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What pickup config should I put in my tele? 
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Post What pickup config should I put in my tele?
Ash body, maple neck/fretboard. Traditional three-saddle bridge being replaced with a modern six stainless steel saddles. I am not afraid to rout the body out if necessary.

I definitely want a single-sized-bucker Tele bridge pickup.

I am highly considering putting a Strat mid pickup in there.

And I can't decide if I want to go Tele, Strat, P90, Mini-buck or Bucker for the neck yet.

The pickups need to be medium-high output, but nothing XTREEEEEEME.

I will figure out the switching and knobbery later.

Go!

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Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:03 pm
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Winston Wolf
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Post Re: What pickup config should I put in my tele?
I personally like the rail SC sized humbuckers a ton. :idk:

For a tele, i don't like to mess with the bridge too much, because it is pretty epic as is(i will probably build an Esquire at some point because of this) but i DO hate continual 60 cycle hum with a passion, hence the railbuckers. I like something PAF-ish hot, like 6-7k, no more than 8k in the bridge(though at some point i think i will experiment with something like 14k with a coil split for ye olde shits and giggles). My current rail tele neck pickup is very very much like a strat neck pickup to my ears, just, minus the hum. I dig that for the kind of playing i have been doing these last couple years or so. I have weird tastes in pickups though. I tend to like something that i could play thrash with if i wanted, but like, i never play thrash. I like pickups that are bight and sharp, but that can get a relatively tight chug going on.

But the rail SC-sized HBs do tend to be a bit more squeal-prone than a normal fullsized HB, which is something worth noting, anyhow. They are still less squealy than a bright-ass vintage wind SC in my experience. :idk:

I feel like you might dig a fullsize HB or a P90 in the neck. I have an old-ass Gibson pickup that i had in the neck of mine for a while that was really pretty cool. It brings a fullness and depth to the guitar that is a little bit different than what a tele usually provides.

It is a good idea to pay attention to output level though. Drastic mismatches between the neck and bridge can be a real pain in a tele, with no quickeasy way to adjust the volume between them. When i had the old Gibson in there, it was just about bottomed out in the body, to try to match the volume of my lowish output railbucker bridge(which is IIRC about 6-7k). It was still a bit louder, but in an interesting way.

It would be inexpensive enough to give a shot to trying a GFS PAF-ish thing in the neck and either their low or middle output barden/hotrail/coolrail/whatever copies in the bridge. Your guitar may already be routed for a fullsized neck even. My MIM was. :idk: I would probably stick to the HB format in the neck rather than routing it out for a p90, at least until you are fully clear about what sort of setup you are going to stick with. There are also plenty of HB-sized p90s out there, even from fancypantsy places like Fralin and whatnot.

:idk:

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Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:15 pm
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Post Re: What pickup config should I put in my tele?
Yeah I am pretty set on the rails for the same reason. Like, I never really have a need for quiet pickups that can take massive amounts of gain without being noise-city; however, I always like knowing my pickups can do it.

I am really leaning towards one of the Wide Range HBs in the neck. I might get the GFS version strictly because it is standard-'buck size which would be nice for swappability. Plus, my next guitar purchase is going to be a Jazzmaster, and I love the mellow-P90ish toanes those have, so I might avoid a P90 in the Tele for the sake of redundancy.

I know the neck is routed for a Tele single right now. I wish it was routed for a 'buck, but I have access to someone who will do very high quality woodworking for me for free. He is my mom's friend's husband and he has a fucking awesome woodshop setup in his garage. He has helped me on a few projects, and all of his work is pro. I think he likes the idea of working on guitars, instead of the cabinets and tables and other furniture he usually works on/builds. It makes him feel edgy.

I am still considering the middle pickup, but the more and moar I think about it the less I think I want to have that many options in the guitar. I always liked the straight-forwardness of the Tele, and I don't want to go bastardizing that feature of the instrument.

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Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:30 pm
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Winston Wolf
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Post Re: What pickup config should I put in my tele?
I am definitely into the idea of a middle pickup. But i am so attached to not having any shit in the middle there, that for myself, i would have to figure out a good solution to it. I might even consider trying to mount it behind the pickguard, old school nashville sleeper style.

I mean, functionally, it doesn't detrimentally change too much except make it more tricky to get the standard tele middle (i.e. neck+bridge) position, which is a pretty key sound and superior IMO, to the middle strat position that replaces it in a 3-pickup tele. But it is definitely an interesting option.

I would probably try to wire the 5way so that the middle position was standard tele though, and maybe have one small toggle added to allow the middle pickup to be on, by itself, or at the same time as the others. I have no idea how that would work, but i figure if i ever get there, i can figure something out. :idk:

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Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:06 pm
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Post Re: What pickup config should I put in my tele?
My buddy once had a bastard Nashville tele. He had a standard three way switch with a mini-toggle to turn the middle pickup on-in-phase/off/on-out-of-phase.

It was pretty nifty, and if I were to do it that is how it would be done.

I also like the Nashville sleeper :idea:.

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Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:10 pm
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