Opinions sought: best Tele bridge pickup?

[duhvoodooman]

While I've been very impressed by the overall quality of my inexpensive Xaviere XV820 Tele copy, I don't particularly care for the sound of the bridge pickup. It's a bit too trebly/shrill for my tastes, so I'm seriously considering an upgrade. I want to maintain the basic, characteristic Tele tone and "spank", but would like a little more warmth and fullness--probably some "blues" version of the basic Tele bridge pickup design is what I'm guessing will meet my needs best. Thought I'd throw out two questions, seeking informed opinions from some of you Tele aficionados. Two basic questions:

• What would you consider the best available Tele bridge pickup that would meet the above description, if price is no object (even though it is!)? Please restrict your answer to generally available pickup makers, not custom hand-wound specialty p'ups with a 3-month waiting list!
• What would you consider the best value in a Tele bridge pickup meeting this description, i.e. best bang for the buck?

TIA, dudes & dudettes! :AOK: :dude: :rockon:

 

[marnold]

When I did my research for my Charvel Model 7, I finally decided on a Rio Grande Muy Grande. It sounds like it'd be right up your street.

Here's some country-flavored clippage from their site http://www.riograndepickups.com/audio/5muy_t_b.mp3 or if you'd prefer some slide http://www.riograndepickups.com/audio/3muy_t_b.mp3

 

[Spudman]

Before you pull the pickup out of the guitar try using the tone knob. Seriously.

If that fails check into the GFS Lil Puncher for the bridge. I have one but I haven't installed it yet. I wanted a more midrange and growl sound from the bridge. So I'm going to put it in one guitar but the other guitar works really well with just rolling off the tone knob.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Before you pull the pickup out of the guitar try using the tone knob. Seriously.

I have. Seriously.

EDIT/MORE INFO: I think a contributor to the problem is that the body on this guitar is a very hard, dense cut of ash and really makes for a very bright tone. I'm also going to try a set of compensated brass saddles, since I'm pretty sure the stock ones are steel, despite what the GFS product description says. If they are brass, they've been chrome-plated, which seems a bit odd!

 

[Blaze]

I installed a Dimarzio Virtual Hot T bridge on my tele copy , love it

 

[markb]

I have. Seriously.

EDIT/MORE INFO: I think a contributor to the problem is that the body on this guitar is a very hard, dense cut of ash and really makes for a very bright tone. I'm also going to try a set of compensated brass saddles, since I'm pretty sure the stock ones are steel, despite what the GFS product description says. If they are brass, they've been chrome-plated, which seems a bit odd!

I doubt those saddles are brass. I had a MIM Classic 50s that was a bit shrill out of the box. A set of Stewmac compensated brass saddles fixed both the icepick tones and the slightly iffy intonation for very little money.

 

[duhvoodooman]

I doubt those saddles are brass. I had a MIM Classic 50s that was a bit shrill out of the box. A set of Stewmac compensated brass saddles fixed both the icepick tones and the slightly iffy intonation for very little money.

You & me both. But I have a set of brass compensated saddles on the way, so will see how far this goes toward removing the ice-pickiness tendency. I may try dropping the pickup height a bit, too, and see what effect that has.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Anybody have any experience with the Dimarzio Pre-B1 Tele bridge p'up?

http://accessories.musiciansfriend....302466&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=26021770

Description sounds like what I'm looking for, and the price is right at only $50.

 

[Robert]

DiMarzio Area T are fantastic bang for the pesos. Dead quiet too!

 

[markb]

I forgot to say check the pot values too but, knowing you, I'm pretty sure you've done that. The diMarzio Pre-B1 is a good sounding 50s style tele pickup. You might try eBay for a used Fender Nocaster, Broadcaster or Original Vintage pickup. They're all in that tonal ballpark too.

 

[marnold]

I installed a Dimarzio Virtual Hot T bridge on my tele copy , love it

I tried one of those two in someone else's guitar. It sounded really nice--and no hum! Of course, you'd lose the hum canceling in the middle position unless you installed a new neck pup too.

 

[t_ross33]

If that fails check into the GFS Lil Puncher for the bridge. I have one but I haven't installed it yet. I wanted a more midrange and growl sound from the bridge.

I'd endorse that - love my Lil Puncher! :rockon: Also added a Wilkinson compensated bridge w/ brass saddles to smooth out the tone. All for about $60. Can't go wrong with that :AOK:

 

[duhvoodooman]

My concern re: the Lil Puncher and other rail-type pickups is that I'll lose too much of the essential Tele character, which I don't want to sacrifice too much of. I'm not looking to make the bridge sound like a 'bucker or even a P90. I still want that Tele single coil character, but with a bit less twang and a bit more girth.

 

[t_ross33]

My concern re: the Lil Puncher and other rail-type pickups is that I'll lose too much of the essential Tele character, which I don't want to sacrifice too much of. I'm not looking to make the bridge sound like a 'bucker or even a P90. I still want that Tele single coil character, but with a bit less twang and a bit more girth.

No worries there. I have the "Modern Vintage" 10K Lil Puncher bridge p'up, and it has spank to spare. I have it tapped, but find I don't use the single coil tone much at all, even for chickin'-pickin'. I think the Tele bridge/saddle combo contributes as much or more to the "spank" than the p'up does.

It will grind when pumped through a good OD or Distortion pedal, and I imagine it will push the front end of a tube amp a bit more than a single coil, but it's still far spankier than the bridge p'ups in either of my humbucker equipped guitars.

 

[mrmudcat]

I like the scn in my candy tele:bravo:

The seymour in my koa tele(APTL-1 bridge) in my other is also sweet with that vintage tone in my opinion! I have it locked down on tele tone with those two,im sure more teles await my purchase though:thwap: :AOK:

 

[wingsdad]

Between addressing markb's points about brass bridge saddles (original Tele design: ash body, brass saddles) and pot values (should be 250K), you may not need a different bridge pickup.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Between addressing markb's points about brass bridge saddles (original Tele design: ash body, brass saddles) and pot values (should be 250K), you may not need a different bridge pickup.

You may very well be right. The guitar came with 500K pots (no idea why GFS does this with Strat & Tele style single-coil guitars!), but I changed them out for 250K's immediately, which tamed some of the high-end. I will certainly wait until I hear it with the brass saddles installed before making a pickup change decision (if & which).

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Find one of the Alnico III Tele pickups from the Squier CV Teles. That's the one you want.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I heard a local musician play through Don Mare tele pups.

Sweet, sweet, sweet.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Received the compensated brass saddles today & installed. Warmed the tone some, but not sure if it'll be enough. Need to play the guitar for a few days w/ different amps & effects to assess. Definitely moved things in the right direction, though. Photo below....

 

[markb]

One option

 

[duhvoodooman]

Thanks. That Dimarzio model is one that looks very interesting to me. I'll watch that auction closely; if it stays reasonably cheap, I'll make a late bid. They're only $50 new, so hopefully it stays down in the $30 range. Worth a try, at that price. My only concern is the one that is causing the owner to sell it--it's quite a high DC resistance pickup at 14.8K, and may cause imbalance issues with the stock XV820 neck p'up, particularly in combination. I have the guitar wired to be able to put the bridge in series with the neck, as well as the usual parallel arrangement at the middle selector switch position. Those are nice Tele tones, and I wouldn't want to screw them up.

 

[wingsdad]

...That Dimarzio model is ... quite a high DC resistance pickup at 14.8K...

Holy cow :thwap: If you want Tele bridge tones, you want something no more than 1/2 of that. My G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy's MFD bridge PUP is at 5.6K; pre-92, they were at 4.8K. Even the 'P-90-like' Soapbar MFD bridge PUP on the ASAT Semi-Hollow that's now cb's is in a range of 4.8-5.3K.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Holy cow :thwap: If you want Tele bridge tones, you want something no more than 1/2 of that. My G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy's MFD bridge PUP is at 5.6K; pre-92, they were at 4.8K. Even the 'P-90-like' Soapbar MFD bridge PUP on the ASAT Semi-Hollow that's now cb's is in a range of 4.8-5.3K.

Yeah, I hear you loud & clear. Actually, Dimarzio lists the nominal DC resistance at 14.2K, while their two other "standard" Tele bridge p'ups run 7.4 - 8.0K range.....basically a factor of 2. Their description:

There are two kinds of Tele® players: country pickers for whom twang is king (we don't make Twang King™ pickups for nothing, right?), and players of blues and rock who need less high-end snap and more low-end muscle. We're not talking imitation humbucker-sound here. The Pre B-1™ maintains a lot of the basic character of the Tele® bridge position, but the sound is bigger. It can still cut through a mix, but it will fill more space, as well. It also has about 25% more power than a stock Tele® bridge pickup. That means thicker overdrive and more sustain from your favorite tube amp.

Recommended For: Standard Tele bridge position.

Tech Talk: Telecasters may seem very basic, but the differences in maple and rosewood fingerboards, body woods and even bridge and saddle materials mean there are a lot of different-sounding axes around, and some of them are very piercing. Rolling the tone down can turn the sound to mud. The Pre B-1™ attacks the problem by fattening up the highs and boosting the mids and lows. We've left the traditional bottom plate off - the Pre B-1™ was designed to work without it.​

Interestingly, the Harmony Central reviews I read, along with some comments in the TDPRI.com forum, do not indicate a marked loss of "typical" Tele tone. The descriptions seem to be very consistent with the Dimarzio description.

Like I said, if the price is right on this used Pre-B1 auction, it would be worth checking out. If it kills the tone or screws up the neck/bridge balance to an unacceptable degree, I can always put it right back up on the 'Bay or just put it in my "bone yard".

 

[markb]

14.8K? I never noticed that. Some early Broadcaster pickups were in the 10K range but that sounds excessive. The lack of a baseplate makes me wonder too.

 

[Moshe]

Find one of the Alnico III Tele pickups from the Squier CV Teles. That's the one you want.

I've got a set if someone wants to trade me somethin good.


They were removed by melting the solder..I didn't cut the wires.

 

[wingsdad]

Yeah, I hear you loud & clear. Actually, Dimarzio lists the nominal DC resistance at 14.2K, while their two other "standard" Tele bridge p'ups run 7.4 - 8.0K range.....basically a factor of 2. ....

That's still on the hot side, dvh...but their description makes sense. My '81 THE STRAT features a 'hotter than standard' (to that point) bridge pup that Fender concocted for this first-ever 'factory hot-rodded' Strat model and branded the "X-1". I've never bothered to put a meter on mine (I wouldn't know how), but the accounts I've found on it say they varied from 6.0-8.5. I do know that while it can 'twang', it doesn't have the 'bite' or 'snap' that my old Teles had, nor that my Bluesboy's bridge pup has. It's hard to put something like this in words...I'd call its sound more like a 'bright bridge humbucker' or P-90.

 

[Duff49]

Tele bridge pup

Like Spud suggested, I installed recently a 'lil Puncer bridge pup in a friend's MIM tele. He plays heavy metal and loves the pup.

I, however, bought the Fender Custom Shop Texas Special 10.5 k bridge pup that was in there, someone put it in, for thirty five dollars and put it in my walnut stain Squire Std tele. That Texas Special sounds really nice and is Quiet. It's my favorite tele bridge pup so far.

One of those 'lil Punchers is going to naturally be a humbucker and that might give it some warmth that you want, as Spud may have implied. Plus the rails look cool and a lot of guys are putting them in their tele's.

I like the twang of the Texas Special bridge pup though. It's a nice pickup and surprisingly Quiet. Works good with the stock neck pup but I'm on the trail of a Texas Special neck pickup and think I have it rounded up.

Duffy

 

[duhvoodooman]

The brass saddles helped, but I'm still looking for a little less twang and a little more warmth. I bid on a couple of p'ups on eBay over the weekend but didn't win either. Don't want to go higher than the very low $30's. Have to be patient, never an easy thing!

 

[duhvoodooman]

Well, that didn't take long! I put in a last-second bid on a GFS Fatbody Overwound Tele bridge pickup and got it for the minimum bid price of $26! Not bad--$9 cheaper than the online price of $35, which is very reasonable to begin with! At this price, if I don't like it, I'll just put it back up on eBay and should be able to get close to what I paid for it. The description sounds like an excellent match to what I'm looking for, but you never know until you hear it in the guitar....