USA Standard Tele, Wanting a middle pup? Chrome Cover???

Stratman68

Stratman68

Axe-Master
2014 USA Standard Tele, Channel Bound RW fingerboard. Would love to add a 3rd pup, ala nashville tele thing.
Feasible? Would the pickguard screw holes line up?
Thanks
 
A Nashville Tele 8 hole pickguard will have the same hole locations as the standard 8 hole. I believe there is already a middle pickup route in the USA Standard, so you should be good to go. The link by @ruso has some great information to consider regarding the middle pickup selection.
 
OK Great article. I am going to have to take the pickguard off the tele becuse I have n idea what pups are in it. The bridge pup has NO stagger. All poles are flat. Fralin Blues Specials from Fralin, strat or tele can be had like that or regular or hybrid, between the 2.
Fralin recommends the hybrids or flats only on a compound radius. Which my Strat and tele both have 9 1/2 to 14".

The Fralin article "Nashville solution" makes sense and is something I need to think about.
 
IMG_20220203_233727.jpg
Here's what I did with mine:

Duncan Jazz HB
Twisted Tele Neck (in middle)
ToneHatch ShinKicker

Warmoth pickguard matches the screws and has the middle pickup in the correct spot. Some "Nashville" style Teles have the middle pickup a little closer to the neck, maybe 1/2" off the spot where it ought to be if you want to get that Strat-y middle/bridge cluck going.

Switch gives the following:
  1. Neck (parallel HB, series HB on tone pot pull switch)
  2. Neck (screws coil) + Bridge OOP
  3. Neck (slugs coil) + Bridge
  4. Middle + Bridge
  5. Bridge
All but 5 are hum-cancelling, for the most part. Great sounds all around.

The Twisted Tele pickup is the only original electronic part on the guitar. :D Great sounding pickup, that, and works great with the ShinKicker for "Strat" sort of sounds. The OOP sound is fantastic - the Jazz, split, and the ShinKicker give a great OOP tone that's not too snarky, and plays well as a lead sound with some dirt or as a nice, articulate rhythm sound with a bit of poke and crisp lows that don't step on the bass player. The neck + bridge sound is what you would expect to hear in a good Tele - articulate, but punchy in the lows, too, with all the twang and German "ö" vowel tones on the low frets of the G string that a good Tele gives. The Jazz by itself, in parallel HB mode sounds about the same level and tone as the Twisted Tele neck pickup did when it was there, just "wider", and in series HB mode, it sounds like a good neck humbucker ought to.

Would love to have a fourth Tele, set up with the Split Steel Poled Tele at the bridge, an Alnico Rod Hum Cancelling P90 in the middle, and a 5% underwound Hum Cancelling P90 in the neck spot. Could have a lot of fun with that....
 
Stratman68 said:
OK Great article. I am going to have to take the pickguard off the tele becuse I have n idea what pups are in it. The bridge pup has NO stagger. All poles are flat. Fralin Blues Specials from Fralin, strat or tele can be had like that or regular or hybrid, between the 2.
Fralin recommends the hybrids or flats only on a compound radius. Which my Strat and tele both have 9 1/2 to 14".

The Fralin article "Nashville solution" makes sense and is something I need to think about.
Click to expand...
Don't overlook the Fralin split rails hum cancelling pickups. Great sounding pickups, and, no hum or issues with polarity and coil winding direction to worry about....
 
Stratman68 said:
I really like the way it sounds now, so I am not sure I want to mess with it. The neck is amazing. So easy to play and bend notes..................
Click to expand...
I liked the stock pickups, for the most part, but the plain strings were a smidge too ice-picky on the bridge pickup. The ToneHatch ShinKicker solves that, with AlNiCo 3 magnets and 43 ga. wire in the coil. Gets just a hint of P90 rudeness in the mids in with the Tele bite now, and no ice-pick.

Sliding the Twisted neck pickup to the middle meant there were no phase issues there and hum cancelling was as good as before, and it was pure luck the screws coil worked for the OOP to be hum cancelling as well, since it lets me get the regular neck+bridge tone (which uses the slugs coil) set perfectly and still be able to fine-tune the OOP response via the pole piece screws, without too snarky a tone, since the screws coil tends to be a smidgen less magnetically efficient than the slugs coil, so it cancels a bit less efficiently, and leaves a bit more lows in the tone....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
I liked the stock pickups, for the most part, but the plain strings were a smidge too ice-picky on the bridge pickup. The ToneHatch ShinKicker solves that, with AlNiCo 3 magnets and 43 ga. wire in the coil. Gets just a hint of P90 rudeness in the mids in with the Tele bite now, and no ice-pick.

Sliding the Twisted neck pickup to the middle meant there were no phase issues there and hum cancelling was as good as before, and it was pure luck the screws coil worked for the OOP to be hum cancelling as well, since it lets me get the regular neck+bridge tone (which uses the slugs coil) set perfectly and still be able to fine-tune the OOP response via the pole piece screws, without too snarky a tone, since the screws coil tends to be a smidgen less magnetically efficient than the slugs coil, so it cancels a bit less efficiently, and leaves a bit more lows in the tone....
Click to expand...
I don't have that issue. Probably my ears cannot hear those super high freq's anymore :) But I really would like the hum cancelling aspect.
 
So I am definitely going to add a middle pup to my fav Telecaster. I am debating between these pickups and have emailed Fralinmgr I have been in contact with, to ask what best would serve a s a middle pup so I can have the hum cancelling 2&4 positions. I am guessing a blues special STRAT pickup in the middle, as mention in this thread.
Now the videos are drastically different because the guy in the Blues specials video is quite a guitar player and Lindy Fralin isn't. But Lindy does show more different aspects of the pickups.
Full disclosure-I have been using Blues Specials in ALL my strats for a long time now. The split rails
add the NO HUM any position to the equation-So possibly, with the split tails I don't need the extra middle pup since my MAIN goal (besides tone of course) is HUM CANCELLING-which just 2 split rails do on their own.



 
So I just got off the phone with Jon, lindy Fralin product manager. Told him what I wanted and talked about the info in this thread.
I am going to just go with the Split Blade Blues Specials, no middle pup, since this covers my Hum Canceling wish.
They are not expensive so I figure why not. I have another tele collecting dust if these don't work out for me on my Fav Tele.
I also am ordering a prewired Control plate with some special options. Have decided on which options yet, but why not.
Thanks for all the info in this thread. I wish he did pre wired pickguards for teles but he doesn't, only for Strats.
The less this old dog has to solder the better......................................
 
@JoKeR III Thanks-Great videos....................
They (fralin) say I should use 500K pots with the Tele split Blades. Seems like lots of high end, but I am sure they know their stuff.
 
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