View Poll Results: What pickup would you prefer on a "jazz" Tele?
- Voters
- 175. You may not vote on this poll
-
Single coil
93 53.14% -
Humbuckering
66 37.71% -
Other (please explain)
16 9.14%
-
Humbucker for me
-
05-04-2023 08:17 PM
-
Genil is an under-the-radar great player to most of us. He posts a lot of really good stuff on YouTube including recently putting up an extensive interview with Mick Goodrick from 2009.
Genil Castro - YouTube
I found him maybe 15 years ago on YouTube when I was researching playing jazz on a Telecaster. A guy had turned up at a jazz workshop I was going to with his Tele, sounding wonderful; I think this was before I had ever heard of anybody else doing that. It wasn't quite the trend yet and there were only one or two Ed Bickert videos, but Genil turned up quite a bit.
So, a couple years later after my first post in the thread, I have two Telecasters. One of them has Bill-and-Becky Lawrence Micro Coils in it, which sound wonderful (with neodymium magnets), really outstanding pickups; the other is a semihollow Tele which has a Bill-and-Becky L280TN stacked neck pickup and a DiMarzio Area T bridge pick up (they're out of phase with each other, though, so the middle position is really quite muted). The Telecaster remains a great choice for playing jazz; to my ears, however, the single coils and stacked single coil footprint humbuckers sound better than the PAF style humbuckers. I have tried Seymour Duncans and Classic 57s in the semihollow Tele. The single coil footprint is just better to my ears.
The Micro Coils have excellent noise rejection for single coils and the L280 and Area Ts have no noise- that Tele is my quietest guitar!Last edited by Cunamara; 12-25-2023 at 12:55 PM.
-
You can add a resistor in parallel between the hot lead of the bridge pickup to ground. If you use 500k pots for the humbucker, you can make the bridge pickup "see" 250k this way (it's not perfect but good enough), which will keep the bridge pickup from being too harsh but cutting some of the highs. I don't know the math but there is a formula for this.
Originally Posted by gitman
I do this on my Teles with regular pickups; a 220k resistor tames the bridge pickup nicely and means I don't have to twiddle the tone knob so much when switching pickups. For example:
Tele 3 Way Wiring Diagram – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups
How To Use Resistors In A Guitar & Cool Tricks | Fralin Pickups
I've never found the bridge pickup on a Tele useable, but this mod (Bill Lawrence's, without the treble bleed circuit on the volume pot) makes it so. Also, Lindy Fralin has a lot of good technical information on his web site.
-
I use this in a Strat with a single coil in the neck (actually a Bill Lawrence L280N) and PAF style humbuckers in the middle and bridge positions. The neck pickup sees a 250k volume and tone pot with a 0.047 cap; the humbuckers see a 500k volume pot and tone pots (stacked concentric, so each has their own tone control) and 0.022 caps. The 250k tone pot is a push-pull switch to "split" the PAFs (using the Fralin partial split resistor diagram, which only partially shunts one coil to ground). Originally Posted by Robertito
Last edited by Cunamara; 12-27-2023 at 05:11 PM.
-
Single coil or humbucker, it's all good for jazz in a tele. I noticed more important factor is the neck shape. I can't get a satisfying tone on a thinner neck with either type of pickup. I mean for jazz specifically. Thick neck makes everything sound better. I experimented a little bit with different necks.
Another thing I'm surprised not much mentioning of the Fender own wide range humbucker, which is really perfect for jazz. I got this 72 thinline tele with WR humbuckers as a backup guitar, but now it ended up being the main one.
-
There are a few editions of the Fender "wide range humbucker," and off-brand copies of it, which one do you have? Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
See: 72 Thinline Pickups? | Telecaster Guitar Forum
-
I don't know... It's stock MIJ Fender, whatever they put in it. Originally Posted by Mick-7
-
lollar Charlie christian
-
Aha! I’ve been scouring the web for anything about the WRHB pickups relative to jazz. Cleaning out my childhood home a few years ago, I found an original CuNiFe WRHB that someone had given me when I was just starting out on my musical journey, sort of a “hey kid, want this guitar pickup?” kind of a thing. All I can find are examples of rock/roots playing, mostly screaming lead guitar solos. I was thinking of dropping it in the neck position of one of my teles, paired with the traditional tele bridge pickup. But, based on the recorded examples I’ve been able to find, I have not been too motivated to follow through on this. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
Does anyone have, or can you recommend, recordings of this pickup in a jazz context? Any recommendations for dealing with the disparities of potentiometer values that would be needed to optimize both neck and bridge PUs? I would prefer not to extensively rout the guitar to accommodate 2 pots each for tone and volume for each pickup (total of 4) and then have to use the hideous Telecaster Deluxe pickguard. Any thoughts on whether 2 stacked or concentric pots with different values appropriate for each of the two PUs is a feasible option? Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
-
I have an old MIM 72 Tele Custom (WRHB in the neck, traditional tele bridge) that has gone through a bunch of different neck pickups over the years. Just in the Wide Range category, it has had the stock MIM pickup, a real vintage wide range, and a Brandonwound repro. My personal favorite of the three for jazz was the stock MIM pickup, but that was just a regular PAF style pickup in a larger cover (seriously, there was foam in there to fill up the gap).I would say that the true vintage CuNiFe's closest relative is the Gretsch filtertron pickup. They're both clearer, brighter, chimier humbuckers. But given the choice of the two, I'd rather have a filtertron. (An astute observer will notice that the WRHB doesn't rank particularly high on my list).
I went through a lot of pickups looking for the best "jazz tele" tone. The search ended with the TK Smith CCII. (I've tried about 5 modern Charlie Christian pickups. TK's is the one to get.)
In terms of wiring a humbucker and a single coil on a single volume pot, the best way to balance it is to use a 500K pot and have a 500K resistor wired from pickup selector (where the bridge pickup connects) to ground. This way, the neck pickup will see 500k. The bridge and middle positions will see 250K.
-
Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your experience and it basically confirms my instinct on this question. Surely if original CuNiFe WRHBs were a good fit for the jazz tones that most of us seek, someone would be using them and singing their praises. Given their prices on Reverb, some folks do value them highly for other applications, and I’ll probably move the pickup along and use the funds to buy something else.
-
I don't know about the original WRHB, maybe they are different, but the stock RI I have I'm pretty sure is not CuNiFe, just regular alnico something. The original ones maybe brighter, especially I've heard they go with 1meg pots... Yikes!
Honestly I'm not looking for a dark tone of trad. jazz archtop on a tele, but rather a thick tone, with a bit of twanginess that tele inherently posses. I'm not looking to eleminate it completely. Maybe most jazzers do?
Suppose if I commit to play only jazz on it, I'd put heavier strings (now 10's), definetly flat wound and get a better 'jazz' tone. But as it is, I play all kinds of gigs on it, pop, rock, funk, R&B. I prefer to have one guitar for everything.
Anyway, here's bit of playing, I'm very satisfied with the tone I'm getting. The playing itself could be better...
-
yep. Use 500K pots and either an .022 or .047 capacitor. Then, run a parallel 470K resistor from the switch hot lug of the bridge pickup to ground (usually on the back of the pot). This will make the bridge pickup think it is seeing a 250 K pot while the humbucker thinks it's seeing a 500K pot. You can find wiring examples for this on Bill Lawrence Pickups – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups in their wiring section for Telecasters and a much more detailed and extensive discussion on Fralin's site. Easy to do. Originally Posted by kevmoga
How To Use Resistors In A Guitar & Cool Tricks | Fralin Pickups
I do something similar in all of my Telecasters to reduce the harsh high-end of the bridge pickup.
-
[QUOTE=Hep To The Jive;1367652]I don't know about the original WRHB, maybe they are different, but the stock RI I have I'm pretty sure is not CuNiFe, just regular alnico something. The original ones maybe brighter, especially I've heard they go with 1meg pots... Yikes!
Honestly I'm not looking for a dark tone of trad. jazz archtop on a tele, but rather a thick tone, with a bit of twanginess that tele inherently posses. I'm not looking to eleminate it completely. Maybe most jazzers do?
The originals were CuNiFe and yes indeed, they used 1 Meg pots. The reissues are Alnico AFAIK. I’m not looking for dark, nor trying to replicate an archtop, more like what you describe, thick with a little bite. Kenny Burrell, Peter Bernstein, Ed Cherry, etc. Even as bright as Grant Green. Your tone in the recording is great! But I don’t need the trebly bite of the originals, take a look at any Tab Benoit live video on YT to hear that. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ll be moving the pickup along and will likely go with a CC or standard tele set such as those recommended earlier in the thread. Thanks to you and others for the wiring suggestions!
-
I have a '72 Thinline reissue as well and find it really nice for jazz. IMO the stock pots are a big part of what makes it work well for jazz... and something non-jazz players almost always change.
-
1950s Telcaster wiring offers a dark tone on the neck pickup:
Telecaster Wiring 101 - Fralin Pickups
-
The only reason I would choose a Telecaster -- for any type of music -- is because I want a Telecaster. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
So A) I probably wouldn't choose a Telecaster for a traditional "jazz" sound; and
B) if I decided a Telecaster was right for the music ("jazz" or otherwise) I would be happy with the standard single-coil neck pickup that comes on a Telecaster. Because [louder, for the cheap seats] the only reason I would choose a Telecaster in the first place is because I want a Telecaster.
That being said: Once I've decided I want a Telecaster I might spend a few minutes debating whether I want a traditional Telecaster, or something like a 1972 Telecaster Thinline, which has humbuckers.
-
I really like the Harmonic Design Z90 for the neck pickup and can't see how my tele could sound much better. It's a fantastic pickup for the guitar.
30% taper pots tone and volume pots from English company 'Bare Knuckles' installed with '50's style wiring.
-
If it is strictly and only Jazz, then Wide-Range-Buckers seem like a cool option to me.
If it is anything else included, and not jazz only, then I'm fan of .... Nashville setup, so regular Teles neck and bridge, with Strat middle.
-
I ended up ditching the wide-range buckers for TV Jones variety. The reasons are I wanted to try something different and also the WRHB in my Japanese made tele came with 250K pots(surprisingly), which was great for darker jazz tone but not really good for anything else. The guitar didn't do very well in the mix with a funk band, I could try it with 500K of course but decided something else...
So TV Jones Supertron, the replica of 60's Gretsch pickup, turned out to be a really tasty jazz pickup, of all the filtertron family pickups it's the best for jazz IMO. Not often mentioned, but I highly recomend to try it.
-
All TV Jones' stuff is great. I'm partial to the T-Armonds and T-90s myself, especially for "jazzier tones".
The Supertron is one I haven't tried.
-
Nice APG pick up/humb in single size/.
-
Both!
-
Having bought an ASAT with a humbucker and finding I didn't like it, I got one of these instead: Custom Handwound Replacement Vintage and Modern Humbucker Pickups: Charlie Christian - Humbucker Size
This purchase was inspired by seeing this review:
-
I recently bought another 'Baja 50's' Tele because I missed the one I had previously. The neck pickup was loose, so I removed the pickguard to sort that issue and found a rudely cut humbucker route. I kept the guitar because the price was right, and ordered a P90 from a gentleman who makes pickups and hangs out on TDPRI. I just saw an email saying it arrived today in the mail, can't wait to try it out
Bootstrap Screwdriver™ for Gibson(R) P90
Reply With Quote
Out of tune bass on record?
Today, 04:54 PM in The Players