Tele replacement pickups - Bill Frisell tone

**robertm2000** · 10-03-2014, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by D.G.

...the neck and bridge pickups when on together do not humbuck, which is deal killer for me on a gigging guitar.

I'm considering possibly an alnico 2/5 for the neck pup. I'm not really very concerned with the bridge, except that is be RWRP with the neck.

I'd still suggest you consider Vintage Vibe Guitars/Pete Biltoft pickups - see my note above. The big deal here is, all Pete Biltoft's pickups have interchangeable magnets! Screw-on brackets on the bottom of the pickups, you can change the magnets in 15 seconds, even on humbuckers. He has Alnico 2, 3, 5, and ceramic magnets, two sets your choice with each pickup. Pete makes pickups with both no polepieces and individual polepieces, and winds the polarity any way you want.

ww.vintagevibeguitars.com

**D.G.** · 10-03-2014, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by robertm2000

I'd still suggest you consider Vintage Vibe Guitars/Pete Biltoft pickups - see my note above. The big deal here is, all Pete Biltoft's pickups have interchangeable magnets! Screw-on brackets on the bottom of the pickups, you can change the magnets in 15 seconds, even on humbuckers. He has Alnico 2, 3, 5, and ceramic magnets, two sets your choice with each pickup. Pete makes pickups with both no polepieces and individual polepieces, and winds the polarity any way you want.

ww.vintagevibeguitars.com

I've certainly heard nothing but good things about VVG, and while it's on my radar, I'd rather get something "stock" without having to call up the winder and yadda, yadda, yadda. VVG standard Tele sets don't look like they would meet my needs. Yeah, I know, I'm weird, but I'm also lazier than you can imagine

Also, you can't really change magnets easily when the pole-pieces are the magnets

**Melodic Dreamer** · 10-03-2014, 08:20 PM

Another vintage vibe fan.

**D.G.** · 10-06-2014, 03:16 PM

Well, I went into a local shop and picked up a Lollar SpecialT neck pup. It's a very nice pickup, and the balance is ok -- the plain G string is still a bit hot for me, but not enough to cause me to be irritated at it. It's got a much "stringier" sound than the stock pup, definitely more "refined". The real test will come on the gig. I don't think it humbucks with the stock bridge, but the stock bridge is also out of phase, so I'll need to pop it open and swap the bridge pup wires before I can be sure.

**SamBooka** · 10-06-2014, 07:58 PM

I was thinking about this..

I don't have a lot of experience with modern Tele's so bear with me.

When you have one pickup that is RWRP compared to the other it will buck hum when both pickups are activated at the same time. But I understand that 99% of the time it is two similar pickups (as in strats, jazzmasters, P90 Les Pauls).

In a telecaster where the coils are quite dissimilar does it still work well enough to make a difference?

**D.G.** · 10-08-2014, 06:50 PM

Yes

**D.G.** · 10-09-2014, 02:05 PM

So I put a Lollar SpecialT bridge in and while the guitar now sounds like a killer Tele, it's maybe a bit too bright. Can't believe I just typed that

So, I gonna keep it as is for now, but I think I'll up the string gauge from 11's to 12's and maybe raise the action a bit more. Still gonna stick with a plain 3rd cause I really want to put some pedal steel bends into my playing. Maybe in a few months I'll revisit the issue and try another neck pup, maybe a Don Mare or a Fralin Steel Pole.

The stock pickups are really funky lookin' beasties. Two magnets along the bottom and the pole-pieces touching them:

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O O O O O O
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I'll take a photo and post it later.

**SamBooka** · 10-09-2014, 02:40 PM

I love the special t bridge.. I never found it to bright but I must admit I have brass saddles.

As for the stock pickups.. very very very inexpensive parts. even the neck pickup uses bar magnets?

**D.G.** · 10-09-2014, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by SamBooka

I love the special t bridge.. I never found it to bright but I must admit I have brass saddles.

As for the stock pickups.. very very very inexpensive parts. even the neck pickup uses bar magnets?

Yeah, the neck and bridge pups are both built the same way, kinda like a p-90 actually. It's possible the polepieces are actually steel and not magnetic themselves. They're also very tall, I'm guessing to fit the extra windings. Again, I actually liked the stock pups, but I couldn't handle the hot 3rd string and the the bridge is not RWRP.

i also have brass saddles, and the special t bridge is giving me a bit of an ice-pick if I don't roll down the tone a few notches. I prefer to play with vol and tone wide open, so...

**SamBooka** · 10-09-2014, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by D.G.

Yeah, the neck and bridge pups are both built the same way, kinda like a p-90 actually. It's possible the polepieces are actually steel and not magnetic themselves. They're also very tall, I'm guessing to fit the extra windings. Again, I actually liked the stock pups, but I couldn't handle the hot 3rd string and the the bridge is not RWRP.

i also have brass saddles, and the special t bridge is giving me a bit of an ice-pick if I don't roll down the tone a few notches. I prefer to play with vol and tone wide open, so...

If you are in this deep. quick question.. what value volume pot you using?

**D.G.** · 10-09-2014, 07:18 PM

I would imagine it's a 250k as it's a Fender guitar with single coils. I suppose it's possible that the cheap pots in the guitar might have too high a value which would let through unwanted high-end. I'll check it out, thanks!

**D.G.** · 10-11-2014, 12:04 AM

Found the answer: Gold Foils. That's what Bill Frisell is using in his Tele on the Disfarmer and Big Sur projects.

Lollar makes a gold foil pickup, but they're $180(!!!) per and you need to get them installed and shimed. When I popped in the new pups on my guitar I saw there's a humbucker route in the neck position, but I don't think I'm gonna go there, I'm happy enough with the Special T for now

**mad dog** · 10-20-2014, 09:03 AM

Best tele p/us I've heard are from Don Mare and Aaron at Rumpelstiltskin. The neck p/u in Don's 2324 set is the best. (I believe his "Donocaster" neck is the current equivalent p/u.) Not loud, as it's rather underwound. But rich, warm, with perfect clarity. Gets HUGE with volume, holds together. The guitar in which I had these pickups got stolen months ago, and it's hard to live without that neck sound.

Playing a set of Rumpelstiltskin Blackropes now in a Baja tele. These are definitely in that classic, underwound zone. The neck p/u is almost but not quite as good as Don's 2324. The bridge however is better than any other I've heard. And that middle position (hum cancelling) is endlessly useful and beautiful.

As far a neck HB ... I've heard several, but much prefer a minihumbucker. Mine is a Tom Short Undercover mini, in a deluxe type (two volume) partscaster tele. It's a minihum, but in a full size case. Maybe just my taste, but that mini and single combination in a tele would be very hard to top. Minihums and teles are the best. HBs can work too, but many tend to be muddy, can overwhelm the bridge.
MD

**Makani** · 10-24-2014, 03:45 PM

I changed my Mex Tele neck pickup to a Lollar Charlie Christian a couple of years ago and have found it to be great for jazz. I also changed the bridge pu to the matching Lollar low output pu but the results were not as I had expected. I prefer a bit more output on the bridge...but then again I don't use that pu very much anyway. So consider the CC pick up.