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Telecaster Custom HH FMT Pickup Upgrade?


venturehead

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About 6 months ago, I bought a used, Korean made Tele Custom FMT HH guitar for a song. I absolutely love this guitar for the coil-tapping, lightness and playability, but the stock Fender pickups leave much to be desired- they lack drive and sound muddy when over-driven.

 

I'd like to upgrade the pickups and am looking for advice/opinions. I see that some of the newer models of this guitar are equipped with Seymour Duncan '59's and/or Pearly Gates...

 

Is this the way to go, or are there better options?

 

BTW, I'm using this guitar to play primarily classic rock, some blues, and some 60's RnR. I also play an SG standard and a Heritage 535.

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I don't really know what the current pickups are, there is no brand ID on them that I can see right now.

 

Some of the reviews on this site say the guitar comes w/ Fender Atomic 2 and Fender Black Canyon. Whatever they are, I need to get something better.

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I recently bought a gold-top Korean made Fender Custom Tele that came with two DiMarzio humbuckers. According to DiMarzio, these pickups are custom-wound for this guitar, but are based on a Tone Zone and an Air Norton. I had originally planned to swap these out for something else, but after playing with them, I really like them, especially with all the variations that the coil tap switch provides.

 

I've also had good luck with Seymour Duncans and put a Jazz/neck and Custom Custom/bridge in my PRS Santana SE with two 3-way mini toggles for single/series/parallel switching. It sounds fantastic. Also I noticed last night that Musician's Friend has a good price on a Duncan set - Jazz/JB. Another one I've tried is the Duncan Seth Lover in the neck of my Les Paul and it gave me the clarity and note articulation I was looking for, although it's not as easy to set up for coil tapping.

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