Best pickups for a tele?

[SD_John]

I have a mexican tele and I'm thinking about upgrading the pickups. I still want the twang, but not as much, and a nice, but not too much, distortion sound. Anyone know anything? I'm thinking seymour duncan hot rails.. but I'm open to suggestions

[SamKS]

It's pointless for anyone to post, we'll just wait for patrickhowell to tell you what's up.

[splitsecond]

jsut played my friends tele that he installed a seymour duncan quarter pounder in the neck and a dimarzio tone zone in the bridge and it sounded PHENOMENAL through my bogner

[rawkandrowl]

I would recommend the Duncan Li'l 59. It has great tone.

[patrickhowell]

The Hot Rails is a high-output humbucking pickup. It will get you really good high-gain distortion and you'll lose almost all of the tele tone. The Tone Zone is a pretty similar pickup.

The Lil '59 is based on the PAF humbucker, but for some reason they used a ceramic magnet in the single-coil sized version. It's designed to sound like a vintage Les Paul, but it doesn't quite capture that tone because of design compromises. You'll probably end up with something like 75% Les Paul tone and 25% Tele tone. If you install a Series/Parallel switch, you'll get about the opposite on the parallel setting, 75% tele. This might be a good choice for you. One of my friends has this pickup in his Tele and really likes it.

If you want to keep a little more of the tele look and tone, but give it a little better voice for rock (and built-in hum canceling), you should check out the DiMarzio Area Hot T bridge. It has the AlNiCo II rod magnets like a vintage tele, but it's voiced to sound a little more like a PAF Gibson pickup. This should give you the best of both worlds... Hum-canceling and great rock tone like a Gibson humbucker, but without sacrificing the AlNiCo magnets, bridge plate, and single coil tone that make a Tele what it is.

If you've got any more questions or ideas, let me know.

[theguy77]

honestly the MIM telecaster already has pickups that are wired for a hotter, less twangy sound. i noticed the difference immediately when i finally got my american model. honestly if you want something with less twang and that sounds richer you're better off just snagging a les paul or something, though if you're on a tight budget i understand that may not be possible.

[patrickhowell]

honestly the MIM telecaster already has pickups that are wired for a hotter, less twangy sound. i noticed the difference immediately when i finally got my american model. honestly if you want something with less twang and that sounds richer you're better off just snagging a les paul or something, though if you're on a tight budget i understand that may not be possible.

That's true, the MIM Teles are already a hotter than vintage specs, but they're also built with cheaper pickups. If he likes the feel of his guitar, and wants to upgrade the pickups to something a little more that direction, that's fine. The MIM Teles are still well-built instruments. There's a big difference between a Tele and a Les Paul, not just the pickups.

[SD_John]

The Hot Rails is a high-output humbucking pickup. It will get you really good high-gain distortion and you'll lose almost all of the tele tone. The Tone Zone is a pretty similar pickup.

The Lil '59 is based on the PAF humbucker, but for some reason they used a ceramic magnet in the single-coil sized version. It's designed to sound like a vintage Les Paul, but it doesn't quite capture that tone because of design compromises. You'll probably end up with something like 75% Les Paul tone and 25% Tele tone. If you install a Series/Parallel switch, you'll get about the opposite on the parallel setting, 75% tele. This might be a good choice for you. One of my friends has this pickup in his Tele and really likes it.

If you want to keep a little more of the tele look and tone, but give it a little better voice for rock (and built-in hum canceling), you should check out the DiMarzio Area Hot T bridge. It has the AlNiCo II rod magnets like a vintage tele, but it's voiced to sound a little more like a PAF Gibson pickup. This should give you the best of both worlds... Hum-canceling and great rock tone like a Gibson humbucker, but without sacrificing the AlNiCo magnets, bridge plate, and single coil tone that make a Tele what it is.

If you've got any more questions or ideas, let me know.

I like the idea of the Lil '59. Would you be able to install in the bridge, neck, or either position?

[rawkandrowl]

I could be mistaken but I think SD only makes it for the bridge. Doesn't mean you can't try installing it in the neck though.

[patrickhowell]

I like the idea of the Lil '59. Would you be able to install in the bridge, neck, or either position?

I'd only recommend installing it in the bridge position it isn't designed for the neck, so it will be overly loud and will not fit into your guitar's body without some major adjustments. I'll get back to you with some good ideas for the neck position... what are you not happy with in your neck pickup's tone?

[SD_John]

Yeah, i don't really like the tone of the neck pickup. I also need to get a new one cause for some reason the magnets or whatever are starting to rust which is rather odd in my opinion since its often used and i never get water on it.

[SmallFrailBoy]

I have a mexican tele and I'm thinking about upgrading the pickups. I still want the twang, but not as much, and a nice, but not too much, distortion sound. Anyone know anything? I'm thinking seymour duncan hot rails.. but I'm open to suggestions

Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounds. That's what you want. I have three teles and I love them, but I had to upgrade one set of pickups just to get a more rockin' sound.

[Rodeo]

Came in to say Hot Rails.