Tele pickup suggestions please

[mort]

'98 American Standard Tele, all stock and strung with 10's.

I love the sound of thicker guage strings but I'm partial to the feel of 10's.

I'd also like to get a little more high end articulation out of the neck pup.

Nothing major, I like the overall sound/output of the stock pickups, but I'm looking for just a minor to moderate improvement.

Any good recommendations for pickups?

I also had someone suggest for me to install a 3 saddle bridge and ditch the 6 saddle stock bridge. Any comments on that suggestions are more than welcomed.

Also, topload over string through? Does that bear any relevance to what I'm looking for in tonal improvement?

Thanks in advance

[jrfrond]

Top-loading on a Tele will reduce some bright and twangy of the Tele characteristics, because of a less acute string breakover angle, as well as less saddle contact. So if it is high-end articulation you are seeking, this isn't a good option. I WOULD replace the existing sintered-steel saddles with KTS Titanium saddles though. Those alone might open up the high-end enough for you, and they are cheaper than a set of good pickups.

Everyone's taste is different, but after much head-scratching, soul-searching and experimentation, I have found that Barden pickups are the best for the Tele sound you describe, and that there are no substitutes, no matter what anyone or ad hyperbole might tell you. They are articulate, dynamic and open-sounding. As a bonus, they are hum-cancelling. They are a bit pricey, at around $300-$350/set, but worth EVERY single penny.

[David Schwab]

I'd also like to get a little more high end articulation out of the neck pup.

Get a better neck pickup. Tele neck pickups tend to sound dull. I've heard some good ones though.

I also had someone suggest for me to install a 3 saddle bridge and ditch the 6 saddle stock bridge. Any comments on that suggestions are more than welcomed.

That's fine if you don't like playing in tune.

I recently put this together for someone. He used a Lace Chrome Dome Strat pickup at the neck. I was pleasantly surprised how nice that pickup sounded.

[jrfrond]

Actually, compensate 3-barrel Tele saddles are now widely-available. I use them on my Tele and the intonation is perfect. The new KTS-Ti saddles I installed are compensated as well.

David is right about Tele neck pickups sounding dull, and that is done by design. The aforementioned Barden neck pickup is wonderful. What is also VERY cool but harder to track down is a G & L ASAT neck pickup. Their pickups have amazing tone. Or, you can do the Nashville mod and enlarge the pickguard hole to accomodate one of the many available Strat pickups.

FWIW- I've heard good things about the GFS Alnico Fatbody Tele Neck Pickup, and it's only $33. Might be worth a shot.

[mort]

Thanks for the replies.

I've discovered that I'd have to spend a good bit to get a 3 saddle bridge that uses 3 mounting screws(most use 4). Glad I noticed that before ordering anything. I'm gonna leave the bridge alone.

-noted- about the toploading.

I ended up finding a Fender custom shop neck pup of unknown model for $25, cheap enough to experiment with. A guy also stuck a pair of brand new Bill Lawrence black label (T1 & T2) pickups on ebay for $65, also cheap enough to experiment around with.

The stock neck pup I have sounds pretty good as it is. I wouldn't define it as dull, but I've heard better.

Speaking of the G&L pup, there was a guy on a cruise ship I went on a while back that played a G&L Tele into a Blues Deville 4x10. That was a seriously nice sounding set-up. I was quite impressed. Who makes their pickups anyway?

[David Schwab]

Actually, compensate 3-barrel Tele saddles are now widely-available. I use them on my Tele and the intonation is perfect. The new KTS-Ti saddles I installed are compensated as well.

That hasn't been my experience with them. I can get it close, but not perfect. It was off enough for the fussy owner to complain. I use a strobe tuner, and they wouldn't intonate perfectly.

I see no point in the 3 barrel bridges. I don't like the six barrels either. In that guitar above, the owner had a six barrel stamped steel bridge. The saddles were either buzzy or dead sounding, and some of the strings would hit the ends of the intonation adjustment screws. I replaced it with a modern Gotoh Tele bridge with the Strat style saddles, and the guitar sounds much better, and still sounds like a Tele.

David is right about Tele neck pickups sounding dull, and that is done by design.

I don't know that it's by design. Back then they thought everything needed the metal shields. So the Tele neck pickup has the cover, and the bridge had both the baseplate, the bridge plate, and the ashtray cover. A bit of overkill, no? If they wanted a dark sound they had that crazy .1µF tone cap.

The Tele neck pickup should be bright. It's a smaller coil and wound with thinner wire. The cover kills the highs. A simple way to get some of those highs back is to cut a slit in the side of the cover so that it does not form a closed loop. Or use a thinner nickel silver cover. The best solution is to get rid of the cover! The do look cool though.

The DiMarzio True Velvet and Twang King are nice sounding single coil Tele neck pickups. The Lace Chrome Dome Strat neck pickup in the Tele above sounded really nice. Best sounding Lace pickup I have heard to date. But of course I had to modify the pickguard and body for it to fit.

Or, you can do the Nashville mod and enlarge the pickguard hole to accomodate one of the many available Strat pickups.

That's what I did on my "Tele." I built this in '94 before I had seen any Nashville Tels, but I had a pair of Lawrence L-250s and wanted to use them!

Currently the neck pickup is a prototype dual rail pickup with neo magnets.

[David Schwab]

I've discovered that I'd have to spend a good bit to get a 3 saddle bridge that uses 3 mounting screws(most use 4).

It's not that hard to drill new holes.

Here's a new Tee bridge that looks interesting:

3 Hole Stainless Tele Bridge > Store > Hipshot Products

The photos show 4 holes, but you can get it with three. You can even get three saddles. The bridge is made from stainless steel.

[mort]

FWIW- I've heard good things about the GFS Alnico Fatbody Tele Neck Pickup, and it's only $33. Might be worth a shot.

I'll take a look at that one. I'm kinda in the mood to just order several pickups and do some swap testing and get some 1st hand experience with whatever I can, within reason concerning price.

It's not that hard to drill new holes.

Here's a new Tee bridge that looks interesting:

3 Hole Stainless Tele Bridge > Store > Hipshot Products

The photos show 4 holes, but you can get it with three. You can even get three saddles. The bridge is made from stainless steel.

Hmmm... that looks a little better price-wise than what I was looking at. I had seen a couple of options that were $130+ just for the plate.

I didn't do the exact measurement comparisons, but I think that the stock 3 screw bridge plate is a little longer than the stock 4 hole bridge plate. I would still need to verify that of course before doing anything on it. I wouldn't mind making new holes though I suppose, but that Hipshot looks like a pretty solid part. Definitely food for thought, thanks.

[David Schwab]

Hmmm... that looks a little better price-wise than what I was looking at. I had seen a couple of options that were $130+ just for the plate.

I didn't do the exact measurement comparisons, but I think that the stock 3 screw bridge plate is a little longer than the stock 4 hole bridge plate. I would still need to verify that of course before doing anything on it. I wouldn't mind making new holes though I suppose, but that Hipshot looks like a pretty solid part. Definitely food for thought, thanks.

I just swapped a 4 hole bridge for the 3 hole on that guitar above. Since the 4 hole was a "modern" style bridge, it was longer from front to back, but the string holes and pickup hole match up perfectly. The bridge just stick back a little farther to accommodate the longer saddles. It also gives you more intonation adjustment, which I needed on that guitar.

[jrfrond]

I've thought about trying that one. I pretty much swear by Hipshot products, and because you are heavily into basses David, my guess is that you are too. Every single product I've used from them is flawless. Best bass machines and bridges made, in my opinion.

It's not that hard to drill new holes.

Here's a new Tee bridge that looks interesting:

3 Hole Stainless Tele Bridge > Store > Hipshot Products

The photos show 4 holes, but you can get it with three. You can even get three saddles. The bridge is made from stainless steel.

[David Schwab]

I've thought about trying that one. I pretty much swear by Hipshot products, and because you are heavily into basses David, my guess is that you are too. Every single product I've used from them is flawless. Best bass machines and bridges made, in my opinion.

I've been wanting to try it also...

And this should answer your question:





The aluminum bridges sound amazing.

[jrfrond]

Beautiful work AND hardware Dave!

A Hipshot bridge can make the difference between good and great tone. It's amazing to hear what they can do even on mid-grade basses. I upgraded a Squier VM Jazz Bass with a Hipshot bridge and tuners, plus DiMarzio Model J's (and a bone nut), and after that and a good setup it was, dare I say,very "professional" sounding and feeling. Wasn't BAD at first, but it was transformed.