Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies!

[BluesGuyJ]

Well, I am finally putting together a Tele and just ordered the neck from Guitar Mill. It's a roasted maple neck and I will more than likely get a Swamp Ash body from Warmoth.

Right now here is my guitar collection with pickup info...

Gibson CS Elegant Les Paul with WCRs (not sure which ones)
Dean USA SOltero MHG with C5 bridge and 59A4 neck
Carvin C66 with Norton bridge, Area 67 middle and PAF Pro neck
71 Gibson SG with original T Tops
Custom Ibanez type with Evo II bridge, Evo single coil and Air Norton neck


I want this guitar to obviously bring a different tonal palte to the crew and am looking at staying with single coils, although I hope to get a body with universal routing, because I had an ASAT Deluxe in the past with a JB/59 combo that slayed (never should have sold it....)

I'd love to get something that has sparkle and brilliance with a tight low end and mid range that will sound good in the bridge for slightly broken up open chords and ballad-like textures but that can also hold its own with moving towards rock, blues and some fusion.

As for the neck, I'd love something that reminds me of Richie Ks. live tone (I know he uses a Twang King). Something that is also bright but has a slightly, slightly rounded high end and is good for intense funk riffing and will not hurt anyones ears.

One of the reasons why I am looking at building this Tele is because my current band is a 4 piece, with vocals/acoustic, myself on lead guitar and a drummer and bass player. I think my Gibsons and Dean have a great lead tone that jumps out, but when it comes to clean work and riffing along, I think the heavier bucker sound overshadows my singers acoustic work.

I play through two Dumble like amplifiers, made by ROb Lohr from Allston Amps in Boston. I have a Dumbalina MKII 50 watt head going thorugh a closed back 212 that has a clean and Dumble style OD channel and then an AOC (Alston Overdrive COmbo) 60 watt combo that has a clean, OD and HRM channel. Each dirty setting can be set for a wonderful clean tone all the way to serious high gain, especially in combo with the tone bypass engaged.

I think I may be looking more towards noiseless pickups because of the high gain that I sometimes dabble with, but I am totally open to traditional pups as well.

What do ya think?

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Kinman broadcaster set or 60s custom set. IMO, these are the best noiseless tele pups out there.


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[Stickymongoose]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

If it was going to be my only Tele, I would always go with the traditional bridge and single coil. A humbucker or even a strat neck pickup wouldn't be a bad idea, though. I love the bridge sounds you can only get from teles. My choice would be a Fralin Blues in the bridge and a SD Seth in the neck. If you want something hotter, maybe the SD Quarter Pound bridge with a Jazz neck, or the Quarter Pound Strat neck pickup.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Whatever set you get, you will be shocked at just how totally different and unforgiving a swap ash telecaster is compared to your humbucker equipped guitars.
The eq is night and say different. The way the the axe responds acoustically different. The amplified sound is piercing and brutally direct.
It will force you to play different. The sweet spots are achieved in different places.
However, after an initial period of completely readjusting how you approach the guitar (it might take a few months) the rewards are there with a whole new vocabulary and palette at your fingertips.

So...if you are prepared to forget everything you know about how to play the electric guitar and have the patience to really mine the depths of what the telecaster has to offer, I'm gonna suggest just the regular vintage tele set. Not overwound, not hum cancelling. Not "the tele sound but with extra xyz". Just regular old skool tele pickups like the STL-1s or the broadcaster set. Definitely not noiseless. You lose all the good stuff. There is a whole world of great sounds in there, but it will definitely take your ears and your fingers a lot of adjusting to. Vintage pickups have a much wider frequency response than anything overwound so you get all the treble details and a shimmering mirror like image of exactly the tones your are pulling from your instrument acoustically. You will find that a lot of the really good stuff is found with a lot less gain than you might be used to as well. Dead clean with a bit of extra treble is a magic recipe if you can handle what initially seems like "icepick in the ear". You learn to adjust how you touch the strings pretty fast.

A friend of mine has the ritchie kotzen tele, and while the neck pickup is pretty nice, the bridge just simply cannot do "the tele thing". The guitar itself feels and sounds much heavier and les paul like. It is really just a regular generic rock guitar in the silhouette of a tele. Great if you are into hard rock sounds, but in reality not that much different to the axes you own.

I reckon if you are going for a tele build, go all the way vintage style. It is not for the faint hearted tho. You might be shocked initially about how light and bright it is, and how every tiny mistake you make gets glaringly amplified, but with patience and perseverance the humble old skool vintage style tele will really make you a better guitar player.

So..pickups: pretty much any vintage style non (or at least minimally) overwound non noiseless tele set. Swamp ash body, maple neck and a 3 saddle brass ashtray bridge and you will have quite a myriad of killer, rich and organic tones waiting to be exploited.

Any of these are great (in no particular order)
Duncan Vintage for tele set
Duncan Broadcaster
Fender Nocasters
Fender Twisted Set (good if you want strat type neck tones...but again you lose that real tele sound)
Fralin Vintage
Fralin Blues (5%/2%)
There are others of course but i've not tried the antiquities nor anything from Don Mare. I really like the Jerry Donahue model, but it is quite a lot darker and more powerful than vintage style tele bridge pickups and seems better suited as something to pair with a neck humbucker (ala keefer/albert collins type tele). Don't let the spec numbers fool you on tele pickups. What they lack in DC resistance, they make up for in attitude. Remember too that the old complaint of tele neck pickups being "weak" is often because people choose something too hot in the bridge. A good tele set is greater than the sum of its parts.

Here are a couple of serious mofos on the tele. Kenny has a strat neck pickup and a thicker, dirtier amp tone and Guthrie just has cheapo mexican fender pickups running thru a deluxe reverb. He said he tried fralins but just went back to the mexi pups cos they worked better with his axe. Both players are pretty awesome, but guthrie is a monster. Hopefully this is inspiring:

Have fun!

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I forgot to mention that I love Robben Fords tones with his 1960 Tele as well as the tones Johnny Hiland gets from his Teles and know he has a signature set from Electric City Pickups. Fortunately, I have an amp that can really do the Robben FOrd thing and then some. It has not been uncommon for people who have gotten an Allston amp to sell of their original handwired Two Rocks or Glassworks amps and just settle with the Allston. They're amazing, but about a 16 month wait.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I agree with those saying "if you're going Tele, go TELE" however I can't help putting in a nod to TVJones filtertrons - may just take the edge off the swamp ash.


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[BadBen]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Bill Lawrence Wilde Keystones.

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[Gibson 1964]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I would go zexcoil. He has noiseless tele pickups down.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

+1 for Fender Nocaster single coils (especially, the neck/Rhythm unit). The A3 magnets are important.

The SD Custom Shop '53 Tapped Tele Lead offers two flavours of Telecaster/Esquire in one.

The SD Custom Shop BG-1400 is noise-cancelling and would be more in keeping with your Gibsons. Stamped steel bridge and steel saddles will help to retain the treble.

IMO, TV Jones 'Trons go better in Alder or, even, Mahogany.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

If you're gonna get one Tele to rule them all, then get a Tele. Two singles and a 4 way switch would be what I'd do. Something like a medium hot bridge pickup and a vintage neck.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

How do people feel about Joe Barden pickups? Also, perhaps Suhrs Classic T pickups?

 

[loversmoon]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Check out www.tdpri.com and research Rob destefano and cavalier pickups. Amazing, well priced and total tele

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

A lot of suggestions so far...some very good, some very expensive, some not so good.

Great Tele tone for what you want without the boutique price tag...Duncan's Jerry Donahue in the bridge. A tapped Quarter Pound is also excellent and gives you the option for a fuller, warmer, heavier tone when you want it when in full series...but still it is unmistakably Tele, especially in an ash body with maple neck.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

If you are going to outfit your first tele with some pickups and wonder where to start... you should start at the beginning and get an Antiquity set.

Antiquity I set will be a bit brighter than the slightly darker Antiquity II set but both sets are phenomenal pickups... the Ant II ('60s twang) set seems to be slightly more versatile as the Antiquity I ('55) set just drips with a classic country vibe.

Everything I read from the OP points to the Antiquity II set. For your first tele build, it's absolute ground zero for authentic tele tone IMHO.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I think the Antiquity Set or the Fender Nocaster set should get some serious consideration for the "Tele" tone. Bill Lawrence Keystones sound incredible to me and capture the "Tele" tone as well. Ash body with Maple neck is also what I would say is best (just an opinion but that is part of what makes it a Tele to me.)

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Just some badassery. Redd Volkaert and Cindy Cashdollar doing waylon. What else can you ask for?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I still like the Jerry Donahue, although it isn't as twangy as something like the Antiquities or the Broadcaster. I'd almost aim for a Strat-sized pickup in the neck though, or even a humbucker for more fusiony/rock stuff. I like the Quarter Pound Strat or even a Seth Lover there. Left field, I know, but it doesn't sound like you are after traditional Tele neck tones.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

^^ Yes, it does sound like you will be going a bit non-trad. If you would change your mind, some great trad style single coils can be found at zhangbucker.com. David, a member here, winds killer pups. My two Teles and a Strat are loaded with lower output pups of his, best I've used! He is receptive to custom winding also.

 

[chadd]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

I still like the Jerry Donahue, although it isn't as twangy as something like the Antiquities or the Broadcaster. I'd almost aim for a Strat-sized pickup in the neck though, or even a humbucker for more fusiony/rock stuff. I like the Quarter Pound Strat or even a Seth Lover there. Left field, I know, but it doesn't sound like you are after traditional Tele neck tones.

Minis pair exceptionally well in the neck of a tele too

 

[Will S-T]

Re: Putting together a Tele and have no idea on which pickups... help me out, buddies

Tapped QP's and throw in a middle for good measure.

I have a Warmoth build that I've yet to assemble and here are the specs,

22 fret vintage/modern Birdseye and rosewood with skunk stripe neck
2 piece ash body with flame top, tummy, elbow and heel contours
Gotoh HAPM locking vintage tuners, Babicz full contact bridge and compensated nut
Tele tapped QP, Strat tapped middle and Strat tapped RW/RW neck QP's, I,ll say why later
5 way Strat switch, two Fender S-1 tone pots and no-load volume pot from Stewmac

Here are the functions and combos I get

Bridge tone controls and switches bridge pickup on with neck/mid and neck to get all 7pickup combos
Middle tone controls middle and neck and taps all three pickups
Master volume is a no-load switched at 11, removing all resistance from the pots and sends the signal straight to output.

The reason I went with RW/RP neck is to get hum free N&M and N&B, traditional Strat and Tele positions
It will not be hum free for B&M, but this is a somewhat "rude" sound anyway and it won't hurt, if anything enhance

QP's are definitely NOT vintage, but tapped, close enough and it will be incredibly versatile and
give me the Tele and Strat sounds that I love with varying degrees of attitude