Recommend a neck HB + Tele bridge combo

[alexh9]

Hey everyone, so I thought I should reach out here and ask for some opinions on some pickups. I have a standard tele that I want to upgrade with a humbucker in the neck and a single coil in the bridge.

For the neck, I'm leaning towards the SD Jazz, since I want a lower output clean sounding humbucker, the bridge I'm having trouble finding something that I like that also matches the output of the neck. I've tried the Broadcaster (too thin), Little 59 (didn't care for it's tone), and Hot Rails (too hot). I also tried a SD Jerry Donahue in my friend's guitar, and really liked it, but I'm thinking it probably doesn't have the output to match the neck humbucker.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to keep both pickups by the same brand, but I'm open to suggestions to other brands as well, as long as it's reasonably affordable (no expensive boutique brands).

 

[silvertonebetty]

Recommend a neck HB + Tele bridge combo

54 tele lead you will need to raid the bridge pickup a little to Match the out put but I like it . I’m using a Seth lover in the neck


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend a neck HB + Tele bridge combo

I'd put a Saturday night special neck in the neck and a Quarter Pounder in the bridge.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[B2D]

Re: Recommend a neck HB + Tele bridge combo

Hey everyone, so I thought I should reach out here and ask for some opinions on some pickups. I have a standard tele that I want to upgrade with a humbucker in the neck and a single coil in the bridge.

For the neck, I'm leaning towards the SD Jazz, since I want a lower output clean sounding humbucker, the bridge I'm having trouble finding something that I like that also matches the output of the neck. I've tried the Broadcaster (too thin), Little 59 (didn't care for it's tone), and Hot Rails (too hot). I also tried a SD Jerry Donahue in my friend's guitar, and really liked it, but I'm thinking it probably doesn't have the output to match the neck humbucker.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to keep both pickups by the same brand, but I'm open to suggestions to other brands as well, as long as it's reasonably affordable (no expensive boutique brands).

Are you looking for a TRUE single coil in the bridge? The Lil' 59 for Tele and Tele Hot Rails are, of course, humbuckers.

FWIW I am running a Pearly Gates neck pickup and a SD Custom Shop PG for Tele in the bridge and I am immensely satisfied with them. They're just right to be very toneful and balanced yet not too hot or quiet. Putting a series/parallel switch in the guitar gives me 6 sounds, all very useable.

I found the Lil' 59 to not have quite enough punch, the Hot Rails was TOO hot and middy and didn't let the natural tone of the guitar really come through. After a lot of research I found the SD Custom Shop Pearly Gates for Tele to be perfect.

The Pearly Gates in the neck is awesome as well. I always thought of the Jazz as too bright sounding. I love this pickup.

If you're looking for other options, a while back I played an ash-bodied Tele with a Fralin Unbucker in the neck and a Fender Esquire pickup with the baseplate on it in the bridge - sounded great! Lots of vintage chime and brightness with just enough guts to hang with louder guitars.

I also like the Quarter Pounder for Tele as a bridge pickup (I happen to be selling one, too ) and I like the 5-2 Tele bridge pickup as well. Both are great choices for pairing with humbuckers.