Pickups for Double F hole tele

D

dimmy

New member
Hi there, I'm wanting to take advantage of the Wymore sale, but everytime I procrastinate, there are less pickups to choose from. :poed:

This is my first tele and I'm in the process of building it. It is a hollow ash body with curly maple top with 2 f holes, routed for neck humbucker and single in bridge. 3 saddle tele bridge with a bigsby. Maple neck with rosewood board.

I play praise and worship (Chris Tomlin, Planetshakers, Hillsong etc), pop, and rock. I use a Vox ac15 amp, though am thinking about changing it.

I was looking at a JD lead pickup, with either the following neck pickups:
- Phat Cat
- Seth Lover (gold only)
- P Rail (now sold out)
- Pearly Gates (white only)

Which would you suggest for versatility and balance? I really like the sound of a Strat neck pickup with more punch. I also like the Gretsch hollowbody neck sound (DeArmond 2000). I don't want a muddy sound from the neck, more a brighter clearer tone. I usually play Strats and acoustics.

Your advice is much appreciated.
 
Re: Pickups for Double F hole tele

Not sure what to recommend from which manufacturer, but the guitar wood of ash with maple body top, maple neck and rosewood will give you a natural resonance towards the higher frequencies. You'll have to consider pot options and treble bleeds, caps, etc in addition to the pickup choice.

If you want maximum versatility rather than the typical narrow-range Tele twang, going with slightly higher powered pickups should help. On the pickup treble-mid-bass TONE (not output power) charts look for perhaps a 7 or 8 on treble rather than a 9, and the bass and mid number should be reasonably close to each other and perhaps be about 5 or 6. Listen to the sound samples available here, at Dimarzio and with Kinman, Fralin and others, so you understand how the output matched to body components works out.

Once you narrow your choice down, remember that you can always use a tone dial to reduce the treble, but you can't use a tone dial to CREATE treble, so with the choice of pots and pickups always try to err where you can turn something down rather than lose something permanently (which is the problem with most poorly-designed humbucking singles, they lose the high end and it ain't coming back)
 
Re: Pickups for Double F hole tele

That's a great response. So the JD lead is 5/5/7 and the Quarter Pounder is 7/5/7 but higher output. From your post, the JD sounds like the better option, but the added bass of the QP should help the bright guitar right?
 
Re: Pickups for Double F hole tele

I also would go with a PG. I think the Seth will be too dark. The JD is my favorite bridge pickup. I have it in my vintage 52RI paired with a Vintage 54N. It smokes. Unfortunately your guitar is routed for a full HB. It would also be awesome to pair it with a Firebird minihum. The Duncan Firebird mini humbuckers with the JD is an awesome combination.
 
Re: Pickups for Double F hole tele

Even though the woods in your guitar tend to be bright, it's hollow which tends to mellow things out a bit. The JD is a great choice for the bridge. The PG with Triple SHot ring would be a great match for the neck. And when split and paired, in parallel, with the JD , it gives a very respectable Strat quack.
 
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