Lets talk. What are some of your fab fave tele pickups?

[jjpistols]

And what didn't you like so much?

 

Why? What kind of music?

 

 

I've owned and liked:

 

Barcus Berry (a modified strat pup) probably favorite all time

Lace Red - good for heavier rock and old school punk, loved through laney aor

Bill Lawrence single rail - pretty good twang rock pickup, got crunchy, but didn't have to

Duncan Broadcaster - classic, a bit barky

 

 

I've recorded with and liked:

 

EMG T - these gave me the tone I wanted without having to think about it, recorded wonderfully

 

 

Tele pickups that interest me:

 

BG

Wilde double rails

Wilde microcoils

Joe Barden modern vintage

 

 

 

 

What's your thing? Let's talk.

[jjpistols]

I've got a GFS neovin in this guitar I'm plaing now, it was in it when I bought it. It's noiseless, which is nice, but I'm not really loving it a lot today.

 

 

Could be the playing.

[PunkKitty]

I've owned and/or played:

 

Wilde L-200: noiseless with very vintage tones. Very nice.

Wilde Microcoils: crystal clear sounding yet still warm and retains that Tele bite. Perhaps my favorite Tele pickup. These are high output but get very nice vintage tones.

Wilde Keystones: Another home run from Bill Lawrence. Very versatile. A good all around pickup.

Strings and Things: I bought a St. Blues alnico 5 set from S&T a couple of years ago. Very warm and full sounding. But you can still get good Tele bite out of them. These are my favorite sleeper pickups.

Fender Super 55 split coils: They sound great but the design is flawed. You will need to rout your guitar to install these unless your Tele is routed for a humbucker neck pickup.

[nothingstock]

My main Tele has a DiMarzio Fasttrack T in the bridge and an old (1960's) Firebird in the neck. It's a really sweet and ballsy set-up. I buuilt a Tele for my son and used two GFS Split/Vintage Humbuckers in it and it became his main stage guitar. I am currently modding an SX Tele and thinking about either the Split/Vintage pups or a set of Modern/Vintage Lil' Punchers set. Has anyone got any love for the Lil' Punchers?

[PunkKitty]

My main Tele has a DiMarzio Fasttrack T in the bridge and an old (1960's) Firebird in the neck. It's a really sweet and ballsy set-up. I buuilt a Tele for my son and used two GFS Split/Vintage Humbuckers in it and it became his main stage guitar. I am currently modding an SX Tele and thinking about either the Split/Vintage pups or a set of Modern/Vintage Lil' Punchers set. Has anyone got any love for the Lil' Punchers?

I forgot about those. I just installed a Modern Vintage Lil' Puncher set in my Xaviere Thinline. I'm impressed. Very nice sounding pickups. Not quite standard size humbucker sounding. But not quite single coil sound either. I'm still getting used to them. But so far I like them.

[Elias Graves]

I only have one. Put a Fender original vintage bridge pickup and a Duncan SM3 mini in it.

Sounds great, so I see no need to change.

Bridge sounds like a classic tele. Neck sounds like a classic mini.

 

I suck at HCing.

 

And because it looks cool, a pic.

[diceman1000]

I've only got experience with no name ceramics and my Rose Aphrodite /Bourbon combo.

 

The Aphrodite is an excellent bridge pickup, very vintage and twangy.

 

The Bourbon is an open coil neck, very clear and articulate.

 

Both pickups sound great alone and together, very nice cleans and even better dirt.

[Angry Tele]

Fender OV- pretty good, classic Tele tones

Fred Stuart Blackguard-great pickups, classic tele plus very warm and articulate, slightly microphonic

Curtis Novak-great pickups, very non-traditional (bigger magnets, unpotted, wound with 41 wire)-very twangy, microponhic

Fralins Stock-very twangy. versatile -do cleans extremly well and take OD good too (think Steve Cropper to Zep1)

Rumpelstlitskin 1950 Black Rope 12K wound with 43 wire-very midrange-p90-ish yet still sound like a Tele-I have this in my CIJ Micawbre tele

[Quarter]

I've been loving the BG A3 Rock Winds I've been using ... light on the twang with a big and rich full voice.

[Strung_Out]

Fralin blues specials have done right by me. Sound great clean and do the classic rock thing rather well also.

[jjpistols]

 

I've been loving the BG A3 Rock Winds I've been using ... light on the twang with a big and rich full voice.

 

 

 

Is noise an issue at all, Tom? Now that I'm playing mostly low volume at home, I've become a bit more of a bitch about hum and buzz than when I was rockshowing. Have you tried Bryan's rail90 yet?

[vintage clubber]

BG A3 Rockwinds

Kent Armstrong

Mighty Mite - if I am wanting to go cheap

GFS - Fatbody Neck

Squier CV 50's - A3 set that comes on the Vintage White. The BSB model comes with a different set of pickups that are A5 based

Duncan Quarter Pounds

 

I have a set of TTS Black Country Tele pickups going in the Booty Monster under construction so I haven't heard them yet.

[jjpistols]

 

BG A3 Rockwinds Kent Armstrong Mighty Mite - if I am wanting to go cheap GFS - Fatbody Neck Squier CV 50's - A3 set that comes on the Vintage White. The BSB model comes with a different set of pickups that are A5 based Duncan Quarter Pounds I have a set of TTS Black Country Tele pickups going in the Booty Monster under construction so I haven't heard them yet.

 

 

 

Chris, do the fatbody Pickups sound at all like quarter pounders?

[chqtarzan]

I'm considering Fralin split blade set and wonder if anyone has experience with them? I love the vintage hot strat set.

[hardtdc]

Muy Grande

TV Classic

[Marc G]

I'm really enjoying the stock Texas Specials I got in my American Special Tele... fat and clear, one of the better, if not the best, sounding neck pickup tones I have in any of my guitars

[axegrinder]

I don't have a lot of experience swapping standard tele pickups but I will share my experience which is pretty much limited to GFS.

 

The Hot Alnico TC (not sure they make that one anymore) was a pretty good upgrade for a bridge pup, but I would like to find something even ballsier. I'm not interested in twang, just a biting yet not icepicky with dirt.

 

The neck Fatbody is excellent; articulate yet warm... what one would want from a neck pickup.

 

One I would LOVE to hear feedback on is the ProTube bridge tele pickup. I can't say enough good things about the GFS strat lipsticks. I don't know how ballsy the tele version is or else I'd probably try it.

[vintage clubber]

 

Chris, do the fatbody Pickups sound at all like quarter pounders?

 

 

I don't believe so. I have only tried the fatbody neck pickup and it is underwound and strat voiced at around 5.7K. The Duncans are overwound relative to most tele pickups.

[Presc]

I've got.

[vintage clubber]

I've got.

 

[billybilly]

 

Fralin blues specials have done right by me. Sound great clean and do the classic rock thing rather well also.

 

 

I've had these, they can do anything and do it well. The best pickups I have ever owned in any guitar.

[jjpistols]

Anyone try any counterfeit Gibson tele pickups?

[Elias Graves]

 

Anyone try any counterfeit Gibson tele pickups?

 

 

 

Just the ones I made in the secret lab.

Don't worry; I won't ever sell them.

[hardtdc]

 

Anyone try any counterfeit Gibson tele pickups?

 

 

I'm thinking of ordering a set from China and posting a YouTube vid here just to piss people off.

[honeyiscool]

 

I've got a GFS neovin in this guitar I'm plaing now, it was in it when I bought it. It's noiseless, which is nice, but I'm not really loving it a lot today. Could be the playing.

 

Any use of Neovins has always resulted in pulling them out of the guitar. Of all the noiseless pickups I've tried, and I've tried several, Neovins just don't do it for me, where most others sound fine to me.