Humbucker for Tele neck position?

[blackcat]

I’m thinking about SD Jazz or ‘59. Maybe a Seth Lover.

Neck position in a MIM Tele.

I’m interested in a basic humbucker, nothing too expensive. The SD Jazz can be ordered with Fender string spacing.

Any advice or suggestions?

DiMarzio 36th Anniversary - on the recommendation ( what better! ) of Jim Soloway on here. Never looked back.

[Hep To The Jive]

I have a Squire Vintage Modified thinline tele with the stock Fender Wide Range humbuckers which I LOVE the sound of! Interestingly, the pots are 250K, which I think is big part of how they sound. Anyone can recommend a regular humbucker that would sound great with 250K pots? Thinking of installing a humbucker on my other tele...

[jim777]

I just installed an older Bartolini humbucker in the neck position of a parts caster, and I am just knocked out. I had to fiddle with the bass vs treble height, but have got things balanced now and it just sounds fabulous. TI flats 13-56. No name neck and body. Dark and mysterious, especially when I play wrong notes.

IMHO it is VERY difficult to get better than a Bartolini pickup. I've had them in a dozen guitars.

[Flat]

I'm also putting together a "jazz" telecaster in slow motion. I'm thinking about several pickups for the neck, including Duncan Seth Lover, Lollar Imperial low-wind (pricey), TK Smith CAR (really pricey), and the Bartolini Tuck Andress humbucker:

https://bartolini.net/product/1cta/

[chris32895]

One thing to keep in mind when installing a humbucker in a Tele is the length of the mounting legs. The body cavity must be deep enough to allow the humbucker to fit inside and be adjusted properly and often the mounting screws are so long I've had to snip and file them. Recently, for my Squire tele, I did not realize the neck pickup cavity was not deep enough for a Gibson '57 classic so I had to trim my mounting screws and purchase a separate, short-legged humbucker frame. It will install great now (haven't finished yet the pots, switches, etc.) but it was a bit of work. Any Tele I've had a humbucker installed in (even those with supposed humbucker routes) the neck pickup cavity depth was always an issue. This includes Fender, Squire, MJT, and custom-routed bodies.

Also, if you are mounting the pickup to the pickguard, do not do I what did and mount the pickup to a thin, 5-screw pickguard. It looks great but the thin pickguard is flimsy and the humbucker is heavy. The pickguard will bend a little and the humbucker's distance relative to the strings will not be consistent resulting in inconsistent outputs for each string. This was a source of frustration for me and now I only use 3-ply pickguards as they are much less prone to being influenced by pickup weight. With the 3-ply I can get away with 5-hole, but of course 8-hole will more stable.

Just my 2 cents from building Tele's for the past couple years, primarily using humbuckers. YMMV

[jim777]

I have a Squire Vintage Modified thinline tele with the stock Fender Wide Range humbuckers which I LOVE the sound of! Interestingly, the pots are 250K, which I think is big part of how they sound. Anyone can recommend a regular humbucker that would sound great with 250K pots? Thinking of installing a humbucker on my other tele...

Lindy Fralin makes a wide range humbucker.