Pickups for FREE Telecaster

Rich_S

Rich_S

HomeGrownToneBrewologist
Hi, SDUGF gang. Long time no post. I've been so happy with my Duncans, I can't remember the last time I changed a pickup. Anyway...

My company has this silly program that awards us points for good behavior. It works kind of like award points you might get on a credit card. Unfortunately, they can't be traded in for cash or gift cards, just "select merchandise". Fortunately, Fender happens to be one of the partner companies. As the result of my being a very good boy, I have accumulated enough points for a Player II Telecaster. I actually have enough Telecasters (two) but I've always wanted a 3-tone sunburst with a maple neck (on account of Andy Summers) so I'm going to order one.

But what to do with it? Right now, I gig with my blue standard MIM Tele (Duncan STL-1 bridge and SSL-1 neck) and my Schecter/MIM goldtop PT partscaster with a Duncan '59 set. I hate switching guitars on stage, so I usually choose the guitar that's right for the most songs in a set, and 'make do' for the other songs. If I need the Tele to sound a but more rock 'n' roll, I add a clean boost and roll back the tone a bit. If I need the goldtop PT to sound a bit more "real Tele", I split the bridge humbucker to single coil. Both cases are a compromise but they're close enough and it cuts down on the geetar swappin'.

So let's say I want to put the new Tele smack in the middle. I'm pretty well set on a Filter'Tron for the neck; I'm just 'Tron curious and I don't use the neck pickup that much anyway. I'm stuck on a bridge pickup to pair with it, hopefully something from the Duncan line, as I've used Seymour's pickups for years and I'm pretty brand-loyal.

I like the STL-1 but it's a bit brighter than I'd like. So, I've thought about maybe an STL-1B Broadcaster to give me bit more oomph and less highs. However, noise is sometimes a problem so I'm thinking something hum-cancelling. Authentic twang is not needed, but I don't want to go fully to my '59B tone either.

So, what's your experience with various hotter-than-vintage Duncans? Under consideration are the Hot Stack (big bar magnet), Hot Rails (twin blades) or maybe one of the 'Lil humbuckers. Or should I just deal with the noise and go with a single coil?

Heck it's a free Tele, I'm open to suggestions.​
 
hey rich, sounds like youre doing well congrats on the free tele! i might try the new red devil tele bridge pup, i have the strat set, and they are great! especially the bridge pup. wire it to a series/parallel p/p switch and youll have a bunch of cool tones
 
Hi, Jeremy. Yeah, I saw the recent marketing for the Red Devil and it's worth considering. Thanks.

I neglected to mention that since I've been around the family _S left the North Country and moved to Buffalo. I somewhat miraculously found a band of similarly elderly, musically like-minded old farts. Next week, I start my second season with them. https://boomerangbuffalo.com I'm having a blast and we're booked for about three gigs a month all summer.
 
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I say, something in the middle. Noiseless neck (Vintage Stack neck) and something heavier for the bridge, like a BG1400.
 
I'd be inclined to go with a firebird neck rather than the filtertron myself but YMMV. I kinda like the quarter pounder for strat in the bridge position for a beefier strat sound, and would be interested in checking out the QP for tele.
 
Rich_S said:
I'm pretty well set on a Filter'Tron for the neck; I'm just 'Tron curious and I don't use the neck pickup that much anyway. I'm stuck on a bridge pickup to pair with it, hopefully something from the Duncan line, as I've used Seymour's pickups for years and I'm pretty brand-loyal.


So, what's your experience with various hotter-than-vintage Duncans? Under consideration are the Hot Stack (big bar magnet), Hot Rails (twin blades) or maybe one of the 'Lil humbuckers. Or should I just deal with the noise and go with a single coil?

Heck it's a free Tele, I'm open to suggestions.​
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My black Tele on the left has a Hot Rails/TV Jones pairing. The Hot Rails has a split on it to take a bit of heat off it when needed. The Tron is a TV Jones Classic+ bridge. I love it in this guitar, though it is a bit hot for a traditional neck pickup. I can get a serviceable Malcolm Young or Brad Whitford tone on the neck pickup. This Tele is setup mostly for hard rock and metal. Which might be the way to go, seeing you already have "traditional" Teles.

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Firebird neck is worth considering. I've had one in the past and I think I still have a pickguard for it around here someplace.

I've had QPs in the past and think that the full pickup goes to far in the fat/thick direction. I found it could get buried in the mix. I love the tapped QP with a spin-a-tap pot but I really want to stick to noise-cancelling options this time around, since I'm actually playing out these days.
 
i love a good firebird pup in the neck of a tele! firebird neck with a red devil (series/parallel switch) would be a sweet setup and cover lots of ground for your boomerang band
 
It's odd that both the Red Devil and the BG1400 have come up despite the fact that my musical taste (or lack thereof) and playing are nothing like the Rev Willy G. I'm an '80s new wave guy, all about Andy Summers, Elliott Easton, James Honeyman-Scott, Johnny Marr, Neil Giraldo, etc. Still, those Pearly-ish pickups seem to fit the bill. So, I'm considering it. I like the idea of series/parallel, and assume that parallel would be better than split. (These SC-sized HBs are probably kind of anemic in single-coil mode, no?)

But why the Red Devil as opposed to the other Tele-shaped HBs? Little '59, Pearly Gates, Hot Stack, Hot Rails. What makes the Red Devil better, other than it's new?
 
Rich_S said:
It's odd that both the Red Devil and the BG1400 have come up despite the fact that my musical taste (or lack thereof) and playing are nothing like the Rev Willy G. I'm an '80s new wave guy, all about Andy Summers, Elliott Easton, James Honeyman-Scott, Johnny Marr, Neil Giraldo, etc. Still, those Pearly-ish pickups seem to fit the bill. So, I'm considering it. I like the idea of series/parallel, and assume that parallel would be better than split. (These SC-sized HBs are probably kind of anemic in single-coil mode, no?)

But why the Red Devil as opposed to the other Tele-shaped HBs? Little '59, Pearly Gates, Hot Stack, Hot Rails. What makes the Red Devil better, other than it's new?
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I would not grab my Hot Rails to play any of the music you mentioned. My Super Distortion/Perly Gates Tele could pull it off, but would not be my first choice. I think the Red Devil has an A5, which IMO would be better for 80s music or the Little 59.
 
The only "never fails" tele bridge pickup i have ever found is a fender 62 custom. They were made for the old AVRI 62 double bound custom teles and when those were discontinued they kept selling the pickups. You can still find em on ebay or reverb, often as a complete bridge plate/saddles/pickup bundle but often alone too. I said "never fails" because every tele i have put them in they have been a great match. They're one of those pickups that just plain works and theres nothing in the tone that will make you want to find something else. Good balance of all attributes. They were quite cheap too tho not sure about these days. Last time i looked they were still around $40 tho. They were a big hit at the TDPRI tele forum for years. I still use them because i havent found a reason to change. They sound great. (vintage spec, about 6k-6.2k, A3. I usually don't like A 3 but these are different.
 
With a Fender Player II, I’d be inclined to leave it stock and play it. The pickups in those are pretty sweet actually.
 
The Red Devil has more high end than the Pearly Gates. It sounds closer to a Tele bridge pickup than a Pearly Gates for Tele does. BTW, when I did an event with Elliot Easton, he used a Tele with 2 p90s, and it sounded fantastic. It still sounded like a Tele, but with a lot more mids. He tended to use chunkier sounds than a lot of his 80s contemporaries. Also, get him out of the confines of the Cars, and he is one hell of an electric blues player.
 
Per Easton - world class player, for sure. I attended one of his clinics back in the 80's and some of his stuff was just revelation after revelation. I still think his solo in "Shake It Up" is one of the best solos ever recorded.
 
Learning Elliott Easton's solos has done more to break me out of the pentatonic box than anything else ever has. Boomerang currently cover Let's Go, Dangerous Type, and You're All I've Got Tonight/Bye Bye Love. I'd love to do more, but we're not a Cars tribute band and we already do more of their songs than anybody else. The solo in Dangerous Type is in the top four of my "Best 8-Bar Guitar Solos of All Time" list.

Years ago, I messaged Elliott on the TDPRI with questions about amps and the overdrive sounds on the first two albums and he graciously answered me.

Back to pickups: I'm leaning toward Red Devil / SM-1 with a series/parallel switch on the bridge. I ordered my free Tele this morning, it's supposed to ship Monday straight from Fender. I'll play it as-is for a while just to get it settled in, set up, and make sure I like it before I start spending money on pickups.
 
sounds like a solid plan! and elliot easton could play for sure. what was he using back in the day?
 
My question was specifically whether he used dirt boxes. Some of the sounds are almost fuzz-ish but he said it was all cranked amps. Probably a variety of whatever was on hand in the studio, since they were based in the US and recorded in the UK. Early live videos show an all-Ampeg back line for the whole band. Later, I know he used Boogie Mark amps and more recently, Marshalls, at least with The Cars.
 
i love old ampegs! great reverb and trem, but they sound amazing when cranked up
 
Those early live shows must have been LOUD. They were using 100 watt Ampegs. VT-22 for Easton and a V-4 stack for Ocasek. You really had to work at it to get those beasts to break up.
 
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