Jwaters
in your opinion, what is the best bridge pickup for telecaster in terms of:
versatility,value, etc. ?
MikeM
The Wilde bridge keystone. Cheap. Amazing tone. Versatile.
Manfred-Klose
I use the dimarzio tone zone T , its a humbucker sized single coil , that can be wired to a coil tap to give it a single coil sound as well.
very versatile for what i do.
costs about R900 (marshall music stocks them).
I also used the seymour duncan hot rails before, but never really like it, aldough it turned the tele into a beast with hi gain tones, think john 5........
What style of music do you play or wanna play with it?
Jwaters
im kind of trying to stray from the thin, trebly, "tele sound"
i play alot of alt,rock,grunge,etc. so im looking for somthing with high output, probably a humbucker, i suppose a good example of sounds i'd want to get out of it something like the white stripes or queens of the stone age, or also metallica.
somewhere in that range...
what about this?
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-STKT2-Hot-Lead-Stack-SingleCoil-Bridge-Pickup?sku=300431
Gearhead
The main problem with your wishes is that in order to make a high output pup, one has to compromise the 'thin'ness and one looses highs. So essentially you contradict yourself. I also don't see what you would want with a Tele for playing Metallica. Imho the best rock you get out of a Tele sounds like Keith Richards or Bruce Springsteen.
andrewjbryson
+1 Gearhead....
The problem is : If you want a fat overdriven tone you have to go stacked humbucker (little 59/ hs-2) etc
But as soon as you go humbucker you are essentially loosing the true Tele sparkly/gonky tone.
So you can either use the true Tele tone pickups (something like a Broadcaster) - and blast overdrive from your amp/pedal
Or you can create a hot signal with a Hot P/up(stacked humbucker / hotrail/ coolrail)
Both methods have pro's and cons'
But personally I would go for the lower output p/up.
MikeM
Get a different bridge and put a fullsize bucker in. Easy peasey. Requires routing from a tech as well ?
AlanRatcliffe
@AJB & GH - Jwaters is saying he doesn't want to keep the "Teleness" of the bridge pickup. Not everyone goes for it...
@ Jwaters - As suggested by Mike and Manfred, your best bet is to go humbucker, either Tele-size or full-size. I'd probably go for something medium power range for grunge/alt rock, rather that the highest output models, but exact model is going to be down to your tastes - there is no clear "best". The range of Tele-size humbuckers is a bit limited, but you might find something that suits - there are a couple of models to look at from either DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan. Mike's suggestion of fitting a full size humbucker gives you a huge range of pickups to choose from, but means a different bridge and a bit of routing, which you might not be prepared to do.
For what it's worth, I think DiMarzio does better Tele-size humbuckers (like the FastTrackT or the Chopper), but the Little '59 from Duncan is also worth a look.
Jack-Flash-Jr
Teles are actually pretty versatile as is, despite their rep. You can do a lot with boxes and amp settings - some recorded tele might surprise you... Stairway To Heaven solo, Les Paul right? Nooooo... '58 Tele.
Jwaters
as far as duncan goes, im looking at probably the little 59, or the hot stack(the one in the link)
but from dimarzio, my picks are: the tone zone or the super dist.
what do you think?
AlanRatcliffe
All quite different:
SD '59 - more like a low output vintage humbucker. Fat and warm but not hot for a humbucker. Fairly smooth.
SD Hot Stack - more like a high output single-coil. Almost as hot as the '59, but keeping much more of the single-coil treble and articulation.
DiM Super Distortion - Very hot humbucker. Real balls-to-the-wall trash/thrash
DiM Tone Zone - Very hot humbucker. Tons of low end and mids, more toneful than the Super Distortion.
Also bear in mind, that regardless of what they say, these pickups don't sound exactly like their bigger, full-size humbucker counterparts.
Jwaters
im looking for somthing that has a clean side to it also, is that too much to ask from the SD hot rails?----
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-STHR1-Tele-Hot-Rails-Pickup-Black?sku=300367
if so, im thinking hot stack or tone zone.
for some reason i think the 59 might not be what im wanting...
more examples of things id like to emulate are: green day, nirvana, ccr, oasis
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/compare?base_pid=300431&base_pid=300015&base_pid=300367
AlanRatcliffe
Higher powered humbuckers pickups tend to be muddy for cleans, and will overpower the neck pickup when they are used together. But you can coil cut them to single-coil, where they will usually sound pretty good (but be prone to noise), and work well when used with another single coil (like your neck pickup).
On the other hand, a medium to low powered humbucker will usually sound better clean, and will work better with the other pickup. You can always add more drive at the amp or pedals for higher gain. They will also be a little underpowered and bright when used as single-coils.
Final choice is yours, but between the two I'd probably go for the Tone Zone (I have the full-sized Air Zone in the bridge of my humbucker guitar) - Nice in a bright guitar (and a Tele bridge position qualifies) and taps well.
