Tex Mex vs. Alnico 2 Pro/JD

[Butch Snyder]

Hey all, hope everyone is well. Just curious about opinions and thoughts here.

I have a 1994 Fender Telecaster Special. It's basically a vintage type Telecaster with a Tex Mex bridge pickup and a Fender humbucker in the neck position. 250k Vol pot and TBX pot i the tone position. 5-way switch. I have gutted it. The neck pickup was meh, at best. The Tex Mex bridge pickup wasn't as good as my newer Tex Mex bridge pickup. I have always liked the Tex Mexes. The body is alder and neck is maple with maple fretboard. All in all, a very decent Telecaster. I did change out the 6-saddle ashtray bridge. That's got to be the worse-designed bridge assembly Fender makes. Don't know why they keep making it. I installed a Wilkinson brass saddle ashtray bridge assembly with compensated saddles.

I installed a 3-way switch with 250k vol/tone pots and 0.047uF Orange Drop cap. I'm sitting here looking at two sets of pickups and am trying to decide which to install.

1. Fender Tex Mex Tele pickup set
2. Seymour Duncan APTL-3JD/APTR-1 set

Thoughts?

 

[jeremy]

id go for option 2. hard to go wrong with a jd and aph. though if it was me, id go jd bridge and sm1 neck (or antiquity II firebird neck pup) rather than a fullsize bucker

 

[Artie]

though if it was me, id go jd bridge and sm1 neck (or antiquity II firebird neck pup) rather than a fullsize bucker

I 2nd that motion. Killer combo.

 

[Mincer]

I'd have any combo that would include the JD over any other. I might have a different neck pickup, but the JD is my favorite Tele pickup.

 

[Butch Snyder]

You guys read it wrong. I'm going with a standard Tele neck pickup. No humbucker. Yeah, I know Jeremy doesn't like Tele neck pickups. I happen to really like them. So, that's where the APTR-1 comes from.

 

[Butch Snyder]

So, last night, I ran the Tele through its paces, best I am able to anyway. Right now, it has the Tex Mexes in it. IMO, they sound great. Think I'll make a video of the Tex Mexes and the Duncans and post them.

 

[jeremy]

gotcha, i assumed aph since you said it had a fender bucker in the neck

 

[ToneFiddler]

i have a stock fender neck which i strongly believe is a tex mex Tele neck pickup (same look and specs).
this is a great tele neck and my favorite at the moment! it's quite bright.
on this forum a lot of guys hating on the weak and muffled tele neck sound which is mainly to the vintage correct brass covers.
this pickup is rather steely than muffled. i bet it has a nickel silver cover.

i never bothered with the APTR-1 because i don't want a tele neck pickup darker than the STR-1 and from the soundclips the a2p tele neck is really muffled.

the jerry donahue is great! first vintage output tele bridge i discovered, which just sounds right with the tone full up (unlike the STL-1B Broadcaster, stock fender ones, STL-1 '54, five two).
also the mids are more pleasing to my ears than the other vintage output tele bridges i've tried (stock fender ones, STL-1 '54, five two).
i have it paired with the STR-1 at the moment. the tex mex neck would be too bright for it, although i prefer the tex mex to the STR-1 and the JD to the fender stock tele bridge i have in a drawer. thank god i have more then one tele.