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Old 07-20-2020, 07:55 PM
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rcolosi rcolosi is offline
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Default Budz Tele pickups - wow.

I usually don’t post unsolicited plugs for guitar stuff in here…sound is so subjective and just because I like something means nothing in the big picture…but this is certainly an exception.

Early this year I was gifted a very old Fender Tele body and beautiful rosewood neck…put a ton of time into it…fretwork, building it out, etc. How could this thing not sound great? ..and it didn’t. It sounded awful actually. I was lucky enough to speak with our own Stephen Talkovich of Talkovich Guitars, who A.) builds some of the nicest super-Teles I’ve seen and B.) Is enormously knowledgeable on the ins and out of the Tele. It seemed I did everything right …right up until the pickup choice. I had tried 4 or 5 different sets as well as trying to match up ones from different manufacturers. Nothing. All crap. On the best day I could get good tone from one pickup, maybe 2, never all three. After spending a pile of $$ on various usual-suspect manufacturers pickups, I felt they were all just a slight variation on the same ‘ole boring theme….Until Steve turned me onto Budz pickups.

Bought the Danocaster set. Plugged it in and within about 45 seconds …my verbal reaction was not suitable to repeat in this family-friendly forum. Something to the effect of “you have got to be bleeping kidding me.” Tone Tone Tone…in all 3 positions and not just your basic “yeah, that’s a twangy Tele” sound, but all of the same but fatter, richer, far more defined and just a ridiculously beautiful balance between the 3 positions. The neck is not thin, the middle is not a dull compromise and the bridge is aggressive, but only “Telecaster-aggressive” if that makes sense….and this was all before I even switched the amp over to the clean channel. One little aside about the clean: I play mainly through a 100W Friedman. Unlike many other tube amps, these are very unforgiving. If you mis-fret, buzz a string, don’t mute a string completely, have a buzz from a bad setup, over-saturate from hot pickup, sloppy with your pick…..anything non-musical….too bad, it’s coming out the other end of the amp. Particularly with an ultra clean guitar like a Tele, there is no hiding anything….and the clean tones this guitar produced ..attack, depth of the tone, sustain…were just incredible ...and incredibly versatile through the 3 positions. The fattest, pure clean Tele tone I have ever heard. This is the way this guitar was designed to sound. It was the way I envisioned it sounding while it was just a pile of parts. Anyway, if you are a Tele owner and are considering a new set of pickups, I could not give a stronger recommendation to the Budz pickups. I’ve been doing this a very long time and it is rare anything guitar-related blows me away, but these did just that. Sorry for the ramble..thanks for the time! Budz Pickups: https://www.budzguitars.com/
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Old 07-21-2020, 08:55 AM
J Patrick J Patrick is offline
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Yes sir....Budz pickups are worth crowing about....of the dozens of tele pickups I have owned I can’t say any of them floated my boat as much as the Budz Danocasters I have in my favorite tele....I also have a tele set up with a Budz deep dish P-90 in the neck position and a Strat with Budz Purebreds in it....seriously great pickups !!....
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Old 07-21-2020, 08:56 AM
stevecuss stevecuss is offline
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There is simply nothing like a golden tele sound. So glad you found the pickups that make your guitar sing. I'd not heard of the pickup builder - looks great, eminently reasonable pricing. Thanks for sharing this.
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Old 07-21-2020, 09:53 AM
redir redir is offline
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It's great to finally find a pickup that matches your guitar that you like. I settled on Duncan lipstick pups for my Tele-like guitar.
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Old 07-21-2020, 10:15 AM
GangstaPat GangstaPat is offline
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Curious, did you try any of the Lollar PUPs?

Thanks for posting this. I have a MIM tele that could use a little love. Not touching the PUPs in my Nashville though.
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Old 07-21-2020, 10:58 AM
J Patrick J Patrick is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GangstaPat View Post
Curious, did you try any of the Lollar PUPs?

Thanks for posting this. I have a MIM tele that could use a little love. Not touching the PUPs in my Nashville though.
....I have used Lollars...and a whole lot of other spendy pickups from custom winders...all great pickups but Budz pickups are to date the best I have found....and fabulous service....my last order was a P-90 for a Tele neck position...Dave gave me a phone call and personally asked me what I was pairing it with...(which is a Cavalier Huge Lion....very hot tele bridge pup)...we chatted about it and he then figured how hot to wind it for me and it’s perfect....

...I have been stoked about many great pickups over the last couple of decades but have never been as high on a pickup maker as Budz....
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Old 07-21-2020, 11:44 AM
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rcolosi rcolosi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GangstaPat View Post
Curious, did you try any of the Lollar PUPs?

Thanks for posting this. I have a MIM tele that could use a little love. Not touching the PUPs in my Nashville though.
Yup...they are phenomenal pickups. I've used the Specials in a previous tele. Good stuff. Had I not heard from Steve about Budz, it may very well have been one of the next choices.
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Old 07-21-2020, 04:10 PM
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stephenT stephenT is offline
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David Budz is the man. I don’t want to dis anyone else’s product or pickup choice, so I’ll just put it like this, I’ve used Budz pickups in all my builds. I’ve never had anyone change out the pickups on any of my guitars and I’ve told David when he retires, I’m done too.
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Old 07-24-2020, 12:05 PM
GangstaPat GangstaPat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenT View Post
David Budz is the man. I don’t want to dis anyone else’s product or pickup choice, so I’ll just put it like this, I’ve used Budz pickups in all my builds. I’ve never had anyone change out the pickups on any of my guitars and I’ve told David when he retires, I’m done too.
Wow! Okay, the Lollars can wait. I think I'll give the Danos a shot.
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Old 07-24-2020, 12:33 PM
RickRS RickRS is offline
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Just adding a link for those of us wanting to look into the hype.
https://www.budzguitars.com
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  #11  
Old 07-25-2020, 03:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GangstaPat View Post
Wow! Okay, the Lollars can wait. I think I'll give the Danos a shot.
Great choice. What you get from Budz is a matched set wound by one guy, David.
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Old 07-26-2020, 10:01 PM
M Sarad M Sarad is offline
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The number of great pickups seems to grow exponentially. I have Harmonic Design in my MIM Tele and PRS and love them. Brondel put Onamac in the Strat he sold me but now favors Ron Ellis. I gave my MIM Strat to a friend. She removed the Duncan Everything Axe Set and put in Bootstrap ‘54 pups that cost her $49.95 for all three.

Lollars, Dimarzio, Novak, and so many more. I’m glad you found great pickups you love.
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Old 07-27-2020, 12:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M Sarad View Post
The number of great pickups seems to grow exponentially. I have Harmonic Design in my MIM Tele and PRS and love them. Brondel put Onamac in the Strat he sold me but now favors Ron Ellis. I gave my MIM Strat to a friend. She removed the Duncan Everything Axe Set and put in Bootstrap ‘54 pups that cost her $49.95 for all three.

Lollars, Dimarzio, Novak, and so many more. I’m glad you found great pickups you love.
Lots of choices out there, and in most cases boutique are way better than OEM. I’ve been buying small builder pickups since the early ‘90s when Fralin was one of a very few. I’ve used Alan Hamel‘s pickups (Fender Custom Shop builder), Ron Ellis learned from Alan, depending on your status you can wait a couple yrs for Ellis products.

I’m sure over the years I’ve bought from well over a couple dozen custom pickup makers. Not all are created equal in terms of delivery, sound, value, consistency and “good guy” status.
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