Okay, this is my first post so I will make it good. I have three tele style guitars that I made. These were some of the first ones I had built and I had little knowledge at the time about choosing the wood and matching the pickups. I just made them and stuck in pickups I thought would sound good. After 9 guitars later I understand the relationship between the two components and need help choosing the right ones. The guitars look too good to sound that bad.
#1 guitar is a Flamed maple top and mahogany body. Maple neck with rosewood board. I installed a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups with a middle quarter pounder pickup. the guitar sounds dead. There is not a good tone possible with this setup. Very muddy and 0 tone. I want to go with the standard Tele 2 pickup config. I just ordered the new pickguard and have not ordered the pickup set yet. What set could give me good clarity and volume like the vintage tele's? Any ideas?
#2 guitar is another flamed maple with mahogany body tele design with maple/rosewood neck. I have a SD Lil 59 in the bridge and a SD Alnico strat pickup in the neck. The 59 is split to make it single coil. The neck pickup sounds great, but the 59 is extremely nasal sounding. Much better when the coils are split. What should I try with that one? Any cap or pot change to help clean up the 59? Volume is good with that pickup.
#3 guitar is a 52 Tele clone, ash body, maple neck. It has an unknown brand of bridge pickup and a unknown SD humbucker in the neck. The bridge sounds fine, but the humbucker is down right in the mud. Even in the middle position, it kills the tone. I screwed down the pole pieces and pickup itself with little change in muddiness. I am considering scrapping the HB in the neck and getting a new pickguard with a new standard Tele neck pickup. I wanted to hear any recs, before I did this. The cap value is .047, 250k pots and has standard tele wiring for a three way switch. Any tricks for this one or should I start from scratch.
Thanks for the info and really appreciate your ideas.
Mike M
#1 guitar is a Flamed maple top and mahogany body. Maple neck with rosewood board. I installed a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups with a middle quarter pounder pickup. the guitar sounds dead. There is not a good tone possible with this setup. Very muddy and 0 tone. I want to go with the standard Tele 2 pickup config. I just ordered the new pickguard and have not ordered the pickup set yet. What set could give me good clarity and volume like the vintage tele's? Any ideas?
#2 guitar is another flamed maple with mahogany body tele design with maple/rosewood neck. I have a SD Lil 59 in the bridge and a SD Alnico strat pickup in the neck. The 59 is split to make it single coil. The neck pickup sounds great, but the 59 is extremely nasal sounding. Much better when the coils are split. What should I try with that one? Any cap or pot change to help clean up the 59? Volume is good with that pickup.
#3 guitar is a 52 Tele clone, ash body, maple neck. It has an unknown brand of bridge pickup and a unknown SD humbucker in the neck. The bridge sounds fine, but the humbucker is down right in the mud. Even in the middle position, it kills the tone. I screwed down the pole pieces and pickup itself with little change in muddiness. I am considering scrapping the HB in the neck and getting a new pickguard with a new standard Tele neck pickup. I wanted to hear any recs, before I did this. The cap value is .047, 250k pots and has standard tele wiring for a three way switch. Any tricks for this one or should I start from scratch.
Thanks for the info and really appreciate your ideas.
Mike M
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