Will a Telecaster bridge pickup make a Stratocaster sound like a Tele?
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beaubrummels
Well-known member
I think the size of the tele bobbin/coil and the baseplate on the tele pickup itself will do more to get you into tele sound than the tele bridge plate does.
freefrog
Well-known member
Great article!
I think as always, there are trade-offs.. You can definitely get a strat to sound more like a telecaster or a tele to sound more like a strat and it all depends on what you want.
If it's a stage guitar, where you need to emulate strats and tellies, I'd say go for it. The guitar is just one part of the signal and there's lots of things you can do to emphasize either tone.
In the studio, or playing at home, I'd say there's nothing better than a strat type for strat parts or a Tely type for Tely parts.
You probably knew all of that but I'll leave you with one last thought... The only use I have for most strat bridges is good quack in the second position... so anything that gets a better first position and preserves the second position would makes sense to me
I think as always, there are trade-offs.. You can definitely get a strat to sound more like a telecaster or a tele to sound more like a strat and it all depends on what you want.
If it's a stage guitar, where you need to emulate strats and tellies, I'd say go for it. The guitar is just one part of the signal and there's lots of things you can do to emphasize either tone.
In the studio, or playing at home, I'd say there's nothing better than a strat type for strat parts or a Tely type for Tely parts.
You probably knew all of that but I'll leave you with one last thought... The only use I have for most strat bridges is good quack in the second position... so anything that gets a better first position and preserves the second position would makes sense to me
beaubrummels
Well-known member
FWIW the slug coil of the Custom, regardless of magnet, sounds very Strat like and almost has quack on it's own (the coil by itself sounds like Lay Down Sally or Sultans of Swing a bit). But also, a Custom Custom or Custom 5 in parallel sounds very Tele like. In my Jackson, I have a Custom Custom in the bridge and vol/tone push pulls wired like a triple shot, so full humbucker I get a Custom Custom (hot PAF A2, which is EVH/DiMartini territory), vol up I get slug coil (Strat sound), tone up screw coil (sounds like a cheap punk P-90) and both up parallel coils (tele sound).
If you're going to have to route for a Tele pickup, there might be other ways to get there, like the Duncan Twangbanger just drops in to a Strat pickup route, or a Custom, if it's already routed for a humbucker under the pickguard.
If you're going to have to route for a Tele pickup, there might be other ways to get there, like the Duncan Twangbanger just drops in to a Strat pickup route, or a Custom, if it's already routed for a humbucker under the pickguard.
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
Some of the sound is the pickup and some of it is the guitar itself including the hardware. So you'll get some of the way there but not all the way.
It's also important to note that the bridge pickup locations are different between a tele and strat so that has an effect also.
It's also important to note that the bridge pickup locations are different between a tele and strat so that has an effect also.
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Also, the Twang Banger will do it.
The tremolo in a strat makes a h u g e difference for the tone, and I think that a hardtail strat, regardless of what bridge pickup you slap in it, will bring you close(r) to tele-territory. Get a bridge pickup with a steel or brass bottom plate and you're almost there.
nienturi
Active member
Well i have that guitar;
deedffs by Baris Sahin, on Flickr
All i can say is pretty close (much better than a regular strat single bridge) but not the same.
deedffs by Baris Sahin, on FlickrAll i can say is pretty close (much better than a regular strat single bridge) but not the same.
