Re: Telecaster HH config????
I tried tons of Different things in My HH tele, and Eventually settled on a 59 set. yeah, its not to exciteing or original. But It sounded perfect, to me at least. So ya might wanna try that, real basic, and then work from there. If ya buy a set of 59's and end up Not diggin em, Duncan has the 21 day exchange policy, so you can always swap em out for sumthing different.
Don't route your bridge out for a bucker though, Unless you HAVE TO. After you route it out, your stuck with it, You can't go back. The Normal (single coil) tele bridge plate Won't cover the route for a bucker, So if you do wanna go back to singles, you'll have a Big nasty looking Opening on either side of your bridge, and thats not fun to look at.
So heres a better idea. Get yourself a Lil' 59 for tele. Thats what I have in my Current American Tele, And as odd as it may seem, It actually DOES sound Exactly like a normal full sized 59. I mean, thats the point. But Honestly before I got one, I didn't really think it would, I figured close but not quite. But nope, it really does sound basically Identical. An this way you can avoid routeing your tele, and never bein able to go back to singles.
If ya don't dig the lil' 59' Then obviously your Other choice is The Hotrails for tele (which is what I have in My MIM tele). Theres not really any other duncan pickup that Sounds Much like the Hotrails, So I really don't even know what to compare it too. Obviously Its pretty high output ,but if ya set it really low it'll make it alot less powerful, and also brighten it up a bunch. I mean assumeing you Don't want Really high output.
Contrary to what alotta people say, The hotrails for tele actually Does sound Pretty good clean (if ya set it low like I do, set it high and Yeah it sounds horrible) and it sounds great distorted too. The tone chart shows it as haveing a massive mid spike, But I really don't hear that myself, It seems fairly well balanced, if anything a little on the Dark side if set to close to the strings. Keep it Far from the strings and it brightens up, and sounds Somewhat like a Duncan Distortion, but a bit brighter without being Ice picky. Put it too close to the strings and It'll start to lose deffinition and get farty (sorta like an invader).
Both are great pickups, and if ya mess with the height you can get alotta different sounds outta each, its just a matter of takeing the time to find the right height for you.
And obviously theres other companys that Make telesized Buckers, But I have no experience with anyone else's offerings, So I can't comment on those. But really, I'de suggest trying to avoid routeing for a (bridge) bucker except as a last resort, being as you really Can't go back.
