New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

[The Great Curve]

I'm looking for replacement pickups for my Fender Japan Thinline Telecaster. Stock, there's a 'dragster' humbucker at the neck, and 2 Texas Special single-coils at the middle and neck. I'm looking for pickups that can do nice chimey cleans (think 80s jangle-rock: The Smiths, REM, Robyn Hitchcock) and distorted crazyness (think Sonic Youth).

I'm wanting something to tame the shrillness of the bridge. I'm thinking the Alnico II Pros would work well for that. As for the neck, I'm finding the Dragster too muddy (although the neck+bridge combo sounds quite nice). I've been recommended the Phat Cat P90 on another forum, which looks interesting.

Any thoughts?

 

[Fender_Punk]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

Phat Cats in Teles seems like an equation that can't go wrong, and they also seem at home in semi-hollows (I have a friend that's had Phat Cats in Artcores and they sounded great). Go for a Phat Cat bridge for the neck for extra punch and maybe a JD or as you're thinking, A2P bridge.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

First thing I would do is get a new pickguard; one that doesn't have a hole for a middle pickup. I would put a Phat Cat in the neck and a JD in the bridge. Three-position blade switch for standard switching functionality and you're done.....

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

I use a PGn and a STL-2 tapped in my MIJ '69 Thinline and it works great for a rock set up.

 

[The Great Curve]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Phat Cats in Teles seems like an equation that can't go wrong, and they also seem at home in semi-hollows (I have a friend that's had Phat Cats in Artcores and they sounded great). Go for a Phat Cat bridge for the neck for extra punch and maybe a JD or as you're thinking, A2P bridge.

Cheers for that. I've read lots of posts like yours, recommending either the Jerry Donahue or Alnico II Pro bridge. Why would I choose one over the other?

The Phat Cats are seeming more and more interesting. Their sound samples make them sound very different to SD's other P90 pickups, but I think that's in part due to the fact that it wasn't recorded in the same way the others were. (There's a different guy talking at the end!) Is that right?

One more thing - my tele has 250k pots, which I gather is ideal for single-coils. Will the phat cats sound ok with this setup?

 

[The Great Curve]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

I've been reading that the Phat Cat might seriously overpower the bridge unless it has high enough output, such as the Jerry Donahue. Is this right?

In that case, might a good setup be:

Neck: P90 Phat Cat
Middle: Alnico II Pro Neck
Bridge: Jerry Donahue

?

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

If I understand correctly, he wants the Phat Cat in the bridge, not neck.

 

[The Great Curve]

Re: New pickups for a Tele thinline: A2Pros and Phat Cat?

If I understand correctly, he wants the Phat Cat in the bridge, not neck.

No no, it is the neck where I want it.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear - my tele has a humbucker at the neck and a single coil in the middle and at the bridge, and I don't really want to change that configuration.