Ultimate country Tele

[alex1fly]

I'm building one out for traditional country guitar techniques. What bridge pickup should I pick for that traditional chirpy country sound? Vintage 54, Antiquity, and Five-Two are the most appealing to me from descriptions and sound samples. The guitar itself is naturally snappy and bright, amp is a standard Fender Deluxe Reverb. Anyone experienced with these pickups?

 

[beaubrummels]

Not those bridges. I use a Broadcaster bridge with an Antiquity '55 neck. Hasn't left the guitar in 20 years and have used it for everything from chicken pickin' to hard rock to funk.

 

[Mincer]

Any of those pickups will get you there, especially with a Deluxe. The Broadcaster is another good choice. It is more in the technique than the sound, anyway, so pick the EQ of the pickup that might complement your guitar the best.

 

[alex1fly]

Not those bridges. I use a Broadcaster bridge with an Antiquity '54 neck. Hasn't left the guitar in 20 years and have used it for everything from chicken pickin' to hard rock to funk.

Hmm why Broadcaster? It seems more mid heavy and bold than the others, which is what I'm trying to get away from with the Hot Stack currently in there. I know it's one of the OGs though!

 

[alex1fly]

Any of those pickups will get you there, especially with a Deluxe. The Broadcaster is another good choice. It is more in the technique than the sound, anyway, so pick the EQ of the pickup that might complement your guitar the best.

Yeah it's been fun to learn these techniques. It's a whole different world! And always an interesting exercise to match the pickup to the guitar... do you complement what it has, do you try to fill in gaps, etc.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah it's been fun to learn these techniques. It's a whole different world! And always an interesting exercise to match the pickup to the guitar... do you complement what it has, do you try to fill in gaps, etc.

Personally, if it has frequencies I like, I try to boost those. If it is overbearing (in a bad way) with particular frequencies, I try to minimize those. Hard to know what your particular Tele needs, though.

 

[Butch Snyder]

 

[alex1fly]

What a beast! Perfect tone too. This is the first broadcaster demo I’ve seen with a completely clean sound, Others have been gritty. I do like to attitude in his sound, but a lot of that is definitely his technique.

broadcaster pup seems as good as any to start with.

 

[beaubrummels]

Hmm why Broadcaster? It seems more mid heavy and bold than the others, which is what I'm trying to get away from with the Hot Stack currently in there. I know it's one of the OGs though!

Have you used it? Mine doesn't have mids like you're describing. It's snappy and sounds like a million dollar record. You only get those mids with particular amps and amp setups. The way I arrived on that one is I researched all the Duncans available and what they were based off of and who was using the originals they were based off of to figure out the sound I wanted and choose that one. Got lucky. I didn't need to try anything else afterward.

 

[alex1fly]

Have you used it? Mine doesn't have mids like you're describing. It's snappy and sounds like a million dollar record. You only get those mids with particular amps and amp setups. The way I arrived on that one is I researched all the Duncans available and what they were based off of and who was using the originals they were based off of to figure out the sound I wanted and choose that one. Got lucky. I didn't need to try anything else afterward.

I haven't used it. Just listening to comparisons on the SD site which only go so far. And EQ is of course one part of the picture out of many. I've got a Broadcaster pup on the way now and am excited to give it a shot.

Teenage me would be aghast to know that I'm learning chicken pickin and pedal steel bends lol

 

[alex1fly]

Spent some time with the Broadcaster pup. Full, jangly, harmonically rich, tons of articulation and string separation. And it sounds like country guitar tone!

Two issues: the D string is significantly quieter and less articulate/snappy than the other strings. Staggered pole pieces would be an answer but I wouldn’t want the G string any louder, so that seems like a no go. Second, the Broadcaster is so brilliant and snappy that it makes the neck Vintage Stack seem muddy and boring. Will keep playing with heights, or maybe swap in a Strat pickup to see if that’s a better balance.

 

[Mincer]

Spent some time with the Broadcaster pup. Full, jangly, harmonically rich, tons of articulation and string separation. And it sounds like country guitar tone!

Two issues: the D string is significantly quieter and less articulate/snappy than the other strings. Staggered pole pieces would be an answer but I wouldn’t want the G string any louder, so that seems like a no go. Second, the Broadcaster is so brilliant and snappy that it makes the neck Vintage Stack seem muddy and boring. Will keep playing with heights, or maybe swap in a Strat pickup to see if that’s a better balance.

Interesting. I had never heard of string balance issues with that pickup. However, it looks like the La Brea 'solves' this problem.

 

[alex1fly]

Well I'm probably going to keep it in there for a while. It sounds great. I've gotten better string balance by adjusting saddle height. It's not ideal but not a deal breaker on this guitar. Looking at either the Tele Vintage neck pickup or one of the Antiquities... any thoughts there? The Tele Vintage is recommended pairing to the Broadcaster but I've never tried an Antiquity before so I'm intrigued there.

 

[Chistopher]

Spent some time with the Broadcaster pup. Full, jangly, harmonically rich, tons of articulation and string separation. And it sounds like country guitar tone!

Two issues: the D string is significantly quieter and less articulate/snappy than the other strings. Staggered pole pieces would be an answer but I wouldn’t want the G string any louder, so that seems like a no go. Second, the Broadcaster is so brilliant and snappy that it makes the neck Vintage Stack seem muddy and boring. Will keep playing with heights, or maybe swap in a Strat pickup to see if that’s a better balance.

Have you considered swapping out the D string for a louder one? A bigger gauge for that one string could help, or perhaps just a louder brand

 

[Aceman]

I had a Ray Benson Tele for a while. Never bonded with it. But...the pickups were as follows

Neck - HB Sized PG
Middle - Hot Rails
Bridge - Vintage Broadcaster Tele

It had a 5 ways switch that was Bridge, Bridge + Middle, Middle, Middle + Neck slug, and Neck HB
There was a tap on the Hot Rails for single coil to quack with the Bridge or neck and middle.

You could cover an awful lot of ground with that guitar sonically.

Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Quack sounds, Juiced Tele with the middle helping, Rock with the middle, blues on the neck...

 

[alex1fly]

Have you considered swapping out the D string for a louder one? A bigger gauge for that one string could help, or perhaps just a louder brand

Definitely an option. I've played with saddle height too on the other strings and balanced it a bit but lost some playability. I basically have to decide if it's worth keeping and making these kinds of adjustments or continuing the pickup chase. For example I threw the Hot Stack back in there last night and the string volumes are consistent again... I wonder if its the higher output, or the bar magnet, or what that makes the difference. The neck pickup (Vintage Stack) also gives consistent string volumes, as did the stock pickups. Unfortunately the Hot Stack tone is much more mid heavy and kind of loses the pure country sound... sounds phenomenal for rock though.

I had a Ray Benson Tele for a while. Never bonded with it. But...the pickups were as follows

Neck - HB Sized PG
Middle - Hot Rails
Bridge - Vintage Broadcaster Tele

It had a 5 ways switch that was Bridge, Bridge + Middle, Middle, Middle + Neck slug, and Neck HB
There was a tap on the Hot Rails for single coil to quack with the Bridge or neck and middle.

You could cover an awful lot of ground with that guitar sonically.

Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Quack sounds, Juiced Tele with the middle helping, Rock with the middle, blues on the neck...

Sounds like an awesome combo. I've long wanted a Nashville Tele. Quack tones with the solidity of the Tele build is really appealing.
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