I have a '98 American Made Tele Thinline with stock pickups. I like the way it sounds very much with one exception. I would really a better tone for rhythm. I'm open to suggestions. Any mods or pickups you've heard of?

Does putting a humbucker in the middle mess with the tone of the other pickups?

Thanks.

I use an old Ibanez Tele Thinline, and i changed its pickups...

What I'm using is DiMarzio Fast Track T at the bridge, it gives lots of twang and keeps it clean... it can also give you lot's of punch on distortion and overdrive sound, especially if you use an eq pedal.

At the neck, I use a DiMarzio HS-1, wich is a single coil... I had a custom pickguard made for me so this isn't a problem for me, but a standard single coil won't fint in your pickguard without adjustment or mod to your pickguard... for me it works beautifully it's the best combination, this pickup at the neck gets me a tone that's amazing. Many people like this tone when they hear it, if you want a nice warm bluesy tone form your neck pickup I suggest you give this a tought.

My thinline also has a Les Paul type of switch instead of the regular one, that's something that works best for my taste.

If you're looking for other mods to do to a tele, there's lots to be done with the electronics, especially if you consider phase switching, and adding push/pull pots... this leads to lots of tone. This of course isn't for everybody... but it can give ideas. Check into guitarnuts.com for some ideas for mods.

You an see picture of my thinline at this url if you care(a picture could answer lots of question you might have); http://www.angelfire.com/pq/glorbz/BunkerStudio.html

Scroll down to the bottom, you'll see it there.

Hope this somehow is of help to you

It depends on your style and taste, of course, but try the seymour nashville studios. Can you say twaaaaaanggg!!!! But the beautiful thing is they don't get harsh on the treble(light strings) because of the use of different magnets for top 3 and bottom 3 strings. Nice balance, and they sound great with distortion, too, with nice harmonics.

Joe - chech out the technical tips page at seymour duncan's website. They also have som suggestions for different wireings for a tele.

Thanks for the input!

I guess to sum it up...I really like the sound of my tele for lead, but think it could be much better for rhythm. Specifically, I really like the in between pickup positions on a strat and would like that smoother sound for playing rhythm.