which telecaster pickups?

axisus

Lestratcaster said:

I've got the BK "The Boss" set in my Tele. A lot more clarity and smoothness on top end, not as shrilly. Big fan of the BK range I have two other guitars with their humbuckers.

I have bought quite a few BK pickups over the years but it REALLY bugs me that they don't mark them. 

Teyeplayer

PonchoGreg said:

And reporting back on the Cirrostratus set from @Alegree ... Arrived today (ordered a week ago). I started by completely rewiring my Tele with cloth covered wire (because that's just fun), an orange drop and a treble bleed, and proceeded to install the set.

Beautiful craftsmanship, and I've got to say the wires pre-cut to the perfect length for a standard tele setup are a nice touch

In short, they sound absolutely beautiful. I'm always wary of ice-pickiness with lower-output single-coils but there is none of that. Just gorgeous chimey tone, with lots of harmonic content. Speaking of harmonics, hitting the 12th and 7th harmonic produces proper bell-like tones, very tasty.

It's early days and I haven't tried many vintage style telecaster pickups, but colour me impressed!

I'd definitely recommend them if classic tele tone is your thing. Very hard to beat for the price (and even beyond the price, to be honest)

My latest batch turned up this morning...never been so excited to fit a set of pickups!! 

Seriously @axisus make these your first call, particularly as @alegree has some decent deals on here at the mo that make these very affordable.

Lestratcaster

axisus said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've got the BK "The Boss" set in my Tele. A lot more clarity and smoothness on top end, not as shrilly. Big fan of the BK range I have two other guitars with their humbuckers.

I have bought quite a few BK pickups over the years but it REALLY bugs me that they don't mark them. 

"mark" them?

PonchoGreg

I had a set of BK Boss years ago - very cool, thick sounding. Always wanted to try their Brown Sugars as well 

Lestratcaster

I originally wanted to put the Brown Sugars in cos I didn't know about the Boss ones. If I had another Tele to hand I'd have put them in that!

Dominic

For all the talk I'm not a fan of the fender "twisted tele" pickups - I always find them very schrill and icy

Funkfingers

Dominic said:

For all the talk I'm not a fan of the fender "twisted tele" pickups - I always find them very schrill and icy

I don't understand the fuss over these either. Perhaps, the snake oil IS the twist?

RandallFlagg said:

Fender Custom Shop Nocaster 51s. Very nice 50s Tele sounding pickups

Agree ... in a Nocaster.

Tried the aftermarket version of the same pickups in a pre-2012 AVRI '52. Neck/rhythm pickup sounded great. Bridge/lead pickup sounded meh. (At the time, I put the sonic differences down the the different neck dimensions.) That exact same bridge/lead position pickup in a MIM Standard Telecaster sounded very nice indeed. 

The Seymour Duncan custom shop '53 Tapped Tele Lead model is very nice. Both output levels have their uses. I could not say that one is definitively better than the other. Maximum output is, possibly, more Rawk. Lower output is yer "Country twang" setting. Small wonder that this pickup suited the Fender's SD Tribute model Esquire.

Grunfeld

Anyone able to school me on those G&L MFD pickups?  How are they rated by Tele aficionados?  Are they considered heretical or kosher?
Basically, I've never liked playing single coils* but (a) the G&L ASAT special caught my eye about a month ago just on looks alone; (b) I noticed its got these unusual-looking pickups and I really like the sounds I've heard from them. 

* With the exception of the Jazzmaster

Funkfingers

The big G&L MFD single coils are physically somewhere between the dimensions of Fender and P90 pickups. That is a fair approximation of how they sound. Beefy Telecaster. Just as with a Filter'Tron-equiped USA Cabronita Telecaster, most listeners will find the sounds acceptably similar to the traditional Tele.

The potentially heretical aspect is the combination of adjustable polepieces and underslung ceramic bar magnets. For some purists, this will be beyond the pale. Roy Buchanan obsessives would lament the lack of "icepick" treble.