Opinions on Seymour Duncan quarter pound for tele

[rollypolly]

I hooked up the QP and I can see what Davidd is saying. It’s a bit compressed sounding if that’s what you call it. Not as much of that clean glassy tele sound. But it is much hotter than the old pickup that was in it.

But I’m still wondering - this tele even with the QP doesn’t have the volume of any of my other electrics. My melody maker is louder, even my ‘69 thinline with noiseless pickups is louder. It has me wondering if the capacitor on it is sapping some of the output. I need to look again to see what type it is. It looks larger than the typical orange drop.

[davidd]

Non of my Tele's are as loud as any of my other electrics except my Strats. I think you might be expecting more output than traditional Tele pickups will give you. I have some very hot Creamery PU's (Alt 88's) in one of my Tele's and any of my HB or P90 guitars are still way louder. I found an easy solution... turn the amp up.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by davidd

Non of my Tele's are as loud as any of my other electrics except my Strats. I think you might be expecting more output than traditional Tele pickups will give you. I have some very hot Creamery PU's (Alt 88's) in one of my Tele's and any of my HB or P90 guitars are still way louder. I found an easy solution... turn the amp up.

Another thing you could try is to incorporate a compressor with a volume and tone control.
I use a Moen Optical Comp. It gives me a smooth, punchy tone and a significant signal boost.
I can’t think of any country players who don’t use a compressor. They also work well for country rock.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Another thing you could try is to incorporate a compressor with a volume and tone control.
I use a Moen Optical Comp. It gives me a smooth, punchy tone and a significant signal boost.
I can’t think of any country players who don’t use a compressor. They also work well for country rock.

Yes, there are multiple solutions. Clean boosts are always on my pedal board. The one I like is the very inexpensive but highly regarded Donner Boost Killer. The cheap Mosky SP boost which is a clone of the Xotic EP is also a simple pedal to boost your signal.

Another pedal that is common with the Nashville crowd is the Nobels ODR pedal. Can go from boost to mild OD. Compressors are great when used correctly, but unfortunately it seems that they are confusing to many players. If used judiciously an EQ pedal can be a good boost also while having the option to sculpt your tone somewhat. I always prefer to keep it as simple as possible.

[abn556]

I use a Analog Man King of Tone pedal for clean boost and OD. The pedal has two sides to it that can be independently voiced or blended together. One side clean with a slight volume push to drive the tube amps. The hotter side with slightly more push and a fair amount of OD. Setup really depends on if I am using a clean amp like a Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue as a pedal platform, or if I am using an already hot amp like my Reinhardt 18.

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[abn556]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

You guys are gonna make me end up with a box of pickups to try out! Need to dust off the ole soldering iron. Love those mom and pop garage shops!

Don’t do it….. I spent 20 years playing the boutique pup game and spent untold thousands of dollars. All it made me do in the end was constantly swap back and forth from guitar to guitar. I wasn’t even playing much. Just A/Bing guitars all the time. In the end I went back to the OEM pups and sold off all the boutique stuff after I got sick of soldering and buying wiring harnesses, pups, $50 capacitors, etc… It was a giant waste of money.

Go to the Doug and Pat Show web site. Listen to the dozens of sound clips of OEM and boutique pups they did. You know what you’ll find out. All the pups sound good. Why you ask? Because the guy is a great player and he has an awesome amp.

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[RoyBoy]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Thanks for the tip! Which set have you tried ? I just ordered the palo duro neck pup.

I have palo duro's in my last build, they are great!

[gfirob]

I've got Lindy Fralins in my Tele, but really, between pedal choices, amp choices and playing styles, I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of difference.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by gfirob

I've got Lindy Fralins in my Tele, but really, between pedal choices, amp choices and playing styles, I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of difference.

For the win! Much truth in this statement...

[rollypolly]

I see what y’all are saying. I’ll probably call it a day with the bootstrap pup and the Duncan. I built a cheap eBay partscaster a few years ago and it’s crazy but I really liked the $20 pickup set I had in it. It was on the clean side but plenty hot and good for blues and jazz.

Lucky for me I don’t really like pedals. Besides a reverb and looper, I don’t use anything else. Only problem is that it makes the pup choice more crucial.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

I see what y’all are saying. I’ll probably call it a day with the bootstrap pup and the Duncan. I built a cheap eBay partscaster a few years ago and it’s crazy but I really liked the $20 pickup set I had in it. It was on the clean side but plenty hot and good for blues and jazz.

Lucky for me I don’t really like pedals. Besides a reverb and looper, I don’t use anything else. Only problem is that it makes the pup choice more crucial.

You have to have a Delay pedal with a Tele... Seriously reverb isn't really needed if you have delay.

[rockabilly69]

I know it comes down to individual taste, but, I just don't get the Bootstrap Tele pickup love. On the other hand, I love the Duncan Quarter Pound Tele pickup, and I had one in my old 70's Tele that I could absolutely twang with. I like over-wound Tele pickups, and with the volume backed up a bit, I like them even better. As mentioned in a few posts, I think it comes down to the amp the Tele is plugged into.

Last week I went online and listened to every Bootstrap Tele pickup video I could find, and NONE of them like what I want to hear from a Tele, this Quarter Pound demo on the other hand, sounds great to me, and is exactly what my Tele sounded like, it even shows him with the volume knob at 80% like I said above. I love how the harmonics just seem to jump off of this guitar. And I think with a light touch, the extra mids of this pickup help make that happen.



I also love the slapback delay which really is a match made in heaven for a Tele (or Gretsch), it just brings out the twang.

[TiffanyGuitar]

Originally Posted by abn556

Don’t do it….. I spent 20 years playing the boutique pup game and spent untold thousands of dollars. All it made me do in the end was constantly swap back and forth from guitar to guitar. I wasn’t even playing much. Just A/Bing guitars all the time. In the end I went back to the OEM pups and sold off all the boutique stuff after I got sick of soldering and buying wiring harnesses, pups, $50 capacitors, etc… It was a giant waste of money.

Go to the Doug and Pat Show web site. Listen to the dozens of sound clips of OEM and boutique pups they did. You know what you’ll find out. All the pups sound good. Why you ask? Because the guy is a great player and he has an awesome amp.

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+1 on this. I did this for the last 5 + years, just about drove me crazy. I did not like the Quarter pounder, also did not care for Fralin noiseless P-90 pickups (BTW - Mr. Fralin is a super nice guy - briefly spoke to him), but really in the end all the others I have tried sounded about the same to me. Don't drive yourself crazy. My advice is pick a set of PUPs in the vintage output range and play your guitar instead of swapping stuff out.