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  #1  
Old 06-27-2016, 07:55 PM
TJE TJE is offline
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Default Tele for blues

Folks I've got a MIM tele I want to set it up for blues. What are some good blues pickups that won't break the bank.
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Old 06-27-2016, 08:06 PM
svea svea is offline
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Oh, I'm very interested in this thread! I don't have suggestions, other than to beef up the neck pickup. But, why can't one play blues on a stock Tele? Which MIM model do you have, by the way?

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Old 06-27-2016, 08:34 PM
thunderlung thunderlung is offline
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I'm with svea on this one. Maybe try the stock pickups with a bit of overdrive. Otherwise, GFS has a lot of reasonably priced pickups.
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Old 06-27-2016, 08:46 PM
TJE TJE is offline
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Just the standard MIM tele. Burgundy colored body and maple fret board. It sounds a bit twangy to play blues on IMO.
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Old 06-27-2016, 09:01 PM
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Leave the pickups alone. They're quite good. Are you playing a tube amp or a solid state? The right pedal will make all the difference, and will be cheaper than pickups.
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Old 06-27-2016, 09:03 PM
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Is that legal?

I thought you had to have an archtop for blues if it wasn't acoustic ....
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Old 06-27-2016, 09:38 PM
TJE TJE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue View Post
Leave the pickups alone. They're quite good. Are you playing a tube amp or a solid state? The right pedal will make all the difference, and will be cheaper than pickups.
A cheap $100.00 dollar mustang I 😳
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Old 06-27-2016, 10:39 PM
blue blue is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TJE View Post
A cheap $100.00 dollar mustang I 😳
Well. There's good and bad news here. With that amp, pickups definitely won't make a difference. And unfortunately an "overdrive"/boost pedal won't do much for you either.

A distortion/fuzz pedal can work, but that's not a classic blues sound.

So what to do? Learn the amp. For a guitar player your "instrument" includes the amp. A lot of folks don't get that and never do spend the time required to learn how to get good sounds out of their amp.

With that modeling stuff, there are blues tones in there. In fact I bet if you google "Fender Mustang Blues tones" you'll find some guidance.

I bet there's a Bassman model in there. Start with that one, mess around with the amount of gain, and add a little reverb. The mistake most folks make with modelers is TOO MUCH GAIN/DISTORTION! Start as clean as you can get it, and add a little gain at a time. Have a song you like the tone of on your ipod and go back and forth comparing. I'm willing to bet that recorded tone is cleaner than how you imagine it in your head. AC/DC and even some early Black Sabbath is cleaner than you imagine.

So the good news is you don't need to spend money. Role your sleeves up and work to get one tone you like, and take a pic of the settings.

That's my opinion anyway.
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Old 06-28-2016, 01:00 AM
C_Becker C_Becker is offline
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Some of the MIM Teles had ceramic pickups, didn't they ? Might be a little hot if thats the case with yours.

See if can get some used Squier Classic Vibe Tele pickups off Ebay, those are quite nice sounding with lower output. Apparently those are made in the same factory as Toneriders. Shouldn't be too expensive. Where are you located, I still have mine laying around.

Or just try playing the neck pickup with the volume and tone turned down to tame it a little.
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Old 06-28-2016, 09:06 AM
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I have a G&L ASAT (stock pickups). I also have a Vox VT20x modeling amp. I can set it to SRV or BB King or Clapton with my iphone or ipad.

Sounds great for the house.
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Old 06-28-2016, 12:06 PM
muscmp muscmp is offline
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i would agree with others who have said to tweak the guitar and tweak the amp. you should get a tone that sings to you if you spend enough time with the pair.

play music!
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Old 06-28-2016, 12:19 PM
Pualee Pualee is offline
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Ceramic vs Alnico 5 in the telecaster depends on the year produced. You'll have to google.

The mustang is fine for blues tones, but with the mustang I, you'll need to plug into Fuse to make it be all it can be. I have a mustang III, so the speaker difference is pretty big... but try starting with a Fender amp model... bassman, champ, deluxe, etc... The "greenbox" stomp will work well as a TS9 - mid boost overdrive. Turn off all the rest of the mod/delay/reverb settings.
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Old 06-28-2016, 12:32 PM
frank4001 frank4001 is offline
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I recently picked a Highway One that the owner modified with a 4 way switch that puts both pickups in series like a humbucker and gives a little boost. So you have back pu alone (1), two together traditional way (2), front alone (3), then the series wiring (4) ...I'm finding it pretty useful. There is some kind of grounding, wiring thing you should do in addition. Check with a repairman but there are instructions all over the web. Pretty cool mod and pretty simple.
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Old 06-28-2016, 03:38 PM
zabdart zabdart is offline
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Get yourself a pair of Texas Tele Specials from the Fender Custom Shop. I installed them on my CBS-era Tele about a decade ago and they now deliver everything I ever wanted my Tele to do. Greater output, more mid-range and a beefier overall sound... especially in the neck pickup.
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Old 06-28-2016, 07:52 PM
Davis Webb Davis Webb is offline
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Seymour Duncan quarter pounders all the way. Pretty impressive MIM upgrade.

Listen to this and tell me you don't love em


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hs4GryqXf0
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