"Do everything" Set for Tele

[brisk]

Do you think lil 59 neck/duck bucker middle/lil 59 tele bridge would do the justice to a tele?

[fakiekid]

as long as it is s/s/s yeah

personally i like the quarter pounder in the neck, hot rail in bridge, duckbuckers are nice pickups for strat, maybe if youre up for a thick sounding guitar try hotrail/duckbucker or vintage rail and a vintage stack.

get the high output in the bridge and then go across the board smoothly to the tele vintage stack.

[tone4days]

i would think a lil jb for the bridge might be a bit more 'do everything'

[ratherdashing]

Pearly Gates neck (lil PG or 59 if you must keep it single sized), SSL-1 middle, Tele Hot tapped bridge would be the most versatile and nice-sounding 3 pup Tele IMO.

[theodie]

Do you think lil 59 neck/duck bucker middle/lil 59 tele bridge would do the justice to a tele?

I think it might be a cool idea. I have had beefs with the small poles of lil 59's though becasue it seems notes drop out when the strings bend. Are cool rails made for tele?

[Butch Snyder]

Okay, I may get bashed for this but it's my honest opinion....

Put in whatever you want. In a Tele, the pickups are only one of many elements. A Telecaster's tone, more than any other guitar, is really dependent on your right and left hand techinque. Don't agree? That's okay, but I had a Nocaster, one of the most simplified, yet complex guitars I have ever played. It did anything I wanted (provided I could get the tones out). I earned every note that came out of that guitar...

[tone4days]

i dont think you'll catch much heat for those sentiments, butch ... but they dont really answer the question as far as 'do everything' ... no matter how much i love my vintage stack for tele matched set, it isnt 'do everything' ... see the point?

and dave has an interesting point about the tiny pole pieces ... for me, that would be enough to go to a vintage rails over a duckbucker ... i wonder if the custom shop could make a jb jr with rails or a lil59 with rails?

t4d

[SFW]

This may are may not answer your question, but I still have the stock Fender Delta Tones pickups in my Tele. With the aid of the tone knob and a cheap 7-band EQ (DOD GE-7) I can get any tone I want (within reason) out of my tele. When I want "the tele tone," I turn the EQ off. When I want warmer, fatter tones I turn the EQ on. I have th EQ set with a mid hump, and the level raised a bit. This fattens up the tone, and boosts the output to be ths same as my 59/CC loaded Les Paul. Yes, it hums, but that's just the price you have to pay for true single-coil tone. The point I'm trying to make is this: get some nice single-coil pickups (hell, even the duncan noiseless ones) and a good EQ pedal. From there you should be able to cover whatever ground you would like to.

[ErikH]

Okay, I may get bashed for this but it's my honest opinion....

Put in whatever you want. In a Tele, the pickups are only one of many elements. A Telecaster's tone, more than any other guitar, is really dependent on your right and left hand techinque. Don't agree? That's okay, but I had a Nocaster, one of the most simplified, yet complex guitars I have ever played. It did anything I wanted (provided I could get the tones out). I earned every note that came out of that guitar...

Man, you are so right about this. I haven't had my Tele that long but I have quickly discovered that it'll let you know when something's not right and you do have to earn every note. But I love playing it. Mine has the stock pickups and it'll probably stay that way. I've played everything with it from Beatles stuff to Deep Purple, Van Halen, Free, you name it. It's a great "do-it-all" axe.

[theodie]

i dont think you'll catch much heat for those sentiments, butch ... but they dont really answer the question as far as 'do everything' ... no matter how much i love my vintage stack for tele matched set, it isnt 'do everything' ... see the point?

and dave has an interesting point about the tiny pole pieces ... for me, that would be enough to go to a vintage rails over a duckbucker ... i wonder if the custom shop could make a jb jr with rails or a lil59 with rails?

t4d

I thought the lil 59 with rails is basically a cool rails?? Check the tone chart.

[tone4days]

cool dave - thanks

[pixelpusher]

I moded my tele with a phat cat p90 in the neck and a lil 59 in the bridge.. I LOVE IT. Doesn't sound like a tele anymore which may be heresy to some but it it is infinitely more useful to me as a rock player.

The tone pouring out of my tele SMOKES my '90 PRS and while it's not as easy to play as the PRS i love the feel of the tele. I don't mind working a little harder.. makes you think more about the actual notes anyway.

the phat cat just sings.. i can't give that pup enough props.. and the 59 gives me a very useable, growly, even & smooth bridge tone that i couldn't remotely get with the stock spanky single coil.

[beerdrinkingtech]

Hello,
I was once working with Magic Slim's Guitarist, We set up his Tele with a Seth Lover Neck and a Lil' 59 on a spliter switch.
With the Lil' 59' in split mode we had a real Tele Twang for days,
then in full mode we had PAF tone.
The Neck was some of the best blues tone to ever come out of a Tele.

Best Regards
BDT

[doveman]

I've put in a pair of tele vintage stack pickups with one miniswitch between the volume and tone knobs. When the switch is down both pickups are in humbucking mode. When the switch is up both pickups are in single coil mode. They have noise again ... but they are slightly louder and have that single coil sound. The middle setting is still humbucking. So you can get six different sounds. I like it a lot. Have tried a few different pickup combinations ... this one is the best for me.

[ArtieToo]

I agree with so many things above, I'm not gonna bother quoting any of them.

But basically, I get some of my favorite "Tele-tone" with my C5/59 combo. Definitely, non-traditional Tele pups.

Also, I'd love to see a Tele bridge version of the Cool Rails.