Anybody use tele-sized HBs, or other high output tele pups?

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Spaceboy

Spaceboy

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Curious about making a telecaster sound more like a "shredder" guitar. The body and neck of my Squier CVC have always felt fast to me, begging to be riffed on, but I've kept the pickups stock for some of the lighter music I do. I'm grabbing another MIM tele that has some great pickups for clean/lighter music, so I'm looking into putting something raunchy in the CVC.

The Duncan Hot Rails looks like a straight shot, but what else is worth checking out? It'd be great if I could find single coils that really get beefy, but I understand that's not really their nature. How about the Quarter Pound from Duncan? Those BKP Piledrivers sound cool, but too expensive. DiMarzio has a few humbuckers that fit teles, but I'm not really into their full-sized humbuckers anymore. I'm real curious about that EMG T set too, saw a couple videos that sounded great, but not sold yet.

It's hard to find good clips of teles doing non-tele things, especially modern metal/rock, hah. Who's doing something heavy with a tele? Who has clips?

:rock:
 
I did the same thing with my old Tele. Went from a Hot Rail (too sharp, hot and sterile) to a Dimarzio Chopper T. (much better. Fatter, warmer, more dymanic. Hot enough for rock, metal & shred work)
 
Those single coil sized humbuckers sound good when you run the coils in parallel. I have a Hot rails (from around '94) in my Strat and put a push pull pot to run the hot rails in parallel or series mode. Its a nice option, that you could consider for whatever pickup you end up with. The hot rails in parallel sounds like a beefy single coil. The JB Jr. also works well in parallel mode.

I do have a tele, but its a MIJ Fender contemporary tele with dual humbuckers, an odd duck for sure...
 
If you still have the single coil in the bridge, grab a Duncan Pearly Gates. It's an HB pick up and is very nice, fits in the same route. Lots of grit and grunt. I have to look down and make sure I have the Tele strapped on sometime!
 
steve_k":3e01jxyl said:
If you still have the single coil in the bridge, grab a Duncan Pearly Gates. It's an HB pick up and is very nice, fits in the same route. Lots of grit and grunt. I have to look down and make sure I have the Tele strapped on sometime!
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I've actually been wanting to check out the Pearly Gates full-sized humbucker, and I didn't even know they made a tele version. This is definitely going to be one of the first pickups I try.
 
Yikes, the PG for Tele is a Duncan custom shop and runs as much as a full set of BKP Piledrivers. :no:
 
I dont have any clips, but had an stl-2?, hot for tele pup in mine for awhile, but it was too hot and lost alot of the springy tele character that i liked. I went back and got a bill lawrence black label to match the one in the neck. Much better.
I like the way a tele pup sounds when you play it with high gain. It still has that jangle, but rips! Would try it with a quality lowish output tele pup first, its a seriously cool character with some dirt on it.
 
I've tried many pickups in my tele over the years.

Fralin SP42 - This is what I have in there now. Nice under gain, cleans up pretty good, still sounds like a tele. I run this with a Tonestyler and it is very usable for varying degrees of heavy. Still has tons of buzz and may not be as chunky as you want.

SD Hot Rails - Tons of output, but watch the bridge. Skinny little stock Fender bridges tend to cause some odd feedback with these. Tons of gain, but not much tone was my take on these.

SD Lil 59 - A bit less gain than the Hotrail, but a bigger bottom end. Sounded great with gain, but loses all tele character IMO. Still, this one might fit the bill the best for what you want. I would buy it again if I had a guitar that needed that tone.

EMG - These sound great clean, but do not have any sustain or gain going on. Strictly for cleans, big pedalboards, or lighter gain tones. No heaviness found here. Move along.

GFS Fatbody - Great neck pickup (still in my tele) but the bridge lacked a slight bit of clarity. It was good but the Fralin kicked it out. Still wouldn't have the gain you want.

Dimarzio Area T - Had the bridge. Was quite and retained the tele tone. Not much gain. The Hot version would be better, but still thinking it wouldn't be enough gain for you.

I think the piledriver (from the clips I've heard) sounds similar in output to the Fralin. The Fralin SP43 is even hotter and close in output to a P90. Harmonic Design and Rio Grande have some in this category also. I think any of them could work if you're looking to beef up a bridge tele while still retaining some tele character. Prepare for some noise under higher gain though.

For what you're looking for I would go with the SD Lil 59 and run a push pull tone control and wire it series/parallel for a couple of differerent noise cancelling tones. I see them often for sale used so I'm sure you could pick one up for $50. If you don't dig it you're not out alot of cash.
 
D-Rock":gz8410s2 said:
Great info boost!!! :salute:
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Thanks. Glad to help. Tele's can be a bitch to get right sometimes. More trail and error than any other guitar I've had.

Also, Alot of these pickups went into a CVC Squire. The necks are thin and unplugged they twang and are pretty thin. I replaced the bridge saddles with some compensated brass ones from Stewart Macdonald for like $15. Worked like a charm to warm the tone up some and the intonation was spot on. No need to spend the bigs bucks on the boutique saddles IMO. Still the guitar was sounding to thin compared to may American ash/maple neck tele and I was going to replace the brdge. never got around to it and traded the guitar. Still was a nice playing and looking guitar.

Swap out the electronics in the CVC for sure. I was looking at the Rutters bridge but couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to put that much into the guitar. It may still have not sounded the way I wanted. then again, it may have been killer. I'll never know.

I'm a sucker for a doubled bound tele so I may go down that road again, who knows.
 
I had a chopper T in one and I liked it alot. My buddy has a Dimarzio Area T Hot in his tele and it rips. Thats what I'm gonna go for next but I havent pulled the trigger yet as I have been digging the stock pup in my baja. Its too noisy tho and eventually I will pull the trigger. Just holding back a bit as the baja has the S1 switching system and I dont wanna mess that up.
 
I've had the Chopper T in about 4 Teles. I love what it did - hot enough for good sustain, but still let some of the Tele-tone shine through. Not for down tuned chugging or metal, but very capable for rock/hard rock.
 
Thanks everyone, especially boost, such a great post there. I've got a handful of choices it seems. I don't really want to toss $200 boutique pickups into a cheap guitar. I might lurk around the TGP emporium for some used pickups though. I've been looking through videos and reviews, some of them are rough to find demos for higher gain playing.
 
Definitive answer: Dimarzio Area T Neck, Dimarzio Air Norton T bridge (custom order from Dimarzio but they'll still do it).
 
Spaceboy":3kuoa0bv said:
Thanks everyone, especially boost, such a great post there. I've got a handful of choices it seems. I don't really want to toss $200 boutique pickups into a cheap guitar. I might lurk around the TGP emporium for some used pickups though. I've been looking through videos and reviews, some of them are rough to find demos for higher gain playing.
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Here is me in all my crappyness with my Chopper T.

 
Chopper T. The Fender Richie Kotzen Teles have these in the bridge, and they're great. Plenty enough to get a killer rock tone, but you still keep some Tele character. . .which in my opinion is essential.
 
D-Rock":1y5gkck0 said:
Spaceboy":1y5gkck0 said:
Thanks everyone, especially boost, such a great post there. I've got a handful of choices it seems. I don't really want to toss $200 boutique pickups into a cheap guitar. I might lurk around the TGP emporium for some used pickups though. I've been looking through videos and reviews, some of them are rough to find demos for higher gain playing.
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Here is me in all my crappyness with my Chopper T.

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Thanks for sharing. That sounds great! :rock:
 
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