Tele vs. Strat Bridge Position

thegummy

How would you describe the differences between the Tele bridge pickup and Strat bridge pickup?

(Real-world terms that specifically refer to something rather than buzz words like "twang" etc. )

From listening to various demos on Youtube, the main difference to me sounds like the Tele has more attack. Is this the main characteristic that makes the Tele bridge pickup so different to the Strat?

If you have both guitars, how would you describe the sound you're after when you go for the Tele?

The attack thing does make sense for country players often preferring a Tele - with it tending to be lots of notes plucked quite quickly rather than slow held notes with bends like in more bluesy styles.

meltedbuzzbox

Tele bridge - big hairy growly mofo

Strat bridge - removes enamel from teeth

And I say this as a player that much prefers strats

p90fool

Generally the Tele bridge pickup is fatter and has more mids than a Strat bridge pickup. Hotter winds and baseplates will narrow the gap significantly, though a large contributor to the difference in attack probably has more to do with the strings on a Strat being mounted on a floating bridge suspended over a body routed within a millimetre of its life. 

Compared to an average weight Tele, a Strat is practically a banjo. 

ICBM

The Tele is more midrangy and powerful, both the pickup itself and the natural tone of the guitar. The way the pickup is mounted through the bridge is also very important. The Tele pickup is also slightly more angled and further from the bridge overall than the Strat, which makes quite a big difference I think.

I did an interesting mod for @AuldReekie a while back - we put an Oil City Brassknuckle bridge pickup in his Blade RH4, which is basically two Fender-type pickups on a humbucker baseplate. The coils are identical, but splitting it to the one on the bridge side sounds like a Strat, and splitting it to the one on the neck side sounds like a Tele.

lovestrat74

Got a hardtail with a blend pot so when dialed down you get neck and bridge together giving a Tele'esce sound. The other pot is master tone, so again, dialled right back I get the growl and not the shrill associated with the Strat bridge. I am on the bridge pup more than the neck on my strat now!

pintspiller

Aside  from the pickup, I used to think the best Tele sounds came from the unique bridge. Turned out I was wrong as my fave Tele sounds came from a Standard with a modern bridge, so I concluded it was through-body stringing.

HAL9000

pintspiller said:

Aside  from the pickup, I used to think the best Tele sounds came from the unique bridge. Turned out I was wrong as my fave Tele sounds came from a Standard with a modern bridge, so I concluded it was through-body stringing.

I'm convinced that through-body makes no difference whatsoever to tone. After all, the portion of string that goes through the body doesn't vibrate. It does make a difference to how the guitar feels though due to the break angle over the bridge.

p90fool

HAL9000 said:

pintspiller said:

Aside  from the pickup, I used to think the best Tele sounds came from the unique bridge. Turned out I was wrong as my fave Tele sounds came from a Standard with a modern bridge, so I concluded it was through-body stringing.

I'm convinced that through-body makes no difference whatsoever to tone. After all, the portion of string that goes through the body doesn't vibrate. It does make a difference to how the guitar feels though due to the break angle over the bridge.

I tend to agree, Jim Campilongo gets quintessential Tele sounds out of a toploader. 

crunchman

The pickup being mounted in the metal bridge is the key thing.  3 or 6 saddle, or toploader vs through body are very minor (possibly negligible) differences in comparison.

NPP

the Tele PU I have in my Strat still sounds very much like a Tele bridge pickup, fat and mid-rangey, even though it is screwed into the wood and the guitar has the vintage trem (blocked though). I haven't A/B tested it against a proper Tele though.  

p90fool

crunchman said:

The pickup being mounted in the metal bridge is the key thing.  3 or 6 saddle, or toploader vs through body are very minor (possibly negligible) differences in comparison.

And yet the G.E. Smith Tele apparently sounds even fatter than a stock one, something which ties in with my experience of ditching a chromed steel scratchplate on a Strat many years ago. 

ICBM

crunchman said:

The pickup being mounted in the metal bridge is the key thing.  3 or 6 saddle, or toploader vs through body are very minor (possibly negligible) differences in comparison.

This is my experience/opinion too. Even a USA Standard Tele still sounds like a Tele, with its heavy brass baseplate and six steel saddles (assuming you replace the utterly crap stock pickup), but something like a Tom Anderson with a cut-off bridge and the pickup mounted straight into the body, doesn't.

AuldReekie

ICBM said:

The Tele is more midrangy and powerful, both the pickup itself and the natural tone of the guitar. The way the pickup is mounted through the bridge is also very important. The Tele pickup is also slightly more angled and further from the bridge overall than the Strat, which makes quite a big difference I think.

I did an interesting mod for @AuldReekie a while back - we put an Oil City Brassknuckle bridge pickup in his Blade RH4, which is basically two Fender-type pickups on a humbucker baseplate. The coils are identical, but splitting it to the one on the bridge side sounds like a Strat, and splitting it to the one on the neck side sounds like a Tele.

Very very happy with this mod and makes an already versatile guitar even more versatile

HAL9000

thegummy said:

How would you describe the differences between the Tele bridge pickup and Strat bridge pickup?

The Tele has more ‘punch’ than the Strat.

thegummy said:

If you have both guitars, how would you describe the sound you're after when you go for the Tele?

I’d say the Tele is more percussive, whilst the Strat has more subtlety to it. Think Wilko Johnson (Tele) vs Eric Johnson (Strat).

thegummy

HAL9000 said:

thegummy said:

How would you describe the differences between the Tele bridge pickup and Strat bridge pickup?

The Tele has more ‘punch’ than the Strat.

thegummy said:

If you have both guitars, how would you describe the sound you're after when you go for the Tele?

I’d say the Tele is more percussive, whilst the Strat has more subtlety to it. Think Wilko Johnson (Tele) vs Eric Johnson (Strat).

The percussiveness fits with my perception of there being more attack, that makes sense to me.

The word "punch" is a word I've never really been certain what it means and, in fact, I think different people sometimes mean different things by it. I've been in to audio engineering way longer than I've been in to guitar (at least properly in to it) and the term is used a lot in that world.

I think it does kind of mean attacky in a way but also specifically low frequency or low mids. Is that what you mean when you say punch?

HAL9000

thegummy said:

HAL9000 said:

thegummy said:

How would you describe the differences between the Tele bridge pickup and Strat bridge pickup?

The Tele has more ‘punch’ than the Strat.

thegummy said:

If you have both guitars, how would you describe the sound you're after when you go for the Tele?

I’d say the Tele is more percussive, whilst the Strat has more subtlety to it. Think Wilko Johnson (Tele) vs Eric Johnson (Strat).

The percussiveness fits with my perception of there being more attack, that makes sense to me.

The word "punch" is a word I've never really been certain what it means and, in fact, I think different people sometimes mean different things by it. I've been in to audio engineering way longer than I've been in to guitar (at least properly in to it) and the term is used a lot in that world.

I think it does kind of mean attacky in a way but also specifically low frequency or low mids. Is that what you mean when you say punch?

Yes, I think that’s exactly it. At the risk of using more ‘not real world’ words I’d say that the Strat bridge pickup somehow sounds ‘thin’ (which I guess is another way of saying it’s short on mids and lows).

OilCityPickups

The Tele is defined by a rapid an aggressive note attack with mid presence that people often define as twang.
The reason for this distinctive tone compared to a Strat is a combination of factors centred around the bridge pickup: Firstly it's position further forward than a strat, secondly it's ferrous metal baseplate that increases the pickups inductance, thirdly it's the bridge 'ashtray' surrounding the pickup, thirdly it's the lack of routing compared to a Strat.
 

guitarmangler

I hadn’t realised that the strat and tele bridge pickups were in different positions until now. Does anyone know if you can buy a strat pickguard with the bridge pickup in the same position as a tele? 

thegummy

Is the whole pickup further from the bridge on the Tele?

It looks like the pole piece for the high E string is about the same position on both but then the Tele pickup is more slanted so the low E pole piece is a bit further away from the bridge?

ICBM

guitarmangler said:

I hadn’t realised that the strat and tele bridge pickups were in different positions until now. Does anyone know if you can buy a strat pickguard with the bridge pickup in the same position as a tele? 

No good unless the body is also routed for a humbucker in the bridge position - the standard single coil rout doesn't allow the pickup to be moved forward.

thegummy said:

Is the whole pickup further from the bridge on the Tele?

It looks like the pole piece for the high E string is about the same position on both but then the Tele pickup is more slanted so the low E pole piece is a bit further away from the bridge?

I have seen a drawing somewhere but I can't find it now. I think that's correct - the high E polepiece is in roughly the same position, but the Tele pickup is quite a lot more slanted, so the rest of the pickup is further from the bridge.

prlgmnr

ICBM said:

I did an interesting mod for @AuldReekie a while back - we put an Oil City Brassknuckle bridge pickup in his Blade RH4, which is basically two Fender-type pickups on a humbucker baseplate. The coils are identical, but splitting it to the one on the bridge side sounds like a Strat, and splitting it to the one on the neck side sounds like a Tele.

What did both coils together sound like?