Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

vinnie1971

vinnie1971

New member
While I wait for my project to arrive ( tekecaster neck bolted to a Firebird body with telecaster bridge and control plate)

It will have a 5 way super switch and mini toggle to select either bridge and middle, middle or all 3 in the middle position.

Here’s what I’m looking for: if Johnny Winter went Nashville style... telecaster and fire bird sounds with fire breathed into strat positions 2 and 4

I’m thinking what pickups to go in.

The bridge definitely a telecaster ( either a Bill Lawrence or Seymour Duncan - hot Vintage is what I want )

Neck: Firebird neck pickup

But for the middle another Firebird neck pickup or a strat middle pickup? Was thinking either an Bill Lawrence L250 or something hot vintage or noiseless from Seymour Duncan

I’m thinking another Firebird pickup as this is a sound I don’t already have but I’m also thinking if it was a strat pickup - as a gigging guitar this would cover a lot of ground, but I could always bring a strat as a backup.

If anyone has done something similar ( to a Firebird, Telecaster or Telebird/Firecaster I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks
Vinnie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

i have an antiquity II firebird pup in the neck of my tele with a 7.5k #42 pe a5 tele pup in the bridge. i wound it the bridge pup the same day i did one for wattage years ago. its slightly hot vintage, still very tele like but with a little more oomph. love the fb pup in the neck.

i like the idea of a strat pup in the middle, id go ssl2 or classic stack if you want humcancelling. for the bridge pup, i love the jd. but if you have the coin, the custom shop can do wonders. never used bill lawrence pups but barden makes a great tele bridge pup, not very vintage sounding though
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

Again, Bardens are wonder pups, but they are rather different, so best to try before ubuy.

I'm a firecaster nut, and have had good results with a center FB ias well as a strat pup.

Either can guack in 4 position, but the key for me is lower output than the neck. Note that I never use the center pup by itself.

Looking forward to hearing about the outcome!

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

Another vote for the Classic Stack in the middle. I wanna see this when it is done.
 
Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

It’s been a while, the guy Eric in China has been putting it together according to my specifications.

It will come with genericArtec pickups, which may actually be fine and usable while I decide what to put in ...

I’ll be putting a super switch in to get neck and bridge on the middle position.

Here it is so far - I love the colour. It’s meant to be metallic orange, looks more copper to me.

I’m thinking of putting G and B rolling benders on it too
http://rollingbender.com/admin/index.php/our-products/


1bfcbfdcfe0d8dc9279dce626b3943e9.jpg


e77242f4c5b410e30085fa5983a57e17.jpg


eb28d8c866b33cef509db800626d3b98.jpg





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

The Telebird arrived

5b50b29d6e67e61c4c6f6ab00ee2219d.jpg


I’ve been gigging it

52d9cede748724b23e02a81aad105c4f.jpg


It turns out the Firebird pickups are actually Firebird pickups - like modern Gibson- 11k with ceramic Firebird pickup inside each bobbin

54bf687d63f0760dec4f223cc1a64c9e.jpg


In the end I put a broadcaster bridge pickup in and I had a pair of 6.4k mini humbuckers that I decided to open up and convert to Firebird pickups with alnico Firebird magnets

625bd6c7b04b97ad879e6e661c9d57a7.jpg


And put metal ferrous baseplate to get the horseshoe magnet effect

d219acfa10ab4aa40443b6d62dfd5f75.jpg


It does play great and sounds super.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

can you describe the difference between the 6k and 11k fb pups? betcha the broadcaster and two 6k are a cool setup
 
Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

jeremy said:
can you describe the difference between the 6k and 11k fb pups? betcha the broadcaster and two 6k are a cool setup
Click to expand...

Hi Jeremy

The 11k ones are hotter and more compressed. They’re also ceramic. I did not bother mag swapping them. I just went with the 6.5k and put the A5 Firebird magnets in there.

The differences are the 11k ones are more compressed with a slight clank to them which I guess is the ceramic magnets. Under gain while they’re a bit fizzy they do break up sooner. Still they sound really nice. Just not quite vintage. They also over power the broadcaster a bit and they sound mismatched with the broadcaster- they’d do well with a rail type Tele pickup.

The 6.5k ones have the bite and spank while under gain they are smoother and stay clean longer so they twang and have that bright throaty growl.

It’s a subtle difference but their overall EQ, the way they retain the spank a you crank the amp and being slower to break up means they go better with the broadcaster bridge pickup.
 
Last edited:
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

sounds like its all fixed up at this point. the low wind minis sound like they are workin well and if you can spend a little time and use stuff you already have, id much rather do that. seems like a fun ax to play!
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

jeremy said:
sounds like its all fixed up at this point. the low wind minis sound like they are workin well and if you can spend a little time and use stuff you already have, id much rather do that. seems like a fun ax to play!
Click to expand...

Exactly- I save money where I can by doing the stuff I can do. It sounds great and plays beautifully


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

I built my Telebird a couple months ago with Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan (hot telecaster with a tap for more vintage output) and a firebird in the neck. I used a 5 way to get a tapped bridge sound in pos 2 and the suprise favorite sound is in pos 4 with the firebird being in parallel

EDIT: I love that color BTW
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

NoOnesFang13 said:
I built my Telebird a couple months ago with Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan (hot telecaster with a tap for more vintage output) and a firebird in the neck. I used a 5 way to get a tapped bridge sound in pos 2 and the suprise favorite sound is in pos 4 with the firebird being in parallel

EDIT: I love that color BTW
Click to expand...

Pictures please!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Telebird Firecaster pickups recommendations

It was supposed to have a tortoise guard with an old ford Thunderbird hood logo on it but I messed up the guard so this is how it looks for now
000147df82874b88fc2ee208f88470d3.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top