Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

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KBliss

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Okay, somebody..., SOMEBODY on this forum MUST own or have tried a telecaster with a single coil bridge & humbucker neck, like what's-his-name from that Brit rock'n'roll band.

Whats the dealie-deal with that? I'm guessing you put it on the middle switch, thus combining bright, chiming biting highs with a fat bottom, which rattles the floor thru an Ampeg V-2. But i don't know, so very curious...

For instance, is that the first guitar we hear in "Beast of Burden?"
Cuz it don't sound quite like a classic Gibson; sorta like a scooped beefy clean tone...?

I know it's usually his 5-string open tuning so that adds extra waveform muscle, but IRregardlessly,..

Details... Kindly if you please... (thanks)
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

with the right pups it can be cool. if you leave the pup selector in the middle there isnt much to worry about once you get a tone you like. if you are going to flip around mid song it can be tough to get a single coil and humbucker to balance well tonally and output wise
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

Any way you cut it there are going to be tonal and volume balance issues with a Telecaster. Unfortunately moving to a humbucker, mini humbucker or P90 in the neck is often a compromise because they want a 500K volume pot while the bridge wants a 250K pot. If you go with a 250K volume the neck humbucker is often too dark and if you go with a 500K pot the bridge is too bright.

The way that I resolved it on my Tele which has a mini-humbucker in the neck and a noiseless bridge was to get creative with the wiring to compensate for each pickups peculiarities. I used a passive high pass filter (capacitor+resistor) on the neck position to keep the bass reasonable and a resistor on the volume control so the the bridge pickup sees a 333K load while the neck sees a 500K load.

Tele neck pickup criticisms:
Tele neck - Too weak
Lipstick Tube - Too weak
Strat neck - Too loud
Mini humbucker - Too dark
Full humbucker - Too dark and loud
P90 - Too Dark
 

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Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

The trick is to use a cool vintage style humbucker and a hotter than vintage, beefy sounding bridge pickup. 500k pots all round with an extra 510k resistor for the bridge pickup so both pickups see the correct load and they match/balance beautifully.

Worked for me,,,but i have no idea what pickups keef used and how he configured it. Albert collins is also famous for a hum/sing tele, but he reckons he never used the neck pickup except for a few special effects like when he was mimicing a woman talking with his guitar.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

Wow, sounds precarious! I'm noticing in the 72 tour movie, Keith's regular tele has, i believe, a neck mini bucker.
I hadn't considered the possible imbalance of signal.

Later that decade, if Keith ever had an iconic axe, it would be his black Tele-like thing, which ... If memory serves has a neck humbucker with the displaced pole pieces; but I haven't owned Fenders, so I didn't consider it would have one volume pot.


Thank you Gentlemen & Scholars!
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

i have a duncan antiquity II firebird pup in the neck of my tele and a custom wound 8k tele bridge pup and they match really well with 250k controls. i agree with snowdog about full sized buckers though, they sound too dark with 250k controls and a vintage type tele bridge sounds too thin and tinny with 500k
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

You can also fine tune a full sized humbucker to the neck position by turning the pickup so that the screw coil faces the bridge, using a pickup with 12 adjustable poles, changing from fillister to hex poles and lastly changing the magnet to a A4 or A3.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

I put a Phat cat in mine with a tapped Quarter pounder in the bridge..Sounds great in all positions with use of volume & tone knobs.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

Jazz sounds fine with 250k, I tend to keep the neck pickup pretty low to help balance the volume as well.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

A little late to the party, but I have good luck doing this with a modified broadcaster wiring. It allows you to use one of the knobs as a blend knob.

Positions on the Switch were:
Neck (dark)
Neck only
Bridge + Neck blend

I did a full right up here.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

Well, haven't played mine yet, since it's being setup by my tech.

Going with an ESP LTD TE-212, with a Hot Lead Stack STK-T2b in the bridge and an Alnico II Pro APH-1n in the neck, with Vol/Tone/3-way switch and independent On/On/On DPDT switches for each pickup, for Series/Parallel/Split wiring, and a 500k/250k mod, allowing 500k for humbucker sounds and 250k for split sounds.

When ready, I'll post a review, and hopefully some sound clips.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

idsnowdog said:
You can also fine tune a full sized humbucker to the neck position by turning the pickup so that the screw coil faces the bridge, using a pickup with 12 adjustable poles, changing from fillister to hex poles and lastly changing the magnet to a A4 or A3.
Click to expand...

It looks like Keith's Mcawber does exactly this.

I've always thought a stacked bridge (like a BG-1400) and a vintage output HB, both setup to split, would be a fun setup.
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

I'm about to start a build (Andy Summers Tele) that'l get a '%9 in the neck, and a Vintage Tele Stack in the bridge. 500k pots should do the trick...
 
Re: Keef: the S/H Tele thang...

Yep.

1996 Fender Tex Mex Telecaster Special. Stock neck pickup and a Van Zandt Vintage Plus in the bridge.
skye.jpg



Warmoth body, AllParts TMO-V neck, BG custom winds (underwound BG Bucker neck, '60s style in the bridge with raised D&G and overwound a tad).
redtele.jpg
 
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