which telecaster pickups?

axisus · July 2017

Recommendations?

I'm looking for something traditional both for looks and output. What are the good uns?

I'm sure this has been covered before, but a search brought up a million pages.

EDIT with more info:

Roland said:

How traditional do you want to be?

Trad looking, no frills eg no tapping etc. Just making a 'basic' Tele. Output - actually I'm not that tied down. I want something great sounding but not high output or modern. Probably more for blues type stuff than very clean.

Evilmags · July 2017

Josefina Nocaster set from Fender.

Teyeplayer · July 2017

@Alegree makes a fantastic set called the cirrostratus -I'm onto my second set and I know @impmann is a big fan too.

impmann · July 2017

I certainly am.
GREAT pickups

JohnPerry · July 2017

Mojo Pickups Broadcaster set are the best Tele pickups I have used, of many. His 52 set is great too

Roland · July 2017

How traditional do you want to be? A tapped bridge pickup will look like any other Telecaster bridge, but give you two different sounds. For example @TheGuitarWeasel makes two of these, a Wapping Wharf and a Diesel with different windings and magnets.

When it comes to neck pickups there are all sorts of "traditional" ideas. The original Telecaster pickup had a plummy sound meant to play bass lines. More recent ones are brighter. Keith Richards uses a totally different style of pickup, but has been around long enough to be considered traditional

axisus · July 2017

Roland said:

How traditional do you want to be?

Answered in my first post now!

RandallFlagg · July 2017

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

Alegree · July 2017

Thanks for the mentions @impmann & @Teyeplayer ;;

My Cirrostratus is 6.9k neck and 7.4k bridge.
I have lots of cosmetic options now, so you'll be able to make it as traditional as you want.
It's certainly the correct choice from my catalogue based on the requirements.
But soundclips say a 1000 words - find them here, https://www.alegree.co.uk/collections/telecaster-sized-pickups/products/cirrostratus

Gagaryn · July 2017

My favourite is the BK Flat 50's set. I've now replaced the neck for a non tele neck pick up (Strat) but the neck from the BK set was good - I just am not in love with any Tele neck pickup. They are fantastic pickups, though, I've still got the Bridge in my tele and it's going nowhere - it's fantastic - quite hot but aggressive sounding in a vintage way, quite dark sounding - never feel the need to tame it - it sounds great wide open. Looking at the BK site now for the first time in ages they recommend the 55 or 68 sets in RW board Teles as they are brighter, and the 50 and 52 for Maple where you might want to tame extreme highs but the 50s sound cracking in my RW board tele.

Teyeplayer · July 2017

Gagaryn said:

My favourite is the BK Flat 50's set. I've now replaced the neck for a non tele neck pick up (Strat) but the neck from the BK set was good - I just am not in love with any Tele neck pickup.

This is why the @alegree ones are so good. I struggle to explain other than the neck pick up is less 'boxy' and more articulate -like a strat pickup, but not a strat pickup, it still has something else about it. Sounds like you need to try these too @Gagaryn

mgaw · July 2017

klein

rossi · July 2017

A good basic set is the Tonerider Hot Classics .Been around for years and have a good solid Tele tone and not just my opinion .I now have a set of Van Zandts which sound like a Tele should ie jazz to country to blues and all stops in between ,i havn't directly compared them to Toneriders but both do a similar job .I have four way switching .

PonchoGreg · July 2017

I should be getting a set of cirrostratus from @Alegree in the coming days, will report back!

Jalapeno · July 2017

JohnPerry said:

Mojo Pickups Broadcaster set are the best Tele pickups I have used, of many. His 52 set is great too

This.

Alegree · July 2017

PonchoGreg said:

I should be getting a set of cirrostratus from @Alegree in the coming days, will report back!

They'll be out to you tomorrow!

earwighoney · July 2017

Teyeplayer said:

@Alegree makes a fantastic set called the cirrostratus -I'm onto my second set and I know @impmann is a big fan too.

I have some of Alex @Alegree ;pickups in my Tele as well, and I f**ing love them.

One more vote from me as well.

PonchoGreg · August 2017

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)

Alegree · August 2017

Thank you very much

I think the bridge is just on the verge of having enough high end twang to retain a low output Tele character, but not having enough to be overly shrill. I can't see it coming out of my Tele for any reason, it's so wonderfully versatile sitting right in that middle zone.

sidewinderwhy · August 2017

I can recommend the Fender Pure Vintage 64 Tele pick ups. They are the standard ones in the Pure Vintage 64 Tele but I think Fender also sell them separately.

My experience is a traditional tone but with a dry, wiry edge from the bridge pick up that's very addictive when slightly overdriven.

Lestratcaster · August 2017

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.

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which telecaster pickups?

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