Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

[rmeyer]

Hi all. I need some pickup suggestions. My regular guitar is a George Benson Ibanez GB-10 and it is great for a straight jazz sound, but not for country or rock. Hence, I am building a Tele. On the occasions where I need to play a variety of sounds, I would like a nice jazz and blues sound from the neck pickup and a solid country and rock sound out of the bridge. I am playing through a Yamaha DG Stomp and a Fender 212 Hot Rod Deville modified with WeberVST AlNiCo speakers. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Rich

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

Hi all. I need some pickup suggestions. My regular guitar is a George Benson Ibanez GB-10 and it is great for a straight jazz sound, but not for country or rock. Hence, I am building a Tele. On the occasions where I need to play a variety of sounds, I would like a nice jazz and blues sound from the neck pickup and a solid country and rock sound out of the bridge. I am playing through a Yamaha DG Stomp and a Fender 212 Hot Rod Deville modified with WeberVST AlNiCo speakers. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Rich

Hey Rich,

Welcome to the forum! Sorry no one got back to ya. I would think a set of Antiquities would do the trick for you. Lew, Curly, Buck, Scott or Butch might chime in with a few sugs. Good luck.

Peace,

Darrin

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

Sure...Antiquitys! Those are my favorites.

Unless you're looking for a real bright, twangy Tele tone. The Ants are full and bright but not that steely country kind of twangy bright. For that alnico 5 might be better.

Maybe the Vintage Rythym neck pickup and:

1. the Broadcaster Lead for pre '54 Tele tone like Roy Buchanan's '53 Tele.

2. the '54 Tele Lead for more of a classic Buck Owens & the Buckeroos or Jimmy Page kind of Tele tone. The '54 type Tele lead pickup would be similar to the bridge pickup in Don Rich's or Jimmy Page's Tele or Jame's Burton's Ricky Nelson era Tele.

3. Fralin Blues Specials are what Vince Gill uses in his Tele....those are awesome too.

 

[tweedking]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

broadcaster bridge for sure, most versitile, best sounding and most rockin

 

[tone4days]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

welcome to the board .. sweet setup you got there .. i've wanted a GB-10 for over 20 yrs ...

if you are building the tele from scratch, have you considered a double coil humbucker for the neck position? ... mike stern uses a 59 in the neck of his tele and gets very nice jazzy / bluesy tone ... just a thought

good luck
t4d

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

Based on what your looking for I would go with either a bucker or the Lollar CC neck pup and a stock Tele lead coil, as for the tele pup if you want that real bright/steely tone go with an Alnico 5 pup (broadcaster, vintage 54), if you want it a tad more mellow but still with tons of Tele twang go with something Alnico II (Antiquity, JD, etc). It sounds to me like a Broadcaster bridge and a Lollar CC neck would be a great set-up for you, if the Lollar is not a good idea maybe try a simple Duncan 59.

Good luck, welcome to the forum

The guy who invented fire

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

welcome to the board .. sweet setup you got there .. i've wanted a GB-10 for over 20 yrs ...

if you are building the tele from scratch, have you considered a double coil humbucker for the neck position? ... mike stern uses a 59 in the neck of his tele and gets very nice jazzy / bluesy tone ... just a thought

good luck
t4d

I was about to suggest something similar. I have a Jerry Donahue Lead in my tele paired with a SM-1 Mini Humbucker at the neck and get all the sounds you're describing. Recently though, I've felt the need to go with a fully humcancelling setup, so I'll be swapping out the JD with either a Hot Stack or a Vintage Stack. :burnout:

 

[Stratsky]

Re: Need Tele Pickup Suggestions

A Jerry Donahue pickup in the bridge and a Strat Alnico II Pro (R/W) in the neck. This combination is good for country, rock, blues, and jazz. I use a strat pickup in the neck position because I do not like the traditional Tele neck pickups.