Favorite Telecaster Pickup position or combo

[Doug MacPherson]

Since the Telecaster appears to be a popular electric guitar option, what would be your favorite pickup position: Bridge only, Bridge and neck, or neck only?

[BahPa]

I use both with a healthy amount of reverb thru a Blues Jr.

[rwmct]

The jokey response is "it has a neck pickup?"

But I do use the neck pickup. And both together. It really depends upon what I am playing.

[s2y]

Nashville with a push/pull to get all 7 pickup configurations.

[justonwo]

The bridge pickup is probably the defining sound of a Telecaster. I don't use the neck pickup much, but it isn't wholly dissimilar from a Strat neck pickup.

[Osage]

I've played a TON of gigs with a Tele and while the neck pickup is certainly the Telecaster sound, I love the neck pickup and find it quite useful. If I had to have only one, it would be the bridge but I'd be bummed out. I don't think I've spent more than 5 minutes in my life playing with both of them on.

[DukeX]

I play 80/20 bridge/neck.

[muscmp]

this should be in the electric section, but....i use all three but the bridge is definitely my favorite as it is the tele sound. to each their own.

play music!

[FrankHudson]

I won't choose because I need to choose.

That classic Tele bridge pickup sound is an icon. Depending, it can be bright and cutting or surprisingly thick and meaty. Pick near the bridge and use those wound strings, and Twang! Get some gain in the signal chain somewhere it turns mean and nasty. And the tone control knob is useful on a Tele. I've got humbucker guitars where I've never touched the tone control knob. Bonus: on a Tele with a standard control plate you may be able to get your pinky back there and pretend you have a wah-wah pedal.


Neck pickup. Want that "jazz tone" without sounding like you're playing under a blanket? With the right amp and the Tele's longer scale than many "jazz boxes" you can get a lovely timbre there. I've seen Bill Frisell play whole sets on a standard Tele neck pickup, and if that's not a beautiful sound, I don't know what is.


Both pickups. A Tele secret weapon. On my Teles that's hum-cancelling, so when you have a troublesome gig or location, but only a Tele with traditional pickups in front of you, it can get you through. As a sound itself instead of Plan B, into a clean amp and chain it has a nice broad sound. I like it for strummy parts that I might have played on acoustic if I had one along. With higher gain, the hum canceling comes into play again, and you can get a thicker sound that anyone thinks is a Tele.


Of course there's three pickup Teles, series/parallel wiring, variations of the original Tele setup with "bassey sound" positions and so on...

[davidd]

All three. Playing in a band that covers many genres of tunes I need to be able to get both twang, and thick bluesy "woman" tones from the same guitar. I probably use the neck pickup alone more than the bridge. Never understood the hatred for the Tele neck pickup. The Tele is a great blues platform if you use the pickups and tone controls.

[Dave Abrahamson]

Originally Posted by Osage

I've played a TON of gigs with a Tele and while the neck pickup is certainly the Telecaster sound.

Originally Posted by justonwo

The bridge pickup is probably the defining sound of a Telecaster.

One more reason why I love The Acoustic Guitar Forum

[M Sarad]

The Esquire with one pickup is all I want. I may remove the neck pickup, fill the slot, get a new pick guard and pull out the pick up selector.

[justonwo]

Originally Posted by Dave Abrahamson

One more reason why I love The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Ha ha. We’re really good at consensus. I think if you ask 90% of Telecaster players what they think defines the Tele sound they’ll say the bridge pickup. Not to say the neck isn’t awesome. But my favorite “combo” by far is bridge alone.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/t...-rhythm-pickup

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Dave Abrahamson

One more reason why I love The Acoustic Guitar Forum

I think Osage's "neck" PU reference was a typo. He meant "bridge" (per the rest of his post).

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by DukeX

I think Osage's "neck" PU reference was a typo. He meant "bridge" (per the rest of his post).

Agreed. It was clear to me too.