What to do with my Telecaster?

CapoFirstFret

CapoFirstFret

New member
Alright, so I've got this honey blonde Nashville Deluxe telecaster that I bought from Gearjoneser. It's a good guitar. Got a good neck on it and a decent tone. I want to replace the pickups though. Replacing the pickups brings me several options, all of which I like a lot so I need other input. It's got a swimming pool route for the neck so anything can go there. I don't think I like the strat setup on it so I am going to ditch the middle pickup.

My options are traditional telecaster setup (chrome covered neck, standard tele bridge), humbucker neck/standard tele bridge, mini-hum neck/standard tele bridge.

I don't know which one I prefer or even which pickups I'm going to put in there! Any suggestions? I like spanky, cutting telecaster tone in the bridge position, but the neck position is definitely open to suggestion.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Esquire idea is cool. SD Custom Shop Tapped '53 Tele lead pickup will nail it.

How wide is the rout under the pickguard? Current MIM Teles will accept a P90, DeArmond or Filter'Tron.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Yes...ditch the middle Strat pickup. And ditch the vintage style covered Tele neck pickup.

But DO put a Strat pickup in the neck position. SO MUCH BETTER than the vintage style covered Tele neck pickup and also SO MUCH BETTER than an uncovered but otherwise vintage style Tele neck pickup.

For the bridge pickup, I love the Duncan Custom Shop 53 JB Hot for Tele Tapped. It's alnico 2.

But the regular alnico 5 Hot for Tele Tapped is great too.

I'd want the neck pickup to be RW/RP (relative to the bridge pickup) so that I'd have humcancelling when it's combined with bridge pickup. You can tell by placing the polepieces of the neck pickup against those of the bridge pickup - if they attract you probably have a RW/RP pickup. If they repel, you probably don't.

Your middle Strat pickup might be RW/RP. Check and see. If so, you could use it as the neck pickup.

If you follow this diagram and use a 5 way Strat switch you'll have my favorite way of wiring a Tele.

tapped_tele_5way.jpg
 
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Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Funkfingers said:
Esquire idea is cool. SD Custom Shop Tapped '53 Tele lead pickup will nail it.

How wide is the rout under the pickguard? Current MIM Teles will accept a P90, DeArmond or Filter'Tron.
Click to expand...

I haven't checked the width on it but I know it will accommodate a humbucker or mini.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

elelpe said:
Jerry Donahue bridge - Mini Vintage :friday:
Click to expand...

Not into the mini-humbuckers, but I do love the Jerry Donahue. I have a Duncan Custom Shop version of the JD in my Tele that I bring to the gig. I use a Strat neck pickup in it.
 
What to do with my Telecaster?

The Twisted Tele neck pickup (or SD equivalent) used in the four-way wiring with a Decently (but not overly) hot bridge pickup is a lot of fun.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

I paired a Fralin Blues Special with the Broadcaster bridge in my Tele, and wired it up to a 4-way switch. I get the trad Tele tones out of the bridge and middle position, with a slight Stratty edge to the neck tones with the added bonus of the fat series tones in position 4...
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

I second the recommendation of a strat neck pickup. That's how I'm running my telecaster and have been for years. You may remember I used to post here a lot - after I found that setup I've basically stopped.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

I would go with a Firebird minihum in the neck. The Antiquity rocks! Then a Jerry Donahue in the bridge.... done! If you want to go more traditional then you could go with a vintage 54N. I have both arrangements in two different Teles and they both kick arse!
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Do you want to stay with 3 pickups??

I use the 53 Tapped Tele/JB set in my Tele and for years I had them wired up like with the 5 way schematic that Lew posted but I recently shanged that and I'm liking the new set up even better!

I did the series mods to the neck pickup and wired it up with a 4 way switch then put the coil tap on a push/pull and used a no load tone pot and man is it a killer set up.

You could go with that set up and simply add another push pull or a mini toggle to add the middle pickup in with the other 2 at any time and still have a simply to operate but very versatile Tele or just ditch the middle pickup and do it like mine!

As for pickup choices I actually like Tele neck pickups and use them...I like the Vintage 54 rhythm as well as the Antiquity II for bridge pickups my favorite Duncan is the 53 tapped bridge but I also like the Vintage 54 Lead and use it in my Falbo Lap Steel, the Broadcaster is cool as is the JD and if you want a really hot pickup with options the Hot Tapped Tele Lead is cool...broadcaster on one side, blowtorch on the other!
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

I just popped out the Rocksong neck HB I had wired in parallel, and put an SSL-1 in with a Duncan Five/Two in the bridge. Might switch back to my STL-1b soon. I really like the SSL-1 as a neck pickup. I recommend it!
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

I can't wait to see my guitar undergo a transformation. That's what I had intended to do.
My idea was a glossy 1 ply black guard with a Jerry Donahue bridge and nickel Pearly Gates neck that was splittable.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Since you are already sett up for a middle PU, why not head towards the Brent Mason set up? One guitar that just about covers all sounds. The parts are not particularly expensive and you can have hours of fun soldering up all the wires and switch settings! OR - take a look at the even more complicated set ups that Ted Greene used - the Brent Mason will seem easy in comparison.
 
Re: What to do with my Telecaster?

Keep the tele bridge or use the JD and put a 59n mini or regular size or pearly gates in the neck
 
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