IMHO the Wilde/Bill and Becky Lawrence L280 noiseless pick ups are the best drop-in replacements for the sake of fat tone and clarity.
The Dimarzio Area T pickups are a close second. They might get you closer to the classic Ed Bickert pre-PAF tone, if that's what you're looking for, than the Wildes. Having used both extensively, I prefer the Wilde pickups.
Both of those have a bit of humbucker compression; if you really like the true single coil sound, the Wilde Microcoil pickups for the Telecaster are outstanding. While they are a true single coil, they pick up less noise due to the smaller coil not offering as much antenna. There are two versions, one with I presume a ceramic bar magnet and one with alnico polepiece magnets; I prefer the sound of the ceramics (the alnicos are a little too Stratty for my tastes).
In my case, I have found that I like adding a resistor in parallel between the hot output of the bridge pickup and ground to sweeten/round off the highs just a little bit and make it less spiky. There are wiring diagrams on the Wilde website and also Lindy Fralin's website has a very nice page on this. Basically, this makes the bridge pickup think it is seeing a lower resistance pot, say 100K, while the neck pick up thinks it's seeing 250K. Folks who belong to the icepick school of Telecaster bridge pickups would probably hate it.
Thought I would share. Aerodyne Telecaster. Stock pickup replaced with CC in P-90 case and upgraded bridge pickup. Both by Pete Biloft at Vintage Vibe pickups.
I think it is commendable, but neither a Gibson nor an Epiphone.
I nearly bought one — oddly enough from a town in the North Island of New Zealand called Levin (I once won a contest — make a book...
You CAN do it in major (we have permission)
C7 - F7 - C7 - C7alt
F7 - F#o - F7 - %
G7 - % - C7 - %
The minor one's a bit weird, of course, you've got to modify the tune, but he likes it (I...
Josh,
Enjoy this beautiful guitar. Again, thanks for your business.
Hope the Benedetto will arrive soon!
Will make sure to enjoy this weekend at the jazz guitar festival in Huddersfield, UK. ...
The Levin is likely a very nice guitar. They were well-regarded in their heyday, mainly in Europe. My wife has a Levin mandolin that is a wonderful instrument, right up there with her 1906 Gibson...
The KC series has four inputs. Ch 1 is mic/line, meaning there's a preamp in Ch1 and not in the other channels. So it will be louder if you plug into Ch 1.
I've used it for one jazz gig. I...
I went to college in Winona 77-81 and lived/worked in La Crosse 83-88. Used to go to the blues night jam at Pearl Street initially, then it was at the Jazz Questor for a couple years, can't remember...
Gibson Les Paul '50s Tribute
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