Little '59 in a Telecaster

T

tjk3052

New member
Hi, I'm new to the forum. I have a std tele and wanted to get a better rock/blues tone out of it, so I put a little '59 humbucker in the bridge. When played clean it is piercing, not warm at all, and nowhere near as warm as the sound clips on SD's website or what I've heard on youtube. It blends nicely with the neck pup in the middle position and I don't hate it, it's just not what I was hoping for. Is there any troubleshooting or adjustments anyone can suggest? It measured right at the correct 17k ohms.
Thanks
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

tjk3052 said:
Hi, I'm new to the forum. I have a std tele and wanted to get a better rock/blues tone out of it, so I put a little '59 humbucker in the bridge. When played clean it is piercing, not warm at all, and nowhere near as warm as the sound clips on SD's website or what I've heard on youtube. It blends nicely with the neck pup in the middle position and I don't hate it, it's just not what I was hoping for. Is there any troubleshooting or adjustments anyone can suggest? It measured right at the correct 17k ohms.
Thanks
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I just put one in my ash tele. mixed it with a alnico pro 2 hb in the neck slot.
I am still using 250k vol/tone pots and a .022 orange drop. If I back of the vol/tone to say, about 8.5, it sounds like someone shoved a les paul in it. very nice!! also with the lil 59, play with the height a bit. hope this helps
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

4way switch with DPDT on the neck pickup for phase shift and you'll have awhole lot more tone..............................................Cheers
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

Thanks for the replies.
Not sure I'd want a 4-way, wouldn't the out-of-phase setting be an even thinner sound?
Is there a chance something is wrong with this pup? It sounds like I would have expected it to sound if it was split, but I wired them together per the diagram and it measured the correct resistance. Anything else I should be checking? I did play with the height; I lowered the treble side and it is a little better.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

Is the tone control hooked up? Even on 10, it'll still load the circuit up and warm the tone.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

hey bud,
I have one on mine and the height is **** near touching the strings, I put a new wiring harness on mine with a 4 way switch after the fact and it sounded much better. I actually have a forum posted because it sounds raunchy blended with my neck pickup. It sounds great by itself though. I'm no pro, but my guess would be height, harness, or as you say busted pickup. I did find a nice warm tone with mine though definitely not piercing.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

tjk3052 said:
Hi, I'm new to the forum. I have a std tele and wanted to get a better rock/blues tone out of it, so I put a little '59 humbucker in the bridge. When played clean it is piercing, not warm at all, and nowhere near as warm as the sound clips on SD's website or what I've heard on youtube. It blends nicely with the neck pup in the middle position and I don't hate it, it's just not what I was hoping for. Is there any troubleshooting or adjustments anyone can suggest? It measured right at the correct 17k ohms.
Thanks
Click to expand...


If you have it wired with the black as hot, green and bare to ground, the red and white soldered togther and covered with tape or heat shrink, it should not be piercing unless you have it too close to the strings, non functional pots or pots greater than 250k. Try about 1/4" string to pole distance on the treble side and 5/16" on the bass side to start with and 250k pots. Then tweak it.
 
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Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

guitarded205 said:
hey bud,
I have one on mine and the height is **** near touching the strings, I did find a nice warm tone with mine though definitely not piercing.
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No offense but Wow, it's a wonder it doesn't shatter glass!:eyecrazy: Never had to run one that close.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

MultiCaster said:
No offense but Wow, it's a wonder it doesn't shatter glass!:eyecrazy: Never had to run one that close.
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none taken,
okay I guess almost touching the strings is an exaggeration, but they're pretty close (suprisingly close) I was even shocked. But for some reason with the HAS wiring harness and 4 way switch, it's perfect. I fell in love with the sound of the lil 59 and really hope this player can too.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

tk are you running 250k or 500k pots? I wouldn't think it should matter in series humbucking mode as I normally use Hot Rails like that with a 500k pot and I never find it piercing and it should have more highs and mids than a Lil 59.

I did have something that sounds similar to what you said but it was a Lil 59 NECK model and I installed it in the bridge of a cheapo strat. The springs were a little short and when I was lowering the pickup the mounting screws fell out so it is a little below the pickguard. Surprising it was so bright even though it was a neck model but backed that far away from the strings I didn't think it should be that bright at all.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

I've been messing around with the pickup height and my amp settings (Fender Super Champ xd) and I found a nice crunchy sound with it. Clean it is still pretty bad, not much warmth at all, but I really like the stock neck pickup for that anyway.

I have the stock 250k pots, and stock capacitor.

Guitarded (hilarious name) - Your 4 way switch adds bridge + neck in series? How does it sound different (besides being louder I assume)?

I saw a 5-way mod that adds bridge + neck in series, out of phase. Anyone know what that might sound like?
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

tjk3052 said:
I saw a 5-way mod that adds bridge + neck in series, out of phase. Anyone know what that might sound like?
Click to expand...

Yes, I like it so well that I put it in every guitar that the switch will fit in. Also blending pickups with a pot is a nice option.
 
Re: Little '59 in a Telecaster

Hey tk,
It'll do series or parallel depending on what sequence you switch it to. The push/pull tone has really helped as well so i can switch between coils on the lil 59. I can't say it sounds different but fits the set up much better than the stock three way i had on mine.
 
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