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Neck position. Jazz, no twang.
Balanced, no drop off on B and E. This is what I’m finding frustrating with some inexpensive Fender pickups.
Maybe Alnico 2 sweetness?
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07-23-2025 02:09 PM
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The Alnico 5 neck pickup that came with my MIM Player Tele sounds great for jazz. In fact, that whole guitar punches way above it's weight.
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Best Jazz Tele pickup I ever heard (and I’ve heard a lot of ‘em) is the TK Smith Charlie Christian.
But for a “regular” Tele neck pickup, yup, A2 is the way to go.
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I have two telecasters. One is a custom shop with a handwound twisted tele and that sounds very good. I also have an American Ultra with the noise canceling pickups and that sounds very good too. I play them either through a Henriksen Blu 10 or a Louis Electric Columbia. I think there are a lot of decent tele pickups (even the stock ones).
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What concerns me most is the drop off. I expect there is only so much you can do given the laws of physics. I read recently that Bickert solved the problem by installing the humbucker.
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So much depends on the type/gauge of the strings and your picking technique that any suggestion re a „jazz“ pickup is a crap shoot. Tim Lerch must have used at least two dozen different types of pickup over the years and the tones he produced were all perfectly fine . He plays with a rather soft pick- attack and like Ted Greene has also a light touch with his fingers. With a more robust touch and/or med strings (flat-or round wound ?) the possible tones would be quite different again…. Who‘s tone are you after ?
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The Lollar Charlie Christian is also a great pickup. I have one in an Ibanez Hollow body.
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No routing.
Originally Posted by joebloggs13
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Tim Lerch posted this video about a week ago about a pickup he was trying out.
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My Richie Kotzen Tele has a very sweet sounding AlNiCo V neck pickup. Ignore the name, "twang king". It sounds great for jazz.
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^ You mentioned a humbucker then said no P90. What form factors are you looking for?
If you're getting weak signal on the treble strings, you can raise that side of the pickup.
If you want the pickup itself to be punchier you can go to a higher powered pickup. Seymour Duncan offers the Hot Tele and Quarter Pound Tele.
Fralin makes outstanding pickups but for a boutique price. But he lets you choose your heat level, and his pups are pretty punchy in general.
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Jazz has a lot to do with what you choose to play. Just saying.
Most tele pickups sound very similar to one another. When you hear someone getting a jazz tone out of it, it's mostly because they're good at playing jazz.
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This is interesting. Nice video with excellent playing. Thanks for the link. Originally Posted by Freddels
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I played a gig last week with a guitarist who does top session work at LA, and he had a Tele with Joe Barden Danny Gatton pickups. They were VERY impressive! Clean, balanced, not harsh or weak, just great sounding pickups. Plus no noise if there was to be some (which happens on some gigs). Not cheap though, they cost more than what i got my Warmoth/US Customs Tele for..
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I‘ve had success with Barden pickups also, used them exclusively for more than 13 years in my first Tele, played more than 1500 gigs with that guitar….
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I was impressed by a set of Bardens in a Tele I had only very briefly a few years ago.
A little pricey but I only need the neck pickup.
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Whatever Ed Bickert was using.
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According to the fellow who installed the humbucker in Ed’s Tele, Ed was mainly concerned about string balance. They initially tried a DiMarzio which Ed found too dark, and tried the Gibson.
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I liked the Dimarzio Area T pickups for jazz (stacked humbuckers), but if you also want to keep the Tele sound available you might not like them.
Stacked Hum Canceling Tele | DiMarzio
Wilde (Bill and Becky Lawrence) Noiseless are very good, a bit clearer than the Dimarzios and a similar design. Larry Dimarzio worked for Bill Lawrence early on. Bill also worked for Dan Armstrong and worked with Kent Armstrong when Kent was young.
Noisefree Tele Neck – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups
Noisefree Tele Lead – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups
Currently I have Wilde Micro Coil pickups which I like even better. Clear as a bell but able to be very rich. They are very responsive to setup and there are many choices for potentiometer and capacitor values to tailor the sound you want.
Microcoil Tele Set – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups
I have never tried Bill's standard Telecaster pickups, so I can't comment on those. Given how happy I have been with the rest of their pickup line, I suspect I would like them.
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Agreed, the one with pole pieces, which will solve your concern about high string dropoff. Originally Posted by andrew
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will just add that yes the TK smith one is the best.
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I have a TK Smith CC Pickup with the pole pieces on my Rutters Thinline Tele and it is a great sounding jazz pickup to be sure, but it does sound different from the usual small Tele neck pickup. Originally Posted by pcjazz
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Seymour Suncan Seth Lover neck.
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Lots of suggestions here.
I had a Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 in the neck position in a prior Tele, and it was great.
For my recent Tele build I used GFS "upgraded" Tele 7K Alnico neck pickup. Despite the very reasonable price, I have been very impressed with the tone and warmth of this pickup.
7K Vintage Alnico Neck Pickup- Classic Chrome Cover, Fits Te
YMMV, but I can't personally see spending a ton of money on a Tele pickup when a cheaper option does the job very well. The GFS pickups are cheap enough that you can try them without feeling horrible if you don't like them.
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I am an endorser of this brand of pickups from my country “Diliberto Pickups” I put a Charlie Christian single on my tele and I personally like how it sounds great, very organic and open.
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