Pairing for Jazz Neck.

[Kaisermhl]

Hi. I am playing a Tele and just installed a Jazz Neck. It’s amazing. Problem is the single coil in the bridge has a huge volume drop now. Any suggestions for a good pairing? I’m play original music. Don’t play too heavy but do use distortion at times, but I use the neck for that.

would love a nice clean tone but reall need to balance that volume.

Thanks

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Your bridge is the standard Tele form factor, right, not a humbucker?
Quarter Pound Tele bridge is beefy enough to hold its own with a humbucker.
It's available in a tapped version so you can have vintage output when you want.

There are also Tele-bridge-sized humbuckers which can be wired for split or parallel.
The Lil' 59 for Tele is a good one. There's also a Lil' Pearly Gates for tele.
Some of the cheap double rail hums for Tele sound very good too.

 

[Chistopher]

Is there a Tele Cool Rails?

 

[TVFV]

Is there a Tele Cool Rails?

No.

 

[TVFV]

Lower the neck and raise the bridge before you make a purchase. A lil 59 would be a good choice if you decide to swap.

 

[Artie]

No.

There oughta be. That would be . . . you know . . . cool.

 

[Mincer]

Is there a Tele Cool Rails?

I bet he Custom Shop could build one.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Quarter Pound would be a great option, as would the Lil Pearly Gates for Tele.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The Quarter Pound is amazing... but it doesn't have a nice clean sound. Or at least, a traditional Tele clean sound.

 

[Mincer]

A Quarter Pound has more lows and mids...it isn't clean and clear like a Cool Rails.

 

[Artie]

The Tele Hot Rails might be a good match. I have a set in a Strat and they sound great.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I don't think the Hot Rails is the answer either, personally.

The HR is REALLY hot. Like almost X2N hot, which I found surprising. But it's also REALLY dark. Darker even than the X2N which is probably the darkest-sounding full-size hum that I've tried with the exception of maybe the Invader. So it's kind of a very Metal pickup.

But also, it doesn't split particularly well, IMO. Split, it's just kinda bland, thin, but super compressed.

 

[Mincer]

Maybe a Tele Hot Rails in parallel?

 

[Juanhanglo]

Look into other p90 style tele pickups from lollar, harmonic design, zhangbucker, etc.

i have an HD vintage plus set in my tele. They are loud, but never overwound sounding and can easily keep up with vintage output humbuckers

 

[Artie]

I don't think the Hot Rails is the answer either, personally.

The HR is REALLY hot. Like almost X2N hot, which I found surprising. But it's also REALLY dark. Darker even than the X2N which is probably the darkest-sounding full-size hum that I've tried with the exception of maybe the Invader. So it's kind of a very Metal pickup.

But also, it doesn't split particularly well, IMO. Split, it's just kinda bland, thin, but super compressed.

That's interesting. I wonder if the Strat HR is different than the Tele HR. They're hot, but not TOO hot. And I find them bright. Not dark. Que sera sera.

 

[beaubrummels]

The two neck and middle Hot Rails (Duncan Designed) that came in my Jackson were quite dark. It's weird, they totally sound like Strat/Fender snappy twang, but with a thick blanket over the amp. Maybe the snap came from the scale length of the guitar, but the pickups sounded dark. Would work well with a nasty fizzy metal amp. But I haven't tried the Tele versions. They could very well be different sounding (but the same output) because both neck and bridge on a Tele are different sizes from each other and from Strat coils; that coupled with the body, wood, bridge saddles/plate and other differences could make it sound brighter.

 

[Artie]

The two neck and middle Hot Rails (Duncan Designed) that came in my Jackson were quite dark.

I need to dig this out of my catacombs and listen to it again. My HR's are also Duncan Designed. I don't remember them as being dark. Then again, maybe my (mild) tinnitus is affecting my perception.

Maybe the "hotness", makes them appear as bright.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

That's interesting. I wonder if the Strat HR is different than the Tele HR. They're hot, but not TOO hot. And I find them bright. Not dark. Que sera sera.

I still have the bridge Tele HR around. My Esquire is certainly not dark acoustically either. It's REALLY thin and wiry acoustically, even. It's got a pine body and a maple neck and fretboard, and a Gotoh bridge. I did even wire the HR through a single 500K Volume knob, not tone knob, so it's certainly not the setup, I think.

But I remember I'd plug my LP's in with a Black Winter and an X2N each, and then the Esquire, and that would sound so dull by comparison. Like no attack and aggression at all. It didn't sound muddy because the Tele HR is not particularly bassy either. I really wanted to like that pickup, but I just couldn't jive with it, even when playing metal (which is honestly all I ever play, LOL). That pickup is all output and no tone, IMO.

I never tried to run it in parallel, though. Maybe I would've liked it, but honestly, I doubt I would, considering I didn't like it split either.

My perception is that it wouldn't pair well with the Jazz Neck, personally, because the HR is like the complete opposite EQ profile, and then if the OP wants balanced output between pickups, the HR is just going to DESTROY the Jazz output-wise, IME, and then he'd be left with the same problem, just the other way around.

 

[Artie]

I still have the bridge Tele HR around. My Esquire is certainly not dark acoustically either. It's REALLY thin and wiry acoustically, even.

I hate to repeat myself, but I really, really need to dig my HR Strat out and listen to it again. It might be dark. I hate gettin' old.

 

[freefrog]

To answer to the OP: I've a Tele with a beefy neck humbucker and a Custom A5 Fender bridge single coil. No problem of balance because I've set the neck PU low under the strings but also because the bridge pickup exhibits a strong magnetism and a solid inductance of 4H (= same than a P.A.F. and more than a SH2N). That's the kind of value to search in this case, albeit sadly most pickups descriptions don't reveal inductance... things like a 11k Fender Texas Special or a Duncan QP should / will be in the ballpark, that said.


SIDE NOTES

Measured inductance values stored in my archives...

Hot Rails: 11.8H

X2N: 9.9H

Hence low pitched resonant peaks. No wonder if they sound hot n' dark. Unless of course they are paired with super low capacitance wires or a wireless system without cable emulation. ;-)

But I understand Beaubrummels stating how HR's keep something of Fender single coils, just darker. Reason: the single coilish narrowness of the magnetic window and how it filters harmonics (change the width in inches from 1.43 humbucker to 0.73 single coil in the following applet to see what I mean: https://till.com/articles/PickupResponseDemo/ ). Might also explain how Artie perceives HR's.

HINT - Add a 3,3nF cap in parallel of a Fender single coil, lower a tad its tone pot, and it should have a voicing reminding a Hot Rails (minus the power of course). Or play it through a long and/or coily cable (the equivalent of 25m of straight standard wire should do the job). EDIT: and choose 1nF / 10m of cable for a SSL5 voicing with a standard Fender single coil.

A Hot Rails in parallel drops to 3H or so. More than decent Tele emulation IME (that's what I have in one of my main stage guitars). But the output level drops too in this case.

FWIW.