Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

STRATDELUXER97

Stratoblaster Tone Meister
My 94 American Std Tele currently has a Fender 10k Nocaster pickup in the bridge that I really like alot,but the Texas Special neck pickup and single coil neck pickups in Teles lack anyway...

I'm thinking about routing for a neck humbucker?

What do you guys like in the neck of a Tele....Do I keep the 4 way switch I'm currently using or do I go back to the stock 3 way?

Explain how a Tele's 2 pickups work when you have a single coil in the bridge and a fullsized humbucker in the neck...Ala Andy Summers..
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

I've used a 59n, PGn and now have a Jazzn in my Tele. I prefer a5 mag buckers and the Jazz sounds great! It should match up with the Nocaster alright. The 59's too bassy and wound drown out a single.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

I also like the Jazz N in my Tele. As for the how the #2 sounds in combo with the single in the bridge I couldn't tell you. I have a LIL 59 in there, but I'm truly thinking of swapping that out for a JD or something.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

John,
I have a Tele with a Duncan Firebird in the Neck and a Hotrail. I can't tell you how much I love the Firebird pickup in the neck. It is a bright HB, but mixed with the Hotrail it is beautiful for rythum work. Very Tele sounding. The Hotrail is a smokin' bridge pickup and with this combination I can do anything from country to metal (well the guitar can do metal...... I can't). I have played this thru my Deluxe Reverb, my Super Reverb, my Bogner and my Marshall with great results in all situations. This guitar was Mikes (Xssive's). I bought it from him a while back. Its the Twistedcaster. Cool guitar with Ebony flames on the fingerboard and Iron crooss markers. Pewtwer body with a black guard. The tone of these 2 pickups are a great suprise. They sound great together or seperate. I have just a 3 way in this and thats fine.
www.cloneguitars.com
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Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

hands down THE BEST grand slam home run steroid using out of the park, there is NO better tele neck pickup.....

Duncan SM-1 vintage mini humbucker.

you have to be tone deaf to think otherwise!!

there's something about it that just does it all from clean, to jazz, to blues, to rock, to all out metal lead work. when it comes time for me to build another tele there is NO doubt in my mind it will be getting an SM-1!!!

it should be noted that the guitar Dave and i are talking about (my old "Twistedcaster") with the SM-1 is wired with 500K volume and tone pots not 250K like your normal tele.

-Mike
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

John - this is an almost ideal place for a Stag Mag. Have it split as its normal mode for that Strat-single-in-a-Tele neck tone, then switch it into full 'bucker mode for that phat bluesy/jazzy tone.

And once again, you can borrow mine if you want to try it. The Stag Mag is definitely not for everyone. You may hate it. ;)
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

im all about the firebird pup in the neck of a tele
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

+1 for the SM-1. It's humbuckery-sounding, but balances well with my STL-1 VIntage 54 bridge pup. With your hotter bridge, you can probably get it to balance with a full size 'bucker, but stick to something wound more "vintage", nothing real hot.

Andy Summers is my main man, but there are a lot of people who made great music on a Tele with a neck pickup. Terry Kath, Denny Diaz, and Skunk Baxter all come to mind.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

There are a lot of guys that run buckers and Firebird pickups in the neck positions of Tele's as much as some guys like it I have never played a Tele with a neck bucker and a single coil in the bridge that balenced worth a crap. Lots of guys get great sounds with set ups like that (Albert Collins, Andy Summers, Keef, etc) but I have never played one that had a good balence between pickups...
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

John - this is an almost ideal place for a Stag Mag. Have it split as its normal mode for that Strat-single-in-a-Tele neck tone, then switch it into full 'bucker mode for that phat bluesy/jazzy tone.

And once again, you can borrow mine if you want to try it. The Stag Mag is definitely not for everyone. You may hate it. ;)

The Stag Mag sounds like a really nice pickup for the neck Artie.I need to have my guitar tech buddy do the routing and get another guard first....I wouldn't borrow a second pickup from you,until I return your SSL3(Which should be pretty soon)...

These other pickup mentions intrique me also.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

There are a lot of guys that run buckers and Firebird pickups in the neck positions of Tele's as much as some guys like it I have never played a Tele with a neck bucker and a single coil in the bridge that balenced worth a crap. Lots of guys get great sounds with set ups like that (Albert Collins, Andy Summers, Keef, etc) but I have never played one that had a good balence between pickups...

i feel the same way about fullsize buckers, its very hard to balance the pups output and tonality but i think that a firebird pup can match up great.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

John,
I have a Tele with a Duncan Firebird in the Neck and a Hotrail. I can't tell you how much I love the Firebird pickup in the neck. It is a bright HB, but mixed with the Hotrail it is beautiful for rythum work. Very Tele sounding. The Hotrail is a smokin' bridge pickup and with this combination I can do anything from country to metal (well the guitar can do metal...... I can't). I have played this thru my Deluxe Reverb, my Super Reverb, my Bogner and my Marshall with great results in all situations. This guitar was Mikes (Xssive's). I bought it from him a while back. Its the Twistedcaster. Cool guitar with Ebony flames on the fingerboard and Iron crooss markers. Pewtwer body with a black guard. The tone of these 2 pickups are a great suprise. They sound great together or seperate. I have just a 3 way in this and thats fine.
www.cloneguitars.com
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Sorry for the Necrobump, I searching for Tele neck Humbuckers... Do you still have this guitar?
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

Yes I do but about a year ago I replaced the hot rail with a custom Tele bridge. It sounds a lot better. I'm really not a metal guy so I had a love/hate relationship with the hot rail. Now for what Ivfo it sounds great. The Firebird minimum is such a versatile pickup for Teles. It sounds great
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

I wonder how the Mini would pair with either a Quarter Pound or BG1400?
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

The SM1 is still one of my all time favorite neck pickups, I think it would work well with the BG1400. Just put a BG in a fully bound esquire build and flat out loved it. I'll certainly be building myself a guitar with one in the future.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

I have a T. V. Jones Classic Plus in the neck of my Tele. The thing is freaking magical.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

I have a Gibson mini-hum in my Tele (not sure how old it is, it was pretty clean when I got it so it might be recent) Anyway I think it sounds better than the full-size bucker I tried before that, and it balances just fine with the JB-Jr in the bridge. It did overwhelm the Tele single bridge, and the QP (well, it was the GFS version so maybe that's why). IF you go for a "Firebird" type, make sure it really is a Bird pup, or at least one from a reputable company (Lollar, etc) FB pups are constructed totally different than a "standard" mini-bucker, I had a GFS (I know, I need to stop getting those) FB and it was exactly like their mini, other than the smooth cover. I read that real Gibson FB's were 2 "Melody Maker" singles wired in series inside the housing, but I could be wrong.

But yeah, I pretty much think ANYTHING sounds better than the standard Tele neck pup. I've had full HB, mini HB, STrat pup, and Esquire Teles. I just think minis sound the best, other than going full on HH setup.
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

Much of the praise lavished here on the SD SM-1n is equally applicable to the Fender Nocaster neck/Rhythm pickup. You just have to adjust it correctly. (Twang along with a Roy Buchanan CD!!!)

Another option would be to reconfigure the Tele as an Esquire. Nocaster pickup, rejig the selector switch for no Tone pot, with Tone pot, preset tone. (Not necessarily the tradtional muffled one. Plenty of other, more interesting variations exist.)
 
Re: Thinking About Routing For Neck Humbucker In My Tele

that nocaster neck pickup is teh sechs
 
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