52 Tele neck sounds lame – what to do? P90?

humbucko

I have a 52 RI Tele and it sounds and plays great, but the neck position sounds a little lame.

I've heard it's quite common to switch the neck pickup out for something else. Would anyone recommend this? Any suggestions – P90? Mini humbucker?

Any advice appreciated.

Teyeplayer

I’d recommend you try an @Alegree ;cirrostratus, preferably uncovered. It makes a huge difference without removing yourself entirely from tele territory.

ICBM

The first thing to try is to cut the link wire to the cover on the bottom of the pickup. (Just cut it in one place, and bend the cut ends slightly out of the way of each other - this makes it easiest to reconnect if if you want to.) Removing the capacitance of the cover will make the pickup a little brighter and more aggressive - only a bit, but it's worth a try before you do anything more drastic. It will also increase noise a little, but to no worse than a Strat pickup, which are not shielded anyway.

DarnWeight

I've rewired my main Tele (a mid-90s MIJ 50s reissue) so the tone control is only active in the middle and bridge position.  You get to keep the stock neck+bridge sound, but the neck only sound when bypassing the tone control is a little brighter, less woolly.  Works for me.

I've got three other Teles (modded and partscasters) with a selection of neck pickups - a mini humbucker, a Filtertron and a Danelectro lipstick.  They all offer something a bit different (the mini humbucker one gets closest to the classic Tele sound), but they're all gonna need some kind of routing.  Depends how much work you want to make for yourself.  

SamCarnival

I've got a 58 reissue tele and couldn't get along with the neck pup either.. I ended up playing around with the pickup height before making any drastic changes and it's sounding great now. The bridge pups on those 50s reissue teles are so brighter and punchy that it kills the neck position. Changing pup heights made the inbetween position a lot more usable too. I'd definitely recommend changing heights before routing anything out. But if you do, a Charlie Christian in the neck is also a winner! 

skullfunkerry

If you don't want to do any routing I had an Irongear Steel Twin in the neck of my Modern Player Tele and it sounded great. Oddly enough, I preferred the sound of it without the overwinding boost engaged, but it sounded excellent either way

Whitecat

You could try a Twisted Tele neck pickup first to also avoid the reroute. They are more Strat-like and generally superior in my view to almost any other standard Tele lipstick-style neck pickup. 

lovestrat74

This ^^ I have a twisted tele in mine and I love it

OilCityPickups

My favorite Tele neck pickup alternatives are a P90, a Filtertron or a firebird/mini humbucker ... compliments the bridge pickup beautifully. 

Yamaha77

Take off the cover carefully. Or use a strat neck pickup and replacement scratchplate off eBay. 

Funkfingers

My first move is to establish whether the OP guitar is American or Japanese.

My second move would be to inspect the selector switch to see whether it conforms to the original 1952 circuit. (This offers bridge, neck, neck + capacitor for "bass tone".) If your guitar has this wiring, the sound that you think is both pickups in parallel, in phase is actually the neck/Rhythm pickup in its natural state.

The small neck/Rhythm pickup is not famed for fire-breathing output. On the other hand, it is perfectly capable of great tone. My preference is for Alnico 3 rod magnets à la Custom Shop Nocaster. Second choice, the Seymour Duncan Five-Two with three A5 magnets and three A2.

For greater output without resorting to irreversible wood and pickguard modifications, try the Seymour Duncan STHR-1N Hot Rails Neck for Telecaster. Unsightly but highly functional. 

guitarcookie1

I’ve tried a few different pickup sets in my Tele & Telemaster. The pair that I’ve found that balance the best are from Bare Knuckle, a Boss in the bridge and Yardbird in the neck. 

mudslide73

As much as Iove swapping pickups... I use a mid focused/boosting Boss GE7 for Strat neck tones with my 52ri Tele. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I'd deffo explore other single-coil options before giving yourself any further work with routing cavities, new scratchplates etc.

I have a Lollar Imperial in the neck of my Stat/Tele hybrid - sounds mega!

DrBob

OilCityPickups said:

My favorite Tele neck pickup alternatives are a P90, a Filtertron or a firebird/mini humbucker ... compliments the bridge pickup beautifully. 

All of what Ash said, I’ve currently got a Filtertron in the neck of my Tele but have previously very much enjoyed a Firebird and a P90 in that slot ! 

OilCityPickups

DrBob said:

OilCityPickups said:

My favorite Tele neck pickup alternatives are a P90, a Filtertron or a firebird/mini humbucker ... compliments the bridge pickup beautifully. 

All of what Ash said, I’ve currently got a Filtertron in the neck of my Tele but have previously very much enjoyed a Firebird and a P90 in that slot ! 

I've just fitted a Filtertron to one of my Teles ... it was humbucker neck routed anyway to be fair.

Onpar

Teyeplayer said:

I’d recommend you try an @Alegree ;cirrostratus, preferably uncovered. It makes a huge difference without removing yourself entirely from tele territory.

This. Defintely this. 

I have these pickups in the tele I bought from Teyeplayer and I've just bought another set to go in my new tele. 

Bebopper

I added a TV Jones Classic to my Hahn Model C. Great pickup!

HAL9000

I've got an Seymour Duncan P90 in the neck position of one of my guitars (not a Tele though). IMHO a superb sounding - and surprisingly versatile - pickup which I suspect would go well in a Tele.

ESBlonde

I've got an AVRI52 tele and the neck has got plenty of balls. Not quite what the bridge has in tems of output, but it's not weak by any stretch of the imagination. I've still got mine in the 'original' switch configuration so that middle position is the neck, then I wind off just a touch on the tone pot.

Of course if you're not wanting the tele bridge sound something else might suit you better.

p90fool

I just bunged an old Strat pickup in mine - nothing else balances as well with the bridge pickup IME.