to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

[deftgala]

Give me your two sense on either of the Antiquity Tele Set, or the Tapped Hot Tele set.

Lew has thrown his two sense on many Tele PuP sets for me, and I've narrowed it down to those two! If I can swing it, I'll order the PuPs from him!!!

So has anyone used either of the two Tele PuPs: Antiquity or Hot Tele Tapped?

:burnout:

 

[Curly]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

Antiquities are great if you want that vintage tone; the Hot tapped, especially with 5 way switching will give you a little versatility and more output

 

[Kelsey]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

I really like the STL-2 Hot Tele lead and the Antiquity I flatpole Tele lead. For me, the choice comes down to what neck pickup I want to use -- if it's vintage output, then I'd go with the Ant., but if it's higher output then I'd choose the STL-2. I like the Ant. I Tele neck pickup a lot, but I haven't used the STR-2. The Antiquity set is RWRP for hum-reduction when combined, but you'd have to special order the Hot Tele set that way (at no charge from what I've been told). The Ant I is brighter than the STL-2, and the mids are different but very present in both. The lows are similar as well (different from a vintage alnico 5 -- not as springy, but rounder and more solid feeling).

I guess my rambling isn't much help, but in the end I'd probably go with the Ant I set and save the STL-2 for an HS Tele.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

Those are my two favorite Duncan sets and I like them both. If I had to pick one over the other I'd probably go for the Ant I set. It's just a beautiful sounding, extremely musical, always satisfying set. I use it in my Fender Custom Shop '53 RI Tele.

The nice thing about the Tapped Tele Hot bridge pickup is that you can get hot output for soloing and then switch to the vintage output for combining with the neck pickup to get that classic N & B chime for rythym.

Lew

 

[Kelsey]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

BTW, if money is tight, I doubt that you'll be disappointed if you need to cut your costs and go with the Hot Tele set.

 

[deftgala]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

For real, Kelsey... money is a bit tight and that is the main reason for trying to decide between the two... it makes sense when you mention that the Antiquity set is warm, yet chimy... It seems the Antiquity I set is as close to vintage tele tone as there is...

Lew and Curly make a great point in mentioning that for soloing, it's just a simple switch to the hot tele bridge position and back to the tapped for vintage output. hmmm... money wise I'd say that the Hot Tele set is 'bang for your buck'... but I wanna think about tone first, and it sounds like the Antiquity might be the right choice.

Money wise - I am leaning towards the Hot Tele Tapped
Tone Wise - I am leaning towards the Antiquity set

Man, I wish I won the lottery this weekend, I'd buy both!

It sounds like Antiquity set is the only way to acquire vintage tone. Can the Hot Tapped still attain that vintage Tele Tone?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

There's a lot of reading here but I'm pretty proud of this old thread. I learned alot from other forum members during this quest.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=4044

And after all was said it done, it still came down to the Antiquity I Tele set and the Tapped Tele Hot set! :smack:

Although the Tapped Tele Hot set I use was custom wound in the Duncan Custom Shop by MJ.

It's an alnico 2 Tapped Tele Hot bridge and alnico 5 "Tele ala Strat" neck pickup.

I still love the Jerry Donahue but I don't have enough Teles to be able to use every one of my favorite Tele pickups! :smack:

I have three Teles and what I'm currently using is:

Antiquity I Tele set
CS Tapped Tele Hot & Tele ala Strat neck
Fralin Blues Special lead and Fralin Tele Stock neck.

My advice? Go for the Antiquitys.

They're not cheap...but they're not really that expensive and you only have to buy them once!

They're about $174. a set.

 

[deftgala]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

There's a lot of reading here but I'm pretty proud of this old thread. I learned alot from other forum members during this quest.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=4044

My advice? Go for the Antiquitys.

They're not cheap...but they're not really that expensive and you only have to buy them once!

They're about $174. a set.

Thanks Lew. I've recognized the thread before but to be honest, paid much more att'n to it this time around. That thread is truly a great reference piont re: tele tone. I think that the 'Antiquity I' set might just be the way to go.

In the thread, I noticed some comments about a minimum Tele bridge PuP output should be 6.5k in order to push an amp the way it should be pushed. The Antiquity I bridge PuP is listed on the SD Website at 6.4k

Is this .1k much of a difference for me to fuse about?

Also, do you recommend 500k pots with the Antiquity I's? what name brand pots do you recommend?

Thanks again for taking the time, it really does help in deciding which PuPs to settle with!

Angelo. :beerchug:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

Thanks Lew. I've recognized the thread before but to be honest, paid much more att'n to it this time around. That thread is truly a great reference piont re: tele tone. I think that the 'Antiquity I' set might just be the way to go.

In the thread, I noticed some comments about a minimum Tele bridge PuP output should be 6.5k in order to push an amp the way it should be pushed. The Antiquity I bridge PuP is listed on the SD Website at 6.4k

Is this .1k much of a difference for me to fuse about?

Also, do you recommend 500k pots with the Antiquity I's? what name brand pots do you recommend?

Thanks again for taking the time, it really does help in deciding which PuPs to settle with!

Angelo. :beerchug:

I just checked four Antiquity I bridge pickups and the lowest was 6.78K. The highest was 6.9K. That's not output of course...that's DC resistance. But still, that's an indication of how much wire is wrapped around the coils and those will all have plenty of output and I'm sure a great tone.

The bridge pickup that came in my '54 Tele has a fairly low DC resistance: about 6.1K if I remember correctly. It's a flat poled Broadcaster style pickup made early enough in '54 that it's not the raised and staggered pole version that came later in '54. It got a great tone when combined with the neck pickup for rythym, but it's output for soloing was lower than I wanted and wouldn't push my amp hard enough.

My Custom Shop Tapped Tele Hot bridge pickup was wound for me by MJ so I could have a 6.6K tap for combining with the neck pickup for the rythym tone I like, and almost 10K for soloing. Works great.

But the Antiquity I's at 6.78K to 6.9K are plenty hot enough to get a great lead tone. I don't have any that are as low as 6.4K...maybe there are some but I don't have any like that.

I use 250K CTS pots in all of my single coil guitars.

One of the things I like about that thread is that some of the info at the beginning of thread I later realized I had quite a bit more to learn about by the end of the thread. :smack: It was kind of humbling in a good way.

 

[deftgala]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

I use 250K CTS pots in all of my single coil guitars.

One of the things I like about that thread is that some of the info at the beginning of thread I later realized I had quite a bit more to learn about by the end of the thread. :smack: It was kind of humbling in a good way.

Yeah, I noticed throughout the thread that yourself and a few others really learned alot with trial and error type experience. I am going to contact you re: the Antiquity I's in a PM. I just need some time to scrap the money together. Thanks again, you've been extremely helpful in helping me make a final decision and I am stoked about upgrading my Tele.

I still have the stock 250k pots, so maybe I should use those, what do you think? If not, than maybe I'll purchase those through you, that is if you sell CTS pots. :dance:

 

[Kelsey]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

The 250K pots are the way to go, unless you have 500K pots on hand and want to patch a resistor in parallel to knock 'em down. The Ants are plenty bright, but the respond extremely well when you roll back the tone knob. One of my Ant leads reads about 6.8K and the other is 6.95K, despite the specs on the SD web site (6.4K). ALthough the Ant I lead is not quite as hot as the JD or the STL-2, it still pushes enough to get the job done in spades. A good clean boost pedal will easily take 'em over the top with a good tube amp.
Both of these pickup sets sound really nice to my ears, but they feel different to play. The Ant I feels more malleable, while the STL-2 feels punchier. Neither one is shrill, so you don't have to worry about ice picks in your ears. If you want to use a traditional Tele neck pickup, or a neck mini-HB like the SM-series, or a Strat neck pup, then I'd go with the Ant I if you can swing it. If you want a P90 or HB at the neck, then go with the STL-2 and pocket the change. :burnout:

 

[deftgala]

Re: to ask or not to ask: Antiquity set or Hot Tele tapped?

The 250K pots are the way to go, unless you have 500K pots on hand and want to patch a resistor in parallel to knock 'em down. A good clean boost pedal will easily take 'em over the top with a good tube amp.
QUOTE]

yeah, thanks kelsey. I think that I might place the CTS 250k pots that were originally in there again with the Antiquity set. I use an MXR compression pedal that could boost the response for solos and whatnot. This set just sounds great from listening and reading to the reviews of them. What I dont want to do is make the same mistake as I did with purchasing the APH set for my Les Paul simply because I am a Slash fan. I realize that I should have gotten the Jazz/JB set from the beginning. Oh well, that is the fun of trying som many different PuPs, I guess.

The Antiquity's really sound like they are a satisfying Vintage Tele set! ANd they sound well worth the money.

hey Lew, I might just use the buy it now option from your Ebay auction for the Antiquity Set, I have my eye on the "Date ending."