Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

D

DrewB

New member
I have a homebrew Swamp Ash tele with a one-piece maple neck and the 3-saddle bridge. The bridge pickup is a SD Broadcaster and the neck pickup is a SD Vintage Tele Rhythm. The Broadcaster pickup is great, but I'd like a neck pickup that has more attack and an overall brighter sound. The warmth and fatness of the neck pickup is nice but it's a bit muddy under gain and the attack feels pretty compressed. I want to stick with the traditional look of the Tele rhythm pickup, but get a brighter sound.

How does an Antiquity II Tele neck pickup compare to the Vintage Tele Rhythm?
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

I only know of two:

Duncan Custom Shop Tele ala Strat neck

Fralin Blues Special Tele neck

No nickel cover wih the Fralin but it has great tone and sounds like a Strat pickup.

So does the CS Tele Ala Strat but it does have a cover.

Those are my two faves.
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

Is this CS Tele Ala Strat the same size as a standard Tele rhythm pickup?
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

I just got the neck Fralin Blues Special from Lew today, and I can attest that it has both the full low end of your standard tele neck p/u, but with a brightness that I've never seen before. It really sounds great. I have a Rio Grande Muy Grande in the bridge that I'm thinking of switching out for the Blues Special bridge p/u. Just comparing the Fralin neck to the Grande bridge, and the neck p/u actually sounds clearer and more trebly than the bridge. Hard to believe huh?

Sorry to hijack the thread, but Lew, how does the Blues Special bridge sound, brightness wise? Is it like the neck??
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

yigba said:
I just got the neck Fralin Blues Special from Lew today, and I can attest that it has both the full low end of your standard tele neck p/u, but with a brightness that I've never seen before. It really sounds great. I have a Rio Grande Muy Grande in the bridge that I'm thinking of switching out for the Blues Special bridge p/u. Just comparing the Fralin neck to the Grande bridge, and the neck p/u actually sounds clearer and more trebly than the bridge. Hard to believe huh?

Sorry to hijack the thread, but Lew, how does the Blues Special bridge sound, brightness wise? Is it like the neck??
Click to expand...

The Blues Special bridge pickup is not brighter than most other great Tele bridge pickups...in fact, it's deeper and smoother than most, though it is brighter than the Duncan Jerry Donahue and it has more bass and a fuller tone than the Duncan Antiquity I. I use it in my '54 Tele...I like it better than the original 50 year old bridge pickup (it's flat poled and only about 6.4K!) which I keep safely wrapped up in the case.

The Blues Special neck model has no cover and the cover really muffles the tone of a Tele neck pickup. They typically have such a small bobbin and so little wire wrapped around them (plus they're flat poled) that most covered Tele neck pickups sound muffled and weak. Lindy literally winds as much wire as he can get around that small bobbin and then once it's taped off there's really no room for a cover...so he just leaves it off.

The Fralins are usually out of phase with Duncans though. When I mix them, I always have to reverse the black and white wires and run the ground wire under the pickup to the white wire instead insead of black to keep them in phase. I really like the Fralin BS neck mixed with a Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge. Not better than a straight set of Blues Specials but I like it just as much in the right guitar.

The Duncan Custom Shop "Tele ala Strat" is the same size as a stock Tele neck pickup but MJ gets it to sound almost as bright and strong as a Strat neck pickup or the Fralin Blues Special. It's the strongest, brightest COVERED Tele neck pickup I've ever heard.

Thanks! Lew
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

Martian said:
The DiMarzio Twang King. You'll save a lot of $$$ too!
Click to expand...

I've never owned a Dimarzio single coil that sounded right. Right as in: "like a great vintage Fender". The Duncans and Fralins do...they get a great tone that's both vintage and a little better than vintage.

Seems to me that Dimarzio let's Duncan have the vintage market, for the guys like me who like the vintage tone and mostly concentrates on making "balls to the walls humbuckers"...which is what Dimarzio does best, IMO.

Lew
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

This is a great thread. Is there any chance of getting this put in the vault?
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

Lewguitar said:
I've never owned a Dimarzio single coil that sounded right. Right as in: "like a great vintage Fender". The Duncans and Fralins do...they get a great tone that's both vintage and a little better than vintage.

Seems to me that Dimarzio let's Duncan have the vintage market, for the guys like me who like the vintage tone and mostly concentrates on making "balls to the walls humbuckers"...which is what Dimarzio does best, IMO.

Lew
Click to expand...


I could not agree more!!!
 
Re: Need a brighter Tele neck pickup...

I didn't think the VR was "compressed", just a little low in output (like a vintage tele pickup!)

the Ant II would be brighter, but those were really made with a 60s tele in mind

I had the same combo as you in my ash tele, and switched them out for a set of Antiquities, and they are great in that guitar - not really brighter in the neck, but rather warmer, and more responsive, and the neck pickup feels like it has more output

I have some clips of those here:
tele Antiquities
 
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