Telecaster Pickup Suggestions

[Righty-Lefty]

bill lawrence keystones....... inexpensive and a great blend of vintage/modern sound

[Billm2067]

I have had Fralin's, Keystones that I bought right from Becky, Rio Grandes, Fender Texas Specials and Custom shops and just about every other ones I could get me hands on. My absolute favorites are the ones on my Tele right now! I bought a Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge and the APTR1 for the neck. They sound fantastic...and cover everything from country to rock. They just work.

[Acoustic_Stevo]

What about Bare Knuckle Pickups?
I've just put some Irish Tour pickups in my Rory Gallagher Relic Strat and they sound great.
Just an idea.

[soma5]

Originally Posted by Scriptor

This is true and thanks for pointing this out. I am more of a country/blues/instrumental type player ... I favor clean tones and play with fingers (nails) seldom using picks ...

If the noiseless pickups kill the sparkle and spank, I might not like them ... but if the tone gets beefier, less noise and can be EQ'd to still have the Tele brightness, I will like them ... I was looking at the DiMarzio's this afternoon (Area T™ 615 DP424 for the bridge and 2 Area T™ Neck DP417 for the other 2 slots.) ... however, they also have standard Tele pups that are true single coil (even those would be better than the factory pups on a MIM Deluxe, right?

You might look into Joe Barden pickups, given your preferences.

[s2y]

My guitarist and I really like Fender's Noisless pickups. Getting a B-Bender Tele soon with those installed.

[stevecuss]

+1 or +10 by now on the Lawrence Keystone pickups. I put them in a MIM Nashville Tele (actually, I put one of BL's P90s in the neck. amazing tones)

Lots of great options though and lots of good suggestions already. Its hard to go wrong with Duncans and Fralin is legendary for a reason. They'll also sound fantastic.

[chordcrasher]

If you want to add some sparkle and dynamics to a Tele try adding a piezo acoustic bridge. I have a Tele that I built with Fishman Power bridge. The sound with neck pickup and the power bridge on is quite remarkable. The one thing you have to be careful of is getting too much bass end from the power bridge

[JackD]

One word: Lollar!

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

I have them in a K-line Tele and love 'em. I use the bridge pickup that is a tad bit hotter. It works great. The neck is wonderful.

[Scriptor]

Originally Posted by chordcrasher

If you want to add some sparkle and dynamics to a Tele try adding a piezo acoustic bridge. I have a Tele that I built with Fishman Power bridge. The sound with neck pickup and the power bridge on is quite remarkable. The one thing you have to be careful of is getting too much bass end from the power bridge

Interesting ... tell me more ... so, Fishman makes a Piezo bridge specific to a Tele? URL's? Sites? Thanks.

[pieterh]

I didn't like the Fender noiseless when I A-B'd a standard US tele with the Deluxe. As stated above, the noiseless pups lacked that edge or twang that makes the tele a tele, imho.

In the end I bought a G&L Asat classic. The
pickups on that guitar are amazing, powerful enough to give a huge s/n ratio without losing much of the twang. If I could I'd get a set that fitted my Strat. I dunno if an aftermarket set would fit a tele without adjustment, but worth considering.

[royd]

I have to agree with Duncan for tele pups. Seymour knows teles... if you can justify their custom shop pups, they are amazing but the Jerry Donahue mentioned, the alinico 2's, and a number of others are really great too.