Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

[Blille]

Howdy, so I'm continuing to mod my tele and I'm now looking for a tele bridge pickup to pair with the Antiquity P90.

I was set on the JD because I loved it a while back but paired with an STR-1. Now that I've been playing with the P90 I'm concerned it's not going to have enough output. I generally prefer the bridge pickup to be slightly hotter so I'm considering the hot tele (tapped for flexibility). I now have a Fender Broadcaster there and it's really a significant difference.

Am I being paranoid?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

Well, Tele's do typically suffer from the overpowering neck syndrome even if you go for the typical vintage strength neck p90 or humbucker.

Go for the hot, or even look at Zhangbucker - who winds an incredible hotter Tele pickup that still retains a lot of the vintage tonality to it.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

well... some people like the jd with a seth neck, im not one of them. i think the seth over powers and is a poor tonal match for the jd, although better than many vintage type tele pups. a bucker, or p90 in your case, has a lot of output and it pretty fat. i prefer a strat pup or vintage firebird pup in the neck with a jd. with a p90, id go hot or qp if you want the bridge to have as much or more juice than the neck. unless you wanna go custom shop then theres lots of sweet toys

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

The hot for tele lead is a great pickup IF you don't mind it not sounding exactly like a tele. I have one paired with a SM-1b in an alder/maple MIJ Fernandez tele with a steel, 3 saddle bridge. It's bright, crisp, and detailed, but it's way louder than a vintage style tele lead and has a lotore low end and low mids. It lets me play stuff that I'd normally use a humbucker to play. The tapped output definitely lowers the output and midrange content, and sounds FANTASTIC paired with the SM-1b in a clean setting, but it doesn't have the lean muscularity and pop to the low end that something like a Jerry Donahue model has. I dig it, but I understand that this is not a country-pickin' tele.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

Well, Tele's do typically suffer from the overpowering neck syndrome even if you go for the typical vintage strength neck p90 or humbucker.

Go for the hot, or even look at Zhangbucker - who winds an incredible hotter Tele pickup that still retains a lot of the vintage tonality to it.

I have a Paul Bunyan set of Zhangbuckers in my '69 Thinline RI. THAT is a very traditional sounding telecaster, just, BIGGER.

 

[Blille]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

Thanks all.

Good to see I’m not just crazy for considering this.

I can get much closer to balance by moving up the bridge pickup and lowering the P90 to where the P90 cover is flush with the pickguard. But it loses some of the punch obviously.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Pairing antiquity P90 in with tele bridge

The problem there is you gain with the volume balance, but lose with the individual tone (usually). I've got a few p90's and they (like all pickups) love their own sweetspot of height.....usually a bit closer for that wonderful p90 zing.

The Paul Bunyan is a wonderful pickup btw.....just as another +1 for that pickup.