Recommend a Tele Bridge Pup

jakel

Power User
Instrument - northern (hard) ash body (I think - I bought it off Ebay years ago before I knew there was two different kinds of ash), maple neck, stainless frets. It's a pretty bright guitar, but still has a good bit of bass, just not much in the mids area. The interior cavities have all been coated with grounded conductive paint, so it actually is pretty quiet even with real single coils.

Music Style - P&W. I will be using a Les Paul for heavier stuff, but I may need to cover some heavier stuff on this guitar if I don't have time to switch.

Neck PUP - To be honest, I can't remember. It's some kind of true single coil Fender that I bought at Guitar Center. I like it though. No plans to change it at the moment.

The guitar currently has some kind of GFS bridge pickup in it. I have to roll the tone knob more than half down to get the excessive high end out of it. I'm looking for a pup that's readily available and won't break the bank (let's say $125 or less).

Suggestions?
 
The Fender Nocaster bridge is great. Enough beef that it sounds good with dirt but still plenty of twang. I've tried a bunch ( Lollar, Mare, Texas Special, etc) and the Nocaster is perfect.
 
You may be fighting a losing battle as hard ash is nearly as bright as hard maple. A tele bridge is a bright pickup position. So bright I had to go with a stacked humbucker to kill some of the shrill treble.

I had a Gibson L6 that was all maple. Despite having humbuckers in it, it was so insanely bright I thought it would pop my fillings out.

Your call and your guitar but I hope you like LOTS of treble.
 
Update - I went ahead and bought the BK Blackguards last weekend. They sound really nice in the guitar, but when I went to rehearsal Thursday night the buzz induced by the LED stage lights was almost unbearable. I found if I turn perpendicular to the noise (light) source the buzz goes away, but I don't know if standing sideways on stage will fly. Bummer. So, I may end up not using the guitar until I can afford some stacked noiseless. :(
 
I've been using the Dimarzio hum cancelling pups for about 5 years and am quite happy with them. I went with the lower output bridge as it matches up better with the neck pickup. I'm also using standard 250K pots and the guitar is plenty bright. Ash body and one piece, 1" thick maple neck.
 
I think Zexcoils are great compared to any other low/no hum single coil types but nothing beats the sound of a great traditional single coil!

Thats was what I *thought* too up until a few months ago.

I reckon I have tried and then re-sold just about every Tele Bridge PU you can think of .... then as a last roll of the dice I grabbed a Kinman Woodstock Plus Bridge PU.

I had deliberlatly avoided Kinman simply due to stubborness ....... too many glowing comments from pro's and non-pro .... the cynical part of me said no way they are that good.

I was wrong.

Woodstock Plus is perfect for what you want.

-> its totally silent - no hum, hiss etc....

-> the WS+ is around 9 k .... roll your guitar volume down to ~7 and it cleans up and sounds like a classic broadcaster ..... set your guitar on 10 and its a classic Tele but with more grind and bite [ both in a very good way :) ]

I have since put Kinmans in all my main guitars.

If I hadnt been so stubborn and cynical not only would I have been using these a long time ago but I would have saved a truckload of $$ lost on buying, fitting, tweaking and then selling Tele Bridge PU's.

Surprisingly .... the only other one that got close was the Dimarzio Area Hot T ....... it cleand up nice when rolled down too ...... but its problem - like every other non-Kinman Tele Bridge noiseless pickup - is that when its fully open [guitar on 10] is sounds like a humbucker ... it loses the spank and bite ....... whereas the Kinman WS+ still sounds like a real s/coil Tele bridge PU except more grind and bite .... and absolutly no noise / hum / hiss.

HTH.

Ben
 
Thats was what I *thought* too up until a few months ago.

I reckon I have tried and then re-sold just about every Tele Bridge PU you can think of .... then as a last roll of the dice I grabbed a Kinman Woodstock Plus Bridge PU.

I had deliberlatly avoided Kinman simply due to stubborness ....... too many glowing comments from pro's and non-pro .... the cynical part of me said no way they are that good.

I was wrong.

Woodstock Plus is perfect for what you want.

-> its totally silent - no hum, hiss etc....

-> the WS+ is around 9 k .... roll your guitar volume down to ~7 and it cleans up and sounds like a classic broadcaster ..... set your guitar on 10 and its a classic Tele but with more grind and bite [ both in a very good way :) ]

I have since put Kinmans in all my main guitars.

If I hadnt been so stubborn and cynical not only would I have been using these a long time ago but I would have saved a truckload of $$ lost on buying, fitting, tweaking and then selling Tele Bridge PU's.

Surprisingly .... the only other one that got close was the Dimarzio Area Hot T ....... it cleand up nice when rolled down too ...... but its problem - like every other non-Kinman Tele Bridge noiseless pickup - is that when its fully open [guitar on 10] is sounds like a humbucker ... it loses the spank and bite ....... whereas the Kinman WS+ still sounds like a real s/coil Tele bridge PU except more grind and bite .... and absolutly no noise / hum / hiss.

HTH.

Ben
I've tried Kinman in my strats a few years back. Worked great in one guitar but not in the other. They probably have changed since then and I should revisit them again so thanks for the tip!
 
I've got Kinman's in my 70's strat. Love em!

I'd definitely think about them for a Tele. I would be tempted by Joe Barden pups for a tele too. Although I don't care for how they look. They sound and play great!
 
Ok, sounds like I better check out Kinman for sure. I played last night with the B.K. true single coils and it went ok. I just put the gate ratio up to like 5:1 and adjusted the threshold so the buzz just stopped (mostly). I still used a volume block tied to an expression pedal on the input side of the amp to kill any chance of buzz between songs.
 
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