which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

[Bluefinger]

Hi,

I am trying to select a neck pickup for my tele. Here's the story:

It's an alder body / maple neck guitar which I am using in a band that does old school western swing and country. I plug it into small to midsize tweed amps usually. The bridge PU is some sort of antiquity (ant2 I guess) and I am pretty happy with it. I am using the bridge PU for the country stuff obviously.

Now I need a neck PU that works well with western swing. It should not bee too boomy or twangy but with a good midrange an balance well with the bridge PU. Since the guitar is beat up and since I have had great experience with this line I am leaning towards an antiquity. I want it to thin out when turned down for comping and to fatten up and push the amp a little when turned up. I guess it narrows down to the '55 and the ant2. The 55 seems to have more output but the ant2 seems to have more midrange (at least that's what the diagram suggests). I have a Jr. Barnyard analog preamp in the signal chain so output is something I can compensate I guess ... any hands on experience with either one or both?

thanks!

 

[Mincer]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Have you considered putting a humbucker in the neck? An Antiquity humbucker or Seth Lover would be excellent for that guitar.

 

[jeremy]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

id suggest an antiquity II mini humbucker for the neck rather than a tele neck pup or full size humbucker. full size buckers can be tricky to balance with bright tele bridge pups but i find they work well with hotter bridge pups. the antiquity II tele bridge pup isnt all that hot. i dont care for most traditional tele neck pups and find them dark and kinda wimpy compared to a strat pup, which is also a fine option. the antiquity II surfer would be a good choice. the mini humbucker is brighter and thinner than a full size bucker (alnico v as well which keeps things focused more than the aged a2 in the antiquity bucker) but with some of the paf type character. there is also the antiquity II firebird pup (which i use in the neck of one of my teles) which is wonderful but a bit more aggressive than the mini humbucker

 

[Bluefinger]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Thanks fr the suggestions. Atually i aleady had a tele with an antiqiity ii in the nech ut that wasnt was i was looking for. A full size humbucker is probably the last thing i would want in there. It's got to be a single coil tone of some sort and i would prefer finding something that doesn't require rerouting on this particular guitar. The tele neck pu sound is quite ok, i wozld juat like to find the best option

 

[AlexR]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Most of the volume effects you want are a function of the amp......typically pickups will lose treble as you turn down, but the amp and how you have it setup for drive will determine the amount of overdrive bite that happens during this.

For mine I like tele pickups that are either coverless or have a 'skeleton cover'. The brass really does kill highs and makes any typical tele neck sound muffled. Until my current set, only the Fender Twisted Tele really got me the neck tones I liked.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

I have the 55 neck in my Tele with a broadcaster bridge. Makes every sound a proper Tele has made since it was invented.

 

[Mincer]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Well, the Antiquity '55 will do it, and is probably cleaner and clearer than the Antiquity II.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

IMO, after Leo created the Strat he should have used a Strat pickup as the neck pickup on a Tele from then on...and discontinued the standard Tele neck pickup.

 

[Mincer]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

IMO, after Leo created the Strat he should have used a Strat pickup as the neck pickup on a Tele from then on...and discontinued the standard Tele neck pickup.

Actually, I always thought a Strat pickup or a humbucker is always a lot more useful in the neck of a Tele.

 

[AlexR]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Hence the creation of the twisted Tele pickup.....a strat pickup for a neck Tele posi.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

Actually, I always thought a Strat pickup or a humbucker is always a lot more useful in the neck of a Tele.

Yep. I have a Surfer Strat pickup as the neck pickup in my Tele Custom.

My other Tele is an Esquire...but I have an old Duncan A5 Tele STR1 neck pickup in it that's similar to the Alnico 5 Antiquity II.

The Surfer sounds much better though.

 

[Bluefinger]

Re: which Antiquity Tele neck PU?

I just learned about the Don Mare "Bog Box - Archtop" tele neck PU - a buddy of mine has one which he is willing to lend me. I will try this one ... sounds promising.