We have the strat thread, so might as well start a tele thread too. Which Tele pickups are you guys using, or would you use?

Ibanez Tele Thinline (74 or older)

Bridge

Fender T Red Lace Sensor, high output, controllable feedback are a breeze with that one! Not really for the vintage purist.

Neck

DiMarzio HS-1 stacked single coil, not noisy and a nice balance with the bridge pickup. That's my favorite 'single coil' pickup and this thing at the neck covers all my need for a bluesy single coil sound.

Confessed Pickaholic!

'52 reissue - stock pups.

I couldn't imagine replacing the bridge pup. Sounds like 100% pure Bakersfield vintage twang to me. Tele neck pups have always been a bit of a compromise for me... I've thought about going with higher output for the fat, creamy neck tones with some gain... problem with that is that it throws the balance off with the bridge for the middle position, and clean neck tones seem to suffer a bit, so I've stuck with the low output neck.

American Series B-Bender Tele -
Harmonic Design '54 Special > Mini-Strat > '54 Special.

I just recently installed these and haven't given them the full acid test yet... but they're quite an improvement over the stock pups. I played about half a set with the rock band with this guitar recently, and thought the bridge played unusually well with dirty tones, and that positions #2 & #4 yielded some of the better fake strat tones I've heard in a tele. My Americana band is about to start working again, and I'm gonna reserve judgement on the twang factor until I've made some noise with those guys.

I currently have Dimarzio Virtual Tele pickups in my Amer. Std. I like them pretty well, but very soon expect I will try a set of Bardens.

My fav. bridge pup was a Duncan Broadcaster Lead, but I use a fair amount of gain at times and it just hums too much.

I also tried a set of real Bill Lawrence pickups. Very dissapointing. Very flat and dull response.

The stacked duncan pickups aren't horrible, but not truly Tele sounding.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Glorbz:
_Ibanez Tele Thinline (74 or older)_

---

Oops just found out last night some information confirming that it's in fact a 70-72 Ibanez tele thinline

Confessed Pickaholic!

Seymour 52 tele lead HOT custom wound for me.

After extensive searching on the web, I found quite a few people that didn't care for the Bardens, but everyone seemed to really like Kinman's. Turns out, there is a Kinman dealer in my area and he had a set of 60's for a Tele. I put them in Friday and tweaked and played all weekend long and have decided I like the Kinman's better than any of the previously owned Tele pickups. The real proof will be tomorrow, at rehearsal. They aren't cheap, but considering what I have spent for pickups that will ultimately sit in a drawer for the rest of eternity, they are worth the price.

I match my P/U's to my guitars.I've had great luck with Fralins.I use Tele Blues Specials in a few of my solid body teles and a standard Fralin in my hollow body tele.I like Fralins because they sound great and are potted really well.The Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue P/U is a really good sounding p/u.I have one in a tele and it sound really nice.It's warm but still sounds great for Chickin' Pickin'.

If it ain't broke,fix it anyways.

I've used the Dimarzio VV tele's, and they're alright, but now I'm using the Fender Virtual Teles, and am quite happy with 'em. They sound like they're supposed to, without the noise. They go in my Parker NiteFly SA (I had a new pickguard made for 'em.)

I play a 72 Tele - the original Fenders went microphonic and I replaced the bridge with a SD Hot Rails and replaced the neck with a SD Jazz with a phase switch. It sounded good but not particularly like a Tele.

I then put in a set of Bill Lawrence L280's and haven't looked back. Bite in the neck without any piercing, round sound from the neck, and a very sweet tone in the middle position - and NO HUM!

Stock Fender Vintage 52ri...can't imagine any need to change.

joe bardens are definantly my style. all pickups are different. very high output and a unique tone when you roll back on the tone knob.

keep on keepin on!

I just installed a pair of Fralin Blues Specials in my Tele about a week ago. The neck pickup is absolutely incredible. Great tone, detail and clarity with a nice, strong output. Probably the best Tele neck pickup that I have ever played. The jury is still out on the bridge. It sounds incredible, particularly with overdrive, but it is a little meatier than most bridge units I've used and doesn't quite have as much of the Tele 'spank'with a clean amp tone. But it has a wonderful detail to the tone and a really nice midrange character. I'm pretty sure it is going to work for me when I get it dialed in.
This is in a Tele that I've owned for about 15 years or so. And over the years it has probably had ten different sets of pickups.