looking for input reg. Telecaster pickups
HarryJ
Everyone has strong opinions and recommendations regarding pickups.
I had Bill Lawrence 280's in my Yamaha Tele.
I loved the tone of the bridge pickup (though it did squeal at high
compression settings)
I did not like the tone of the neck pickup and found it to be a tad too dark
and even muddy for overdriven sounds yet warm for clean Jazz tones.
For all I know, it may have even been a lemon... I spoke... (cough cough...
I mean ) Bill lectured me for 45 minutes, stating that it was anything but
his pickup that created the muddy tone.
I took those out and put in Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Alnico II's and fell in
love :-)
The bridge pickup was very close in tone to Bill's (with no squeal)
The neck pick up had much more presence perhaps more like a strat pickup.
What it really comes down to is, you need to check out as many pickups as
you can, and see what speaks to you!
If you choose to go with the noiseless variety, Virtual Vintage is very
worthy.
Yes, I am an official endorser of Dimarzio pickups, Yet I loved them and
used them before my endorsement deal.
I would gain nothing by trying to sell anyone on these, and frankly would
say they sucked if they did. But you don't know me :-) so...listen for
yourself
I posted a MP3 audio clip on my site.
This is my tele using a Tech 21 Sans Amp overdrive unit. Imagine what it may
sound like if it were perhaps a vintage Fender Deluxe and recorded with a
high end mic in a great studio
I used the neck pickup most of the time, you will hear when I switch to the
bridge
http://onlinerock.com/musicians/harryj/ReallyTruly1.MP3
I have suggested that others post clips to their sites to help folks like
you make decisions like this :-)
Hope that this in some way helps someone
Harry Jacobson
www.surf.to/harryj
"Eric Johnson" <eric.j...@motorola.com> wrote in message
news:3d63f664....@news.mot.com...
> I have a '68 Telecaster that I want to replace the pickups on. What's
> on it now are unknowns, most definitely not originals, and they have
> been cohabitating with some bastardized electronics (an on-board
> pre-amp mainly) that I also want to replace. I posted some questions
> about this guitar a couple years ago and got some good advice on how
> to determine if it's really a '68, etc.
>
> I have taken the pre-amp out, and plan to replace the pots and pickup
> selector switch with new ones. I've done some looking around, and the
> pickups that have caught my eye are the Fender Vintage Noiseless and
> the Fender Texas Tele's. Short of buying a set of each and trying
> them, any suggestions/comments on the differences in these two? The
> guitar will never be just like it was originally, since it was
> modified to have a Strat tremolo bridge before I got it. I'm mostly
> interested in getting it to sound like a Telecaster. The Texas Tele's
> (from reading about them) sound like they are pretty versatile. True?
>
> Also, reg. wiring, I know that Tele's are originally wired with a 3
> way selector, but read somewhere about using a 4 way selector switch,
> but not sure what other useful combinations you'd get, unless you wire
> a series and parallel option?
>
> Thanks for any help. And yes, my name really is Eric Johnson, but I'm
> not from Texas and I don't hold my effects pedals together with rubber
> bands! :)
>
> Eric
>
> Eric Johnson
> RF Characterization & Modeling Engineer
> Motorola SPS, DDL, III-V Device Development
> eric.j...@motorola.com
howldog
>For all I know, it may have even been a lemon... I spoke... (cough cough...
>I mean ) Bill lectured me for 45 minutes, stating that it was anything but
>his pickup that created the muddy tone.
>
ha. he sounds like he works for Microsoft.
astro
"HarryJ" blithered:
> Yes, I am an official endorser of Dimarzio pickups, Yet I loved them and
> used them before my endorsement deal.
>
I love you shills. You are so funny.
I would try Fralins, and Duncans Antiquity's, etc. Bill pickups are a
little dark. They have a lot of output. The higher the output the darker
the tone. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about their dealings
with Bill and Becky so you must be a first. You work for Dimarzio! Quel
Surprise!
The best idea I ever heard was someone bought a 50's Fender Champion lap
steel for around $200 stole the pickup out of that. (Its for all intents
and purposes a 50's telecaster bridge pickup) made a couple of small mods
to fit it in his guitar and then sold the lap steel with his old pickup from
the guitar.
HarryJ
"astro" <astrob...@gimantis.com> wrote in message
news:umclv9p...@corp.supernews.com...
Bruce Morgen
>
>"HarryJ" blithered:
>> Yes, I am an official endorser of Dimarzio pickups, Yet I loved them and
>> used them before my endorsement deal.
>>
>
>I love you shills. You are so funny.
>
>I would try Fralins, and Duncans Antiquity's, etc.
Why? They're not substantially
different from Fender's
aftermarket stuff --
reporductions of what Leo did a
half-century ago?
>Bill pickups are a
>little dark.
You've *got* to be kidding!
They don't have the scratchy,
metallic edge of a typical
Fender-style single-coil, but
I consider that a virtue!
>They have a lot of output.
No, they're only very
slightly higher in output
than a traditional single-
coil.
>The higher the output the darker
>the tone.
Generally true, but beware
of generalizations! :-)
>I have never heard anyone say a bad word about their dealings
>with Bill and Becky so you must be a first.
I don't think Harry is
knocking the Lawrences
regarding "dealings," just
remarking on BL's world-
famous verbosity and well-
founded confidence in his
product! Btw, I have BL's
in two Teles with no sign of
"dark" tone and just a hint
of squealing tendency at
very high volumes in the
one with the traditional
flanged steel ashtray-style
bridge -- easily cured by
putting in a modern, L-
shaped brass bridge, but
not enough of a problem for
me to bother with that swap.
>You work for Dimarzio! Quel
>Surprise!
Harry's an honest guy,
endorsement deal
notwithstanding. He
really does like his
DiMarzios, which I find
lacking in traditional
high-end response -- but of
course ymmv.
>
>The best idea I ever heard was someone bought a 50's Fender Champion lap
>steel for around $200 stole the pickup out of that. (Its for all intents
>and purposes a 50's telecaster bridge pickup) made a couple of small mods
>to fit it in his guitar and then sold the lap steel with his old pickup from
>the guitar.
>
Hummmmmmmmm......
I'll never go back to
single-coils, no reason
to put up with the noise
imo! Those Fender lap
steel pickups don't make
it in a Tele, at least on-
stage.
Jeff Liberatore
"Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
news:a07fmus9o89qlb3hv...@4ax.com...
Bruce, is there ANY other pup beSIDES Bill Lawrence?
1 eyed jack
>
(snip)
> Hummmmmmmmm......
>
> I'll never go back to
> single-coils, no reason
> to put up with the noise
> imo! Those Fender lap
> steel pickups don't make
> it in a Tele, at least on-
> stage.
>
That's just one of the reasons my Strat is loaded with Joe Bardens. With a 3
way switch and a push/push pot to shut down the middle p/u, I get some tasty
Tele sounds to boot.
JD
Don Evans
news:ak87ga$1gmhkq$1...@ID-70176.news.dfncis.de...
>
> "Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
> news:a07fmus9o89qlb3hv...@4ax.com...
>
> Bruce, is there ANY other pup beSIDES Bill Lawrence?
>
>
trying to argue, just curious. FWIW, I use them in my two of my strats, and
like 'em a lot. AND, I did try the VVs (not II) and liked them well enough,
just not bright enough for me.
Bruce, I was just about to say that, for a "true believer" ;-) that was
a pretty fair and even post! (as I've come to expect from you). True stuff
about HarryJ as well.
Don
HarryJ
I callz 'em as I seez 'em :-)
I do like Bill's pickups actually... I particularly like the 280's in a
strat.
I also recognize that Bill is and has been for a long long time, one of the
true innovators in musical instrument electronics. I used to use his 250's
and cables... damn... could that really be the late 70's ... maybe early
80's.
And to that Astro guy...
I shall blither yet again dude... No, I don't work for Dimarzio. The only
reason I mentioned my endorsement at all, is that anyone who did visit my
site would see it mentioned ,and most likely make the same assumption that
you did.
I would hardly call me a shill, but I am in fact a satisfied customer
shill (shl) Slang
n.
One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe
bystanders into participating in a swindle.
Folks feel very strongly about this topic... I suppose that is why it
reappears all the time.
As I stated before, Check out as many pick ups as you can and see what
brings a smile to your face.
I have a set of old Bartolini's that you could not pry out of my hands :-)
To anyone at all interested, The link that I had previously posted was
incorrect and in fact not the Tele ...ooops
This one is the Virtual Vintage Alnico II's ... and Don... the II's are way
better :-)
http://members.tripod.com/~harry_jacobson/example.mp3
Harry Jacobson
www.surf.to/harryj
"Don Evans" <GtrDo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3d67...@snipnews.snip.net...
Crispy
Crispy
"Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:ak87ga$1gmhkq$1...@ID-70176.news.dfncis.de...
>
Bruce Morgen
Jeff Liberatore
> news:ak87ga$1gmhkq$1...@ID-70176.news.dfncis.de...
> >
> > "Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
> > news:a07fmus9o89qlb3hv...@4ax.com...
> >
> > Bruce, is there ANY other pup beSIDES Bill Lawrence?
> >
> >
> Jeff, have you ever tried Bill Lawrence pickups? (not the knockoffs) Not
> trying to argue, just curious. FWIW, I use them in my two of my strats,
and
> like 'em a lot. AND, I did try the VVs (not II) and liked them well
enough,
> just not bright enough for me.
Yes, I've had them before. They are fine, just like the zillion other Tele
pups out there.
Fralins... That's what I like in my Tele.
Bruce Morgen
>"Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
>news:ak87ga$1gmhkq$1...@ID-70176.news.dfncis.de...
>>
>> "Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
>> news:a07fmus9o89qlb3hv...@4ax.com...
>>
>> Bruce, is there ANY other pup beSIDES Bill Lawrence?
>>
>>
>Jeff, have you ever tried Bill Lawrence pickups? (not the knockoffs) Not
>trying to argue, just curious. FWIW, I use them in my two of my strats, and
>like 'em a lot. AND, I did try the VVs (not II) and liked them well enough,
>just not bright enough for me.
Yeah, that was my impression
when I heard the DiMarzios in
Harry's Yamaha -- not a bad
sound at all, but lacking in
high-end sparkle to my ears.
>
>Bruce, I was just about to say that, for a "true believer" ;-) that was
>a pretty fair and even post! (as I've come to expect from you). True stuff
>about HarryJ as well.
Thanks, Don. As far as I'm
concerned, you don't have to
agree with me about gear to be
a good guy or a good player --
and imo Harry's both.
Let me know if I'm remembering
correctly, but didn't you have
Kinmans in that Strat before
you got your BLs?
Bruce Morgen
Then you haven't tried what
BL currently makes. By
design, they are different.
>
>Fralins... That's what I like in my Tele.
>
Fralins are (no doubt very
good) Fender clones -- iow,
"just like the zillion other
Tele pups out there." :-)
Jeff Liberatore
> "Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> >Fralins... That's what I like in my Tele.
> Fralins are (no doubt very
> good) Fender clones -- iow,
> "just like the zillion other
> Tele pups out there." :-)
By all means, you can play the BL's and I'll stick with the Fralins.
--
Jeff
http://www.mp3.com/JeffLiberatore
http://www.onlinerock.com/musicians/jl130/
Don Evans
That would be me .... and a few other brands before that. It's all about
finding what works for you .... IMHO.
Don
Bruce Morgen
>
>"Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
>news:56aimu4cvfbtmq9so...@4ax.com...
>
>> "Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> >Fralins... That's what I like in my Tele.
>
>> Fralins are (no doubt very
>> good) Fender clones -- iow,
>> "just like the zillion other
>> Tele pups out there." :-)
>
>By all means, you can play the BL's and I'll stick with the Fralins.
I can't hear you past the
hum -- you must have your
guitar plugged in and the
amp turned up! :-)
Just kidding -- fair enough,
Jeff, if you don't mind the
hum I don't mind your not
minding it! :-)
Bruce Morgen
Jeff Liberatore
> From: Bruce Morgen <edi...@juno.com>
> Reply-To: edi...@juno.com
> Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz
> Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 22:31:03 -0400
> Subject: Re: looking for input reg. Telecaster pickups
>
> "Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>> By all means, you can play the BL's and I'll stick with the Fralins.
>
> I can't hear you past the
> hum -- you must have your
> guitar plugged in and the
> amp turned up! :-)
Seriously, there's very little hum with the Fralin... Never had any serious
problems with mine. Then again, my Tele is pretty much relegated to studio
work, but I HAVE played it in clubs with notorious reputations regarding hum
problems and still never had a real problem. These would be the same clubs
that would render a PRS with 2 P-90's a problem.
Jeff
Don Evans
"Jeff Liberatore" <jlb...@westcamp.com> wrote in message
news:B990F19B.205B9%jlb...@westcamp.com...
Fender Am Std. pickups with them and got noticeably less hum. With P-90s I
assumed the difference was because of the coil size, but I just thought the
SDs were quieter because of quality ... or something. It would be
interesting to see a list of single coil pickups rated by "quietness".
Don
Ron Thompson
> You know, I've got a set of Duncan "vingate flats" like that! I replaced my
> Fender Am Std. pickups with them and got noticeably less hum. With P-90s I
> assumed the difference was because of the coil size, but I just thought the
> SDs were quieter because of quality ... or something.
I've had almost every pickup imaginable in teles and strats. It is amazing how
many just aren't all that noisy.
> It would be interesting to see a list of single coil pickups rated by
> "quietness".
That would be not good. Pickup makers would have to provide less types of
noiseless pickups, which would be bad for business. Let the noise sufferers
suffer their noise. They are good for business I'm sure.
--
rct
The opinions above are mine and mine alone.
Don Evans
> >
> You know, I've got a set of Duncan "vingate flats" like that! I
Don
Don Evans
"Ron Thompson" <ron.th...@tc.faa.gov> wrote in message
news:3D6BAD0A...@tc.faa.gov...
> Don Evans wrote:
>
> > You know, I've got a set of Duncan "vintage flats" like that! I
replaced my
> > Fender Am Std. pickups with them and got noticeably less hum. With
P-90s I
> > assumed the difference was because of the coil size, but I just thought
the
> > SDs were quieter because of quality ... or something.
>
> I've had almost every pickup imaginable in teles and strats. It is
amazing how
> many just aren't all that noisy.
>
Any particularly stand out?
> > It would be interesting to see a list of single coil pickups rated by
> > "quietness".
>
> That would be not good. Pickup makers would have to provide less types of
> noiseless pickups, which would be bad for business. Let the noise
sufferers
> suffer their noise. They are good for business I'm sure.
> --
> rct
>
I'm not sure I get the sense of that. It would be bad to have info on
pickup performance? I guess we might be opening a new can of worms, but
some of us have to work in pretty pickup-unfriendly conditions, and maybe
the info would ... no ...wait, I see.
Don
Jeff Liberatore
> From: "Don Evans" <GtrDo...@aol.com>
> Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz
> Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:18:00 -0400
> Subject: Re: looking for input reg. Telecaster pickups
>>> "Jeff Liberatore" <jlib...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>> Seriously, there's very little hum with the Fralin... Never had any
>> serious
>> problems with mine. Then again, my Tele is pretty much relegated to studio
>> work, but I HAVE played it in clubs with notorious reputations regarding
>> hum
>> problems and still never had a real problem. These would be the same clubs
>> that would render a PRS with 2 P-90's a problem.
> You know, I've got a set of Duncan "vingate flats" like that! I replaced my
> Fender Am Std. pickups with them and got noticeably less hum. With P-90s I
> assumed the difference was because of the coil size, but I just thought the
> SDs were quieter because of quality ... or something.
The Duncans in my PRS could be pretty bad, but the Tele was fine... I'm
thinking it was coil size of the P-90's... Size matters, you know!
Ron Thompson
> "Ron Thompson" <ron.th...@tc.faa.gov> wrote:
> > I've had almost every pickup imaginable in teles and strats. It is amazing
> how many just aren't all that noisy.
>
> Any particularly stand out?
Sure. Most anything Lindy Fralin makes is pretty dang quiet. You almost have
to try to get them to be noisy. I have currently a pair of Fat 50's in a strat
and a pair of Texas Specials in a tele, both sets are remarkably quiet, cheap
too. Seems that the noiseless rage has brought Fender around to making
reasonably quiet singles again. I don't know how, because I don't care, I just
know what I hear in the places I play.
> > That would be not good. Pickup makers would have to provide less types of
> noiseless pickups, which would be bad for > business. Let the noisesufferers
> suffer their noise. They are good for business I'm sure.
>
> I'm not sure I get the sense of that. It would be bad to have info on pickup
> performance?
Right. Objective comparison of the approximately 428 pickups that Seymour makes
would probably eliminate half of them as just duplicates of the other half. I
mean really, Custom Custom (Custom[Custom{Custom}]) Custom? HOW MANY EFFING
CUSTOMS DO YOU NEED BEFORE YOU ARE SATISFIED? Heh. Sorry. Anyway...
> I guess we might be opening a new can of worms, but some of us have to work in
> pretty pickup-unfriendly conditions, and maybe
> the info would ... no ...wait, I see.
Good.
HarryJ
country licks and with an overdriven setting for superb sustain.
Jus' about any single will be borderline unusable under these conditions.
Without compression, or heavy distortion, singles can be jus fine :-)
Well there are those neon lights and dimmer switches in clubs
Harry Jacobson
www.surf.to/harryj
"Jeff Liberatore" <jlb...@westcamp.com> wrote in message
news:B99149BF.205EE%jlb...@westcamp.com...
Ron Thompson
> At times, I like to use a touch of compression with clean settings for
> country licks and with an overdriven setting for superb sustain.
>
> Jus' about any single will be borderline unusable under these conditions.
See that borderline? No, not...yes, that one. THAT is where I like to play.
Right there. As much as possible.
> Without compression, or heavy distortion, singles can be jus fine :-)
I find them fine in both cases, although what many might hear me doing as
"heavy distortion" isn't.
> Well there are those neon lights and dimmer switches in clubs
Refrigerators. Don't forget the damn refrigerators.
Jeff Liberatore
> From: "HarryJ" <harr...@aol.com>
> Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing
> Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz
> Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 20:21:15 GMT
> Subject: Re: looking for input reg. Telecaster pickups
>
> At times, I like to use a touch of compression with clean settings for
> country licks and with an overdriven setting for superb sustain.
Me too.
> Jus' about any single will be borderline unusable under these conditions.
For me, usually, when I have all that stuff on, the rest of the band will
mask the buzz to a degree.
> Without compression, or heavy distortion, singles can be jus fine :-)
Yessiree.
> Well there are those neon lights and dimmer switches in clubs
Worst culprit of all!