tele pup suggestions

[tskullt]

hi everyone,
working on a project tele, ash body, maple cap, need some help with pickup selections. I'm going to add a graphtech piezo bridge and want to have a lot of tonal options. anything goes as long as there is no 60 hz hum!

any combinations/suggestions would be appriciated.

mike

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: tele pup suggestions

My faves are the Duncan Antiquitys and Fralin Blues Specials. But they'll hum just like a real Tele...tho the Fralins will not hum when the two pickups are combined. I forget whether that's the case with the Antiquitys...I'm going to try them again as soon as the sets that were back ordered on my last order arrive. Don't care much for ANY of the humbucking Tele pickups I've owned...they don't hum but they don't sound like a vintage '51 - 54 Tele either! I think Brent Mason uses one of the Duncan Tele Stack models...those must be good if he uses them. Haven't tried those yet. Lew

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: tele pup suggestions

Vintage Stack by Duncan is good for the bridge, but like Lew said, the sound isn't completely there. I use a JD lead in my ash tele and shielded the crap out of it.

 

[tskullt]

Re: tele pup suggestions

thanks for the help guys,
im not as concerned with vintage tele tone as I am with noiseless operation and lots of tonal options. Thanks for the tip lew but my buddy just picked up a strat and it hummed just awful! I'd like to avoid that if I can, I put duckbuckers in my mustang and am really happy with them, so a no num pup is important!
any other suggestions out there?
m.

 

[mrid]

Re: tele pup suggestions

Bill Lawrence makes a great noiseless tele pup. Duncan-wise, I prefer their traditional single coils, like the Jerry Donahue.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: tele pup suggestions

i would go with a full size humbucker in the neck, maybe a seth, 59 or Jazz that can be coil tapped and possibly a stack or the bill lawrence bridge that mrid suggested. i think that would give you noisless and versitile tones, with the exception of the neck in tapped mode.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: tele pup suggestions

Sorry Duncan

the best Tele pickups I've used are Rio Grandes. Muy Grande bridge and tallboy neck. I can't describe how good these sound. They are true single coils though so they are susceptible to the same hum as any. To really got "noiseless" pups you have to go with stacked singles or something similar.

 

[Stevo]

Re: tele pup suggestions

I love my bg1400/hot strat stack combo in my #1 tele. No hum and lots of tone.

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another clip

 

[jeremy]

Re: tele pup suggestions

a vintage stack combo is a cool choice, its got most of the tele twang and no hum. the bg1400 is a killer pup!! bardens are always an option but they dont sound like a vintage tele

 

[Kelsey]

Re: tele pup suggestions

I have heard some decent hum-canceling Tele neck options, including the Fender Vintage Noiseless, but my favorite option is a Firebird-style minihumbucker. SD makes a few models. I put an SM-3n Seymourized mini-HB in an ash body/MN Tele, and it sounds great. It treads the line between fullsize humbucker and single coil tones.

The bridge pickup presents the biggest problem. The SD clips of the Vintage Stack Lead sound promising, and that is apparently Brent Mason's pickup of choice these days. However, I'm not a coutry picker, so I don't know whether I would be happy with it. I am interested in hearing the new Fender SCN pickups to see whether they sound any ballsier than the older VN's. Otherwise, I'll be humming away nonstop.

 

[jeremy]

Re: tele pup suggestions

i like the minihumbucker in the neck as well, a very cool tone

 

[mrid]

Re: tele pup suggestions

I love my bg1400/hot strat stack combo in my #1 tele. No hum and lots of tone.

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another clip

I love it! Which pup is selected for the clean parts? The hot stack? It's very warm and hollow with just the right amount of spank!

 

[Stevo]

Re: tele pup suggestions

Which pup is selected for the clean parts? The hot stack?

Yes that's the hot stack on the clean parts. It's got a great clean tone and can really wail in a live setup too
It's somewhere between strat and tele tone.

The 2nd tune is all bg1400.

 

[tskullt]

Re: tele pup suggestions

thanks for the advice everyone,
im liking those vintage stack samples, leaning that way...
i hate to sound dumb but what is a bg1400???
m.