Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

woffi

New member
Hi!

I'm thinking about making me a somewhat hotter Tele, but I still want some twang. For the bridge position I'm thinking "Hot Tele Lead", or maybe "Jerry Donahue". In the neck position I'd love to have a mini-humbucker.

Which one do you think would suit the Hot Tele Lead in the bridge? Vintage, Custom or Seymourized?

Also I'm thinking about applying the same wiring as in Fenders "Classic Player Baja" model, with out-of-phase and serial option. I can't see why this would'n work with the above idea ... can you?

Wolfgang
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

I think you mean a single-sized stack or rail bucker

Mini humbuckers are an oddball pickup size for certain Gibson models and copies thereof
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

Welcome to the forum!

The Jerry Donahue and Hot Tele are both single coil pickups. I tend to like the Jerry Donahue a little more, as it still sounds like a Tele but with more power. The Hot Tele is much thicker and much higher output than a vintage tele pickup, but is still a single coil.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

Donahue Bridge, Vintage neck gets my vote. If you aren't 100% committed to mini humbuckers, the Lil' '59 is an excellent choice for a Tele neck pickup.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

I recently wired up a Brett Mason Tele for a customer that used a Duncan mini-HB'er in the neck. It was killer sounding. So much so that I ordered the control plate, pickguard, SM-3 and a Fender Tele, for myself. ;) Pics will follow when I get her all together.

I got this one:

Tele.jpg

And I'll be putting a Jerry Donahue in the bridge.
 
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Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

If your tele is routed, Minis are incredible for necks... All the way from pseudo twang to Les Paul deluxeish.




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Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

I recently wired up a Brett Mason Tele for a customer that used a Duncan mini-HB'er in the neck. It was killer sounding. So much so that I ordered the control plate, pickguard, SM-3 and a Fender Tele, for myself. ;) Pics will follow when I get her all together.

And I'll be putting a Jerry Donahue in the bridge.

So almost what I have in mind. So you used the seymourized? And that was a good match to the JD in the bridge, output-wise?
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

I think you mean a single-sized stack or rail bucker

Mini humbuckers are an oddball pickup size for certain Gibson models and copies thereof

No, I mean a mini humbucker - I know what they are. And I like the sound and the looks.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

So almost what I have in mind. So you used the seymourized? And that was a good match to the JD in the bridge, output-wise?

I haven't taken possession of the guitar yet. Hopefully, next week. But I'll let you know when I get it all together.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

Antiquity mini, best neck Tele pickup I've ever heard.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

I tried one of the Fender '52 Hot Rod Teles from around 2007 that had the Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker in the neck. Fabulous sounding and playing guitar... :sigh:
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

i have an antiquity II firebird pup in the neck of my black tele. it is everything i want in a neck pup. bright and clear but warm and thicker than a strat or tele neck pup. roll the tone back and it sounds nice a fat but without a muddy bottom. i run 250k pots and have a homemade 8k a5 bridge pup with a 4 way switch to get both pups in series. im totally happy with that setup and have been for many years.

the antiquity mini humbucker is also terrific but has more of a thin paf type voicing. the sm1 is also a really good pup
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

i have an antiquity II firebird pup in the neck of my black tele. it is everything i want in a neck pup. bright and clear but warm and thicker than a strat or tele neck pup. roll the tone back and it sounds nice a fat but without a muddy bottom. i run 250k pots and have a homemade 8k a5 bridge pup with a 4 way switch to get both pups in series. im totally happy with that setup and have been for many years.

the antiquity mini humbucker is also terrific but has more of a thin paf type voicing. the sm1 is also a really good pup

That's pretty much all of the attributes I loved when I tried that Tele
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

Just to be clear, this thread is combining minis and firebirds... 2 very different pups that happen to be the same size and work great in tele necks.

Minis are pretty much scaled down traditional humbuckers... Because they are thinner they see less of the string than a traditional humbucker, so they are brighter and less muddy than traditional humbucker.... Great in a les paul deluxe or neck of a tele when you want a relatively clean, articulate and relatively warm tone.

Firebirds have the magnet in the coil they are bright and more aggressive. Kind of like a thicker strat with a little more drive.

Both are great pups, but the firebird in tele neck is brighter and more aggressive than the mini.

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Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

correct, and i touched on that in my post too with out going into the construction differences


i know the modern gibson firebird pups are crap. should be 6k and they are like 15k. not sure about the mini's. if they are 6k7-k they are probably good. if they are hotter than that, they are probably not what you want.

I hope I didn't make a mistake by getting the SM-3. Especially since I already knew that the SM-1 sounded good.

nah, i like the sm3 also. its not traditional firebird style, its kinda cross between mini and fb. single bar magnet with blade poles.
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

Just to be clear, this thread is combining minis and firebirds... 2 very different pups that happen to be the same size and work great in tele necks.

Well, Seymour Duncan himself list's them both under "mini humbucker" - but yes, I was more thinking Firebird.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickups/guitars/other-guitars?meta_params=type=Mini%20Humbuckers&solo=1&post_t=product-pickups&taxonomy_slug=other-guitars&taxonomy=pickup-types&order_by=
 
Re: Tele Mini Humbucker recomendation?

SD site is combining them together due to pick up size. P90s are also the same size. However they are three drastically different sounds.

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