Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

A

ant_riv

New member
Hi, and thanks for checking out my thread.

I am new to Telecasters, and fell in love with a USA-made G&L Bluesboy that is at my favorite music store. It has a Seth Lover HB in the neck and a G&L MFD in the bridge.

I can't afford the G&L (yet!) so I picked up a Squier Pro Tone Fat Tele. I love the Pro Tone Strats, and this Tele is also fantastic.

I have a Seth Lover HB that I am going to put in the neck position, but I'm clueless on what would be a great Tele bridge pickup to match with it.

The SL is warm and round and very clear-sounding. I want a bridge pup that has that Tele-snarl when alone, but is sweet when both pups are engaged.

I'm not even sure if that is possible, but figured I would see what your recommendations would be.

Thank you for your advice!
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

Five/two for Tele, STL-2, and the STL-3 Quarter Pound Lead for Tele are all great pickups that should balance nicely with your neck Humbucker... They are all modern or modern-ish pickups but they all still retain their Tele character quite well! The STL-2 is probably closest to the G&L Bluesboy's bridge tone...
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

I'll always recommend the APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue. Killer Tele pup. (Then again, I'm not familiar with some of those others.)
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

Assuming the Squier Pro Tone body to be Sen "Ash", I would go for the STL-1B Broadcaster.

It occurs to me that there could be a phase relationship issue between the single coil and humbucker. In this eventuality, it will be necessary to make a minor modification to the bridge position pickup's grounding path.
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

Thanks for the recommendations!

I'm going to see if there are any sound clips to check out.

Also, thanks for the heads up on the polarity Funkfingers. The current HB/SC are wired out of phase. I don't think it was intentional, as the seller didn't mention it. I like the sound, but the volume drop is too extreme to be useful, if the song calls for a neck or bridge pup.
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

My vote would also be fore the Jerry Donahue. It will balance better output-wise with the Seth, too.
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

ArtieToo said:
I'll always recommend the APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue. Killer Tele pup. (Then again, I'm not familiar with some of those others.)
Click to expand...
it really is a killer pickup paired with a paf. Try wiring everything up with 500k pots all round, .022uf cap and an extra 510k resistor for the bridge pickup to get the best out of ll three positions.
 
Re: Telecaster Bridge Position Recommendations, Please!

Returning to the OP for a moment.

When you say that you liked the stock G&L MFD pickup in the bridge position, was it;
1) approximately the size of a classic Telecaster lead unit, suspended through the bridge on three screws
2) a chunky single coil, almost the size of a P90, fastened directly into the body wood.

Either of these pickups can be purchased - either directly from the G&L online mail order shop or pre-owned via assorted Internet selling sites.
 
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