Tele neck recommendations

[alex1fly]

I reached out to the company but thought I'd post here too. In a nutshell I'm replacing the Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups in my Tele with true singles... for the bridge the Duncan Broadcaster was a bit too bright and weak, the Donahue however solved all those problems and I'm really happy with it. Very Tele-ish but without the icepick and with a little more roundness and softer attack. For the neck, I was going to keep the stock pickup but the Donahue was such an improvement that I have to try to get the neck right now, lol.

A2 Pro - The Donahue page recommends this for the neck. I like alnico II in this guitar, its naturally bright, but would this pickup be too dark? This happens sometimes with Tele neck pickups
Antiquity II - this looks closest to the stock Fender. 60s voicing, on the brighter side perhaps?
Antiquity I - 50s voicing which is usually darker, but I dig the idea of no wax potting. That can add extra life to the sound IME
Five/Two - dunno, just came up on the Pickup Finder
Vintage Tele - classic option, also came up on the Pickup Finder

Thoughts? I want one that's not dark-voiced, but also not too bright. Goldilocks lol

 

[Chistopher]

The 5-2 is great. I don't know about the Tele version

 

[Mincer]

'Goldilocks' is the Five Two. Right in between everything.

 

[Butch Snyder]

I have or have had all the neck pickups you mentioned. I have the Donahue in one of my Telecasters. It's probably my favorite Duncan Tele pickup. My experience with the Alnico 2 Pro Tele neck pickup is that it's too "soft" for me. It's not muddy, just not enough presence for me. Personally, I would think about installing an Alnico 2 Pro Strat pickup instead. It's warm, punchy, sweeet, and matches well with the Donahue bridge pickup. You would need a new pickguard and maybe have to route the pickup cavity though.

 

[alex1fly]

SD wrote back and suggested the Lari neck. Said its one of their brighter offerings.

 

[Butch Snyder]

The Lari neck pickup is basically a Tele neck pickup with a hole cut in the top to expose the slugs.

 

[Mincer]

Honestly, your choices open up a lot of you can fit a Strat pickup in there.

 

[solspirit]

Honestly, your choices open up a lot of you can fit a Strat pickup in there.

That has always baffled me, why is the tele neck pup so small?

 

[Mincer]

That has always baffled me, why is the tele neck pup so small?

Leo did it over 70 years ago, and it is one of those things that Can't Be Changed. Ever.

 

[alex1fly]

The Lari neck pickup is basically a Tele neck pickup with a hole cut in the top to expose the slugs.

I think that’s the middle pickup. The neck pickup has a full cover.

 

[nienturi]

For the Tele necks i would go for Fender's "Twisted Tele" pickup. It sounds much closer to the strat neck pickup which is very good.

 

[Butch Snyder]

I think that’s the middle pickup. The neck pickup has a full cover.

Yep, my mistake.

 

[alex1fly]

Went with the Lari. Might be fun to shoot it out against the Antiquity II. Will see!

 

[jeremy]

look forward to your review! i havent tried the lari pups

 

[Mincer]

I haven't had a chance to try the Lari pickups either. The demos sound good, though.

 

[Artie]

The Lari middle is also basically a Five-Two in Tele size. I bet it would be a sweet Tele neck pup.

 

[alex1fly]

Alrighty. Reporting back. I tried the Lari, A2Pro, and Antiquity I in the neck. Here's a quick rundown.

Stock Fender Vintage Noiseless - chimey, spanky, I like the bit of sponginess in the attack (alnico II mags), but its a bit muddy/unclear and string definition is poor.
Lari - brighter than stock, string definition is way better, clarity is top notch, sponginess in the attack is gone.
A2 Pro - this is the recommended neck pickup to go with the Donahue which I have in the bridge and adore. About the same as stock in the brightness, clarity is better than stock but less than the Lari, has the sponginess in the attack that I like. I could be very happy with this pickup except...
Antiquity - best of all worlds. Has the clarity of the Lari, the sponginess of the A2Pro & stock, and is just super alive and rich. This is a keeper!

I missed the exchange window for the Lari so if anyone's interested in trying it I'll sell for a good deal. Check out my Trading Post post.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Absolutely cannot go wrong with Antiquities. I think all Antiquity neck pickups have Alnico 5 magnets.

 

[alex1fly]

Absolutely cannot go wrong with Antiquities. I think all Antiquity neck pickups have Alnico 5 magnets.

I figured it would be too old-timey for me. I'm not beholden to vintage tones at all. Glad I tried it though. Makes me want to try more Antiquity pups. Hopefully I can stay satisfied with the Donahue in the bridge...