Mexican made Fender Telecaster tone

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by davidd

In this day and age spending tons of money on pickups is completely unnecessary. The folks oversees figured out a while ago that $5 worth of magnet, wire and plastic could make a handsome profit if sold at $20... making a pickup is lo-tech and there are zero secrets. These outfits charging a $100 or more per pickup are having a laugh at us. The pickup maker Bootstrap out of Ohio is a case in point. Their pickups are made of the materials and specs in demand but they can sell a set for $50 (Tele and Strat)... go figure. I've been down the boutique small winder road and have come to the conclusion that it is mostly money wasted.

…opinions vary….

[davidd]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

…opinions vary….

Agreed, but currently being the owner of 5 Tele's and 5 Strats and gone through pickup swaps on many of them my experience is that price doesn't mean much in getting the tone desired. It literally takes a few minutes to assemble and wind a pickup. The parts are cheap. So where do the huge price differentials come from one maker over another?

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by davidd

Agreed, but currently being the owner of 5 Tele's and 5 Strats and gone through pickup swaps on many of them my experience is that price doesn't mean much in getting the tone desired. It literally takes a few minutes to assemble and wind a pickup. The parts are cheap. So where do the huge price differentials come from one maker over another?

Lots of guitar players either do hear, believe they hear, or hope to hear tiny little subtle differences in all sort of components. What metal the saddles are made of, the phase of the moon when Spruce for a soundboard was harvested, how many screws attach the neck, the type of steel in the frets, what kind of glue is used to hold the guitar together.

It's not for me to say what they are hearing, I just know I can't possibly detect any of that stuff. But for every one of those things and dozens more there are people who set up business to cater to the ones who hear all those subtleties. And plenty of people feel they can hear the difference that "hand" versus "machine" windings or the type of varnish make on a pickup. So there's a whole industry supplying them what they are wanting.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by davidd

Agreed, but currently being the owner of 5 Tele's and 5 Strats and gone through pickup swaps on many of them my experience is that price doesn't mean much in getting the tone desired. It literally takes a few minutes to assemble and wind a pickup. The parts are cheap. So where do the huge price differentials come from one maker over another?

Your guy in Ohio has zero overhead and zero marketing.
His cost of doing business allows him to what he does and that’s great.
As a for instance, Seymour Duncan has a name and a world of experience building pickups for famous artists for decades. Justifiable or not, he can and does command respect that translates into dollars.
He made a specially designed Tele bridge pickup for Brad Paisley that sells for $99. When you consider the clout that carries with it, that ain’t bad.
I would agree that generally speaking, pick up prices are inflated, but remember, there are logistics and the middle man. That costs money.
Finally, you have years of experience and have been “around the block” a time or two so you know what you want in pickups .
Most folks don’t have a clue so they go to Di Marzio or Duncan or somewhere and get what they need.
This info that has taken time and costs money to amalgamate and post on a professional website.
Finally, I never even heard of your guy and I live in Ohio. I don’t know where he is exactly, but I’ll bet he isn’t far from me.
Thanks for that part!

[davidd]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Your guy in Ohio has zero overhead and zero marketing.
His cost of doing business allows him to what he does and that’s great.
As a for instance, Seymour Duncan has a name and a world of experience building pickups for famous artists for decades. Justifiable or not, he can and does command respect that translates into dollars.
He made a specially designed Tele bridge pickup for Brad Paisley that sells for $99. When you consider the clout that carries with it, that ain’t bad.
I would agree that generally speaking, pick up prices are inflated, but remember, there are logistics and the middle man. That costs money.
Finally, you have years of experience and have been “around the block” a time or two so you know what you want in pickups .
Most folks don’t have a clue so they go to Di Marzio or Duncan or somewhere and get what they need.
This info that has taken time and costs money to amalgamate and post on a professional website.
Finally, I never even heard of your guy and I live in Ohio. I don’t know where he is exactly, but I’ll bet he isn’t far from me.
Thanks for that part!

They get a lot of respect on the TDPRI forum...also for an extra $10 they will custom wind to your specs if you want.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/your-o...ckups.1124750/

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by davidd

Agreed, but currently being the owner of 5 Tele's and 5 Strats and gone through pickup swaps on many of them my experience is that price doesn't mean much in getting the tone desired. It literally takes a few minutes to assemble and wind a pickup. The parts are cheap. So where do the huge price differentials come from one maker over another?

Got any recordings of your playing with these pickups??? Especially Tele pickups that's what I'm most interested in.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Got any recordings of your playing with these pickups??? Especially Tele pickups that's what I'm most interested in.

Go on You Tube and do a search for “Bootstrap Pickups”

Here’s an example:

[gman97040]

Thank you, Everyone that replied to my post. All good information and I appreciate you educating me on the 2007 MIM Tele. I will try adjusting the pickup heights to see what effect that has. I had it setup after I bought it for what that is worth. Thanks Rokdog for the suggestions on the pickups if I end up replacing them.

[SalFromChatham]

This post. Chefs kiss.

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Ok gman, here you go…

This one will give you the “twang” with some punch in the mids.
If you like Brad Paisley’s tone, you’ll like it. It also works well with rock or other styles. It has a slightly higher output too.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/single...aisley-la-brea

https://youtu.be/2_Ey1D3ofx4

If you like the early Eagles sound when Bernie Leadon was with the band,
this bridge pick up will give you that. The neck pick up in this set is probably my favorite as it has a more clear kind of “chirpy” tone… sounds very pretty in the middle position.
You can still dial back the trebles if you like a darker voice for blues stuff.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...r-pickup-black

https://youtu.be/uuIZbkoKqMQ

This last one will give you the Tom Petty sound but won’t be as articulate as any of the others. Watch the guy playing in the country video to get an idea of how it sounds. Remember, “twang” is in the fingers.
The one I use is very similar to this, mine is just a “custom wound” I had done a few years ago.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/single...ter-pound-tele

It’s difficult to recommend any specific one of these as they will all do what you want.
If you twisted my arm, I would probably go with the Paisley La Brea in the bridge as it’s the most versatile.
The difference is really in your ears.
Hope this was helpful

[RichardN]

Originally Posted by H165

This is one of hundreds of comments and observations all pointing to the same conclusions about electric guitars: Where they were made matters very little. What electronics are in them and how they are set up matters alot.

Yes, this...^^^

There are so many pick upset there it may be near impossible to make a choice. You could easily spend more than the guitar is worth. However, if you like the American made Teles start with the pick ups they use.

[Dadzmad]

I have a 2007 MIM Ash FSR Tele and it's one of my favorite guitars. As posted above adjusting pick up height is what you want to do if you are not happy with the tone you're getting. I did change out the pickups on mine with Rose A2s and use flat wounds but that's just me. If you just want to rock - the stock ceramics are fine. These are great guitars.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by Dadzmad

I have a 2007 MIM Ash FSR Tele and it's one of my favorite guitars. As posted above adjusting pick up height is what you want to do if you are not happy with the tone you're getting. I did change out the pickups on mine with Rose A2s and use flat wounds but that's just me. If you just want to rock - the stock ceramics are fine. These are great guitars.

No amount of pickup height adjustment will get a ceramic to sound like alnico. Yes, they can sound great if that is the tone you are after, but generally ceramic pickups tend to lose the sweetness and twang that alnico has. They certainly are very usable for a higher gain rock player though.

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by davidd

No amount of pickup height adjustment will get a ceramic to sound like alnico. Yes, they can sound great if that is the tone you are after, but generally ceramic pickups tend to lose the sweetness and twang that alnico has. They certainly are very usable for a higher gain rock player though.

And no amount of any kind of adjustments (pickup heights, strings, amp, whatever) will make ceramic humbuckers sound like Alnico single coils.

When I started getting into electric guitar playing a little over a year ago, I came thiiiiiiis close to buying a cheap but cheerful little Squier hardtail Strat. It felt and sounded fine to me although I didn't really know what I was doing trying it out. But I decided to get something a little "nicer" and with a wider, flatter fretboard and skinny neck.

Ended up with an Ibanez "shredder" type super-Strat with a pair of really hot, ceramic humbuckers. I fought with that thing for months trying everything under the sun to get a open, chimey, pleasing tone that suited the stuff I was playing. Finally said the heck with it and went and bought a Player Tele.

Still got that lovely Ibanez RG in the closet, it would probably make some budding Tosin Abasi very happy so maybe I'll move it along one day.

[Beachrunner]

Originally Posted by Dadzmad

I have a 2007 MIM Ash FSR Tele and it's one of my favorite guitars. As posted above adjusting pick up height is what you want to do if you are not happy with the tone you're getting. I did change out the pickups on mine with Rose A2s and use flat wounds but that's just me. If you just want to rock - the stock ceramics are fine. These are great guitars.

I've got a MIM Ash FSR Tele as well, and although the stock ceramic pickups weren't bad, I put a Duncan '59 humbucker in the neck, and a Duncan Five-Two in the bridge.

Big improvement.

Yes, these are great guitars!

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Go on You Tube and do a search for “Bootstrap Pickups”

Here’s an example:

Th cleans were sterile and the dirty clips were too dirty for me tell what they actually sounded like.

So I wasn't impressed with that tone, but I am going on to YOUTUBE to see what I can find. Maybe somebody playing more what I think is in line with good Tele tone.

Edit: I just listened to as many of the clips as I can find of the Bootstrap Tele pickups, and frankly, and I couldn't find one that I liked. Most of the players I heard demoing them were amateurish, and playing through either too much reverb, digital sounding amps, etc. Many them seemed to be demoing pedals along with the pickups. What I would like to hear is somebody playing through a decent amp, that knows how to play the music that Teles shine in. I would to like hear a Tele with pickups straight into a Tweed Deluxe style amp, cranked to the point of the amp working.

I'm all for cheap pickups, and I used an unknown winder that someone recommended to me. Their name is EP Custom. I bought their Jaguar and Jazzmaster sets, and they were great. But since I bought them, their priced went up considerably. So I'm always on the hunt for cheaper pickups.


This is the kind of Tele tones I like...