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.
Josh,
Nice to hear that you are happy with the Elferink guitar. According to the UPS tracking system you will receive the other two guitars within the next few days. I trust you will be just as...
Thank you for this - I'm still not feeling confident enough to go to a jam, but I feel I'm very close. Learning the heads of these tunes has been a real breakthrough - in particular practicing them...
thanks for the JL tele pics man ,
rad ….
I’m gonna stay with the stock
woodscrews for now as i don’t fly with
the tele very often ….
the stubby screwdriver is a good idea
I’ve got one...
This link should play it:
https://mega.nz/file/LEJQxSZL#h-zSy5hDGkaqXLRUOxJZKigu83cYirBp6sdC2cSMv1g
I've done that with a sequencer, so it doesn't sound great. I've included what's on the screen...
I never got one. I was happy with my Tech21 Q-Strip. Too, I got the Grace Design ALIX recently and that one is the bee's knees- nobody says it is strictly for acoustic. I bought two of the WMD EQs...
Thanks Hammertone, we need to talk about Roger No 1. I've tried to PM you but was getting an error message (exceeded private message capacity)-please check. These specs sound great so I'm definitely...
It’s the “open top” version of the CAR, they’re a bit brighter than the regular CAR pickups, which I prefer. Send him an email. He will take custom orders all the time but you gotta reach out. I know...
That pickup is just so sweet...and distinctive. Thanks for posting! Really nice to hear.
Is that the C.A.R. pickup? I've been thinking of putting one in the neck position of a telecaster, but TK's...
Well, it has now been three months since I bought the ES-175. It has pretty much been the only guitar I've been playing since. I'm not sure if I'm still in the honeymoon period or if, as I have long...
Another Recording of my TK Smith Special
Yesterday, 05:45 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos