Robbiedbee
New member
Hey all
I just had a great success with my latest SD installation, and it was the first one I did myself, so all of a sudden I have a massive urge to do some serious pickup swapping now I don't have to leave my axes in someone else's grubby hands, and pay money for it.
I have a MIM Fender Telecaster. It's a beauty. It feels nice, sits nice and plays nice. Since I started playing through a nice tube amp though (cheers Kyuss Rock!), I found my Telecaster doesn't have the same super cleans as my two Strats do. The neck and middle positions are fine. It's just the bridge that kinda bothers me. My other to bridge pickups in my Strats (one stock single coil, nice, and one 59b, veeeery nice) are clear and have a really light, yet thick texture to them. The single coil in the Strat doesn't sound thick, but it has a thick (ie multi layered) texture to it. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure some poor guy out there understands me and my verbally retarded nature
It seems that the best way to choose a pickup is to look at what your stock pickup doesn't have. What qualities you would like. What qualities you would like to get rid of. The current bridge pickup isn't very clear. Even with brand new strings, and a nice bright EQ setting. Also, it lacks a certain warmth to it. It doesn't have awful ice-picky highs by any means, but it is a little sharp sometimes. The tone control is handy for that though. Finally, I'd like it to have a really twangy sound to it. Proper quacky. Yeah! If it were a Strat, I'd be thinking Vintage Rails, Duckbucker etc.
Looking at the descriptions, the pickups that would fit the bill would be the Alnico 2s (warm, clear) and the Jerry Donahue sigs, which are apparently nice and twangy. I am not looking for a super high output, and I will be using it mainly for cleans, perhaps light distortion. My inspiration for buying a Telecaster was Status Quo, so I'd like to achieve that kind of tone. I would mainly be playing blues on it though.
Thanks in advance, and congratulations if you read it all. Sorry for the long post.
Robbie
I just had a great success with my latest SD installation, and it was the first one I did myself, so all of a sudden I have a massive urge to do some serious pickup swapping now I don't have to leave my axes in someone else's grubby hands, and pay money for it.
I have a MIM Fender Telecaster. It's a beauty. It feels nice, sits nice and plays nice. Since I started playing through a nice tube amp though (cheers Kyuss Rock!), I found my Telecaster doesn't have the same super cleans as my two Strats do. The neck and middle positions are fine. It's just the bridge that kinda bothers me. My other to bridge pickups in my Strats (one stock single coil, nice, and one 59b, veeeery nice) are clear and have a really light, yet thick texture to them. The single coil in the Strat doesn't sound thick, but it has a thick (ie multi layered) texture to it. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure some poor guy out there understands me and my verbally retarded nature
It seems that the best way to choose a pickup is to look at what your stock pickup doesn't have. What qualities you would like. What qualities you would like to get rid of. The current bridge pickup isn't very clear. Even with brand new strings, and a nice bright EQ setting. Also, it lacks a certain warmth to it. It doesn't have awful ice-picky highs by any means, but it is a little sharp sometimes. The tone control is handy for that though. Finally, I'd like it to have a really twangy sound to it. Proper quacky. Yeah! If it were a Strat, I'd be thinking Vintage Rails, Duckbucker etc.
Looking at the descriptions, the pickups that would fit the bill would be the Alnico 2s (warm, clear) and the Jerry Donahue sigs, which are apparently nice and twangy. I am not looking for a super high output, and I will be using it mainly for cleans, perhaps light distortion. My inspiration for buying a Telecaster was Status Quo, so I'd like to achieve that kind of tone. I would mainly be playing blues on it though.
Thanks in advance, and congratulations if you read it all. Sorry for the long post.
Robbie
