule out Alt8. It's great for downtuning: articulate, great string separation, tighter than JB and not boomy like Custom in low register. That's my experience with those three pickups in my alder body and rosewood on maple neck guitar (not a tele though) that specifically tuned in Drop A. Having listened to your excellent song, I'd say you'd better try '59/Custom with A8 though. I never try it myself but soundwise it will be fairly as close as it gets to that sound and A8 will compensate for relatively lack of meatiness in your tele. If you ever want different tone, I highly recommend Alt 8 for B or Drop A.

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Don't rule out Alt8. It's great for downtuning: articulate, great string separation, tighter than JB and not boomy like Custom in low register. That's my experience with those three pickups in my alder body and rosewood on maple neck guitar (not a tele though) that specifically tuned in Drop A. Having listened to your excellent song, I'd say you'd better try '59/Custom with A8 though. I never try it myself but soundwise it will be fairly as close as it gets to that sound and A8 will compensate for relatively lack of meatiness in your tele. If you ever want different tone, I highly recommend Alt 8 for B or Drop A.

Great input. As another alternative, how about a JB with an A8 magnet?

BTW, Thanks

 

[Mincer]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

You may also consider the Custom, which remains tight when low tuned but doesn't sound like a modern metal pickup to me at all.

 

[henke]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

I think I'm going to try the 59/custom or the JB. Maybe I'll try to swop the magnet to an alnico 8.

Does an Alnico 8 do something in general to a pickup? Beef it up?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Any magnet swap can radically change a pickup sound. An A8 makes a pickup badder, bolder and bigger. It is much stronger than an A5, but sweeter than a ceramic.

 

[Whammy]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Here are some examples that someone did with a Pearly Gates/Custom Hybird.
It's the same piece of music with the same pickup. The only difference is the magnet. It should give you an idea of how an a8 sounds compared to using an a5 or ceramic.

Personally I'm not a fan of any a8 pickups that I've tried.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: Humbuckers for low tuned telecaster

Custom custom , 59/custom hybrid, pretty much anything in the custom family. Jb does well down tuned as well. I have the jb/59 in my eclipse and it down tunes nicely. If you are open to other outlets I'd also suggest a dimarzio super distortion... Aka the sword kinda tone which is killer.